Foothills youth power Big Country to top-three finish

There was no place like home for Big Country athletes to put on a show.

Zone 2 had a sterling performance at the 2023 Alberta Summer Games with a big assist to Foothills athletes who competed in 11 of 14 events during the July 20-23 youth sports showcase in Okotoks and Diamond Valley.

Okotoks brothers Nathan and Noah Heuver both climbed to the top of the podium in athletics events, part of a 10-medal haul in the track and field discipline for area athletes.

“I thought it was quite cool to not only be with my brother, but with everyone else from our region,” Noah said. “And to all be supporting each other and be the best team we could possibly have been.

“And I feel like we accomplished that pretty well.”

Noah ran the anchor leg and teamed up with fellow Okotokian Seb Gagne and a pair of Calgary area athletes to win the U16 male medley relay, which follows a 400m-200m-200m-800m format.

Nathan leapt for gold in the 300m hurdles, a newer event for the runner, but one the Foothills Composite student has come to love.

“It’s started to become my best event,” he said. “The technique and form, you almost have to commit to going over the hurdle and not being scared of falling or anything, it’s definitely a learning curve.”

Nathan added winning gold was an amazing feeling and gave a nod to the unwavering support from the community and volunteers.

Also on the Holy Trinity Academy track, Gagne won a medal of every colour, adding silver in the U16 male 300m sprint and bronze in the 4x100m medley relay along with his gold in the distance medley event.

Mack Weber was a distance star with a pair of bronze in the U18 1,500m and 3,000m runs.

In the U16 female medley relay, Okotokians Markey Hinge and Camryn O’callaghan along with DeWinton’s Carmella Yee combined to win bronze.

No sport produced more medals for Big Country than swimming.

Six members of the Okotoks Mavericks Swim Club combined to produce 17 medals for Zone 2.

Mikayla Paul won two gold (50m freestyle, 50m backstroke) and two silver (100m breaststroke, 200m backstroke) in a sterling showing at the Riley Minue Pool.

Sofiya Chistyakova was the picture of consistency all weekend, earning gold (200m breaststroke), silver (200m IM, 50m breaststroke) and bronze (100m breaststroke, 400m freestyle).

Declan Harrison won two bronze, touching the wall third in both the 100m butterfly and 200m backstroke. Peyton Jones and Oscar Bednarz claimed bronze in the 50m breaststroke and 50m backstroke, respectively.

On the gridiron, Diamond Valley offensive lineman Hayden Hampton powered the Calgary Metro Stampeders to football gold.

The Stamps bested the Edmonton North Wildcats 21-5 in the final on July 23 at Falcons field.

“I just wanted to win and get at least three touchdowns against them and didn’t want any tackles behind the line of scrimmage,” said Hampton, who played right guard. “I wanted us to have progression every single play.”

Hampton was one of 11 Foothills Eagles to compete in the Games, but the only one on the Metro Stampeders roster.

The sixth-place finishers, the Metro Dinos, featured Okotoks’ Lincoln Stewart, Daniel Bowers, Warner Danard and Elliott Kaun from Heritage Pointe.

Diamond Valley’s Preston Selk along with Okotoks’ Bowen Gottselig, Colton Friesen, Nate Barclay, Tyco St. Dennis, Wyatt Koopman suited up for the Metro Colts, who finished seventh.

“This is going to help because you got to see what the next couple years of competition is going to be,” said Hampton, headed to Foothills Composite in the fall. “Because a couple of those teams had players form Cochrane, Raymond, L.C.I., the players you’re going to be against in your division.”

On the rugby pitch, Big Country continued its medal ways on Sunday.

The Zone 2 girls rugby team snared the silver medal at Wylie Park on July 23, boasting a roster full of Foothills Lions players in Vivian Bailey, Reese Burwell, Kateri Krueger, Nadia Pacione, Megan Esler, Maddie Hollins and Anaya Chisholm.

“I think we more learned about each other and how to work as a team,” Burwell said. “I really hope I get to play with all of these girls again, because they’re a great team and they’re fun to play with and we all get along really well which is what I think helped us get as far as we got.”

The Big Country squad went 4-1 to advance to the gold medal game versus one of two Calgary squads in the competition, where they were ultimately bested by a 27-10 count.

“The committee did such a great job organizing and making sure all the teams are together,” Krueger said. “We got to bond with the other teams, stay at the school with them and make other connections.”

In softball action, Zone 2 also corralled a podium finish.

The Big Country team, featuring Okotokians London Clingman and Ava Pereira-Burke, won silver at the Games after posting round-robin victories over Parkland and Peace Country.

The Okotoks BMX track also proved to be a prolific site for local medal winners.

Fourteen-year-old Luc Burns pedalled to a pair of silver medals in the time trial and race, Charlie Vanderveen, 13, won silver in the time trial and Dylan Thomas, 14, earned bronze in the race.

Okotoks BMX riders Owen Fischer, Gavin Eckert, Rocky DeBoer and Matthew Curtis all earned top-12 finishes at the Games.

In baseball, Okotoks’ Tyson Dyck and Aidan Cozens helped Zone 2 to a fourth-place finish, the same placement for Millarville’s Conner Marriott and Aldersyde’s Caheel Vira in the male soccer competition.

In basketball, the Zone 2 female team scored a fourth-place finish with Okotoks’ Rylee Lybbert, Danica Nyrose and DeWinton’s Natalie Murray on the roster. The Zone 2 boys ended up in fifth, a group that included Okotoks’ Bracen Lybbert, Pasen Perrett, Seth Gustafson, Jakob Habart and Dustynn Harbaruk from DeWinton.

In male rugby action, Okotoks area athletes Quinn and Luke Birkenstock, Quinn Esler, Damon Hayes, Ryan Hefferan, Ian Henning and Jorgan Haldorson represented with a seventh-place finish.

In the triathlon, Okotoks’ Kassie Burton and DeWinton’s Katherine Kohn competed in three events and were in the top-12 in the combine co-ed relay.

Also in athletics, Okotoks’ Leon Spatz was top-seven in three events, DeWinton’s Catarina Bell was fourth in the javelin and Okotokians Eva Gustafson and Keely O’callaghan were fourth in the U18 medley relay.

As previously reported, Okotoks and area athletes won gold medals in the girls soccer and boys lacrosse events on July 23.

Zone 2, which won a total of 110 medals, was recognized as the Spirit of Sport Award winner as the zone deemed to have best demonstrated sportsmanship, fair play, team spirit and co-operation.

Calgary’s Zone 3 won the most medals at the Games to capture the Alberta Cup. The Sunny South, Zone 1, won the Minister’s Cup as the most improved zone from the previous games.

For more information, visit 2023asg.com.