Lees lead way for Elks at Short-track provincials

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The B.C. short track provincials were held in Kamloops this past week-end. Seven skaters from Fort St. John attended the meet. In the end the club came away with two medals.
The Lee family were the stars of the week-end, both medaling. Rick Lee won gold in the masters two event and his daughter Jamie took silver in Juvenile girls. Coach Richard Stickel said “Rick is just so consistent, you take it for granted that he will do well. He really had to battle against a couple of other good skaters, and once again he did.” About Jamie the coach stated “Jamie was the class of the field for the Juvenile girls, even though she is in her first year in the age category. I was really impressed with her efforts, especially the work she was doing on perfecting her passing ability during races.”
Mitch Kupchanko and Kayne Dressler were in the Junior Men category. Kupchanko competed hard for a fifth place finish in a very competed division with third to sixth place being decided with just a few point differential. Kayne Dressler finished ninth. Impressively Dressler made all semi-finals even though he is in his first year in the premiere division in the provincials.
There were three skaters skating their first provincials as well. Stickel stated “the goal for the first provincials is learning how to compete with a better group of skaters. Everyone is fast and its important to learn how to race in some confusing situations. I was really impressed with all of them, and the efforts they made.” Rachael Kalkman finished fifth in Bantam girls. Ben Maxfield made some great passes and finished sixth in Midget boys. Kathryn Stickel had personal bests in every distance and really mixed it up for a fourteenth place finish in the Juvenile girls.

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