Peace region athletes shine at BC Summer Games

KELOWNA, B.C. — Athletes representing the peace region had some memorable performances at the B.C. Summer Games in Kelowna.

Representing the Cariboo-North Zone 8, entrants from Fort St. John, Charlie Lake, Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson were participating in the multi-sport event, which wrapped up on July 26.

In athletics, two competitors from the region captured gold medals: Goodlow’s Paige Bueckert in the women’s high jump with a final height of 1.60 metres, and Charlie Lake’s Rowan Clarke captured gold in the women’s 1500-metre racewalk in a time of 7 minutes and 48.02 seconds.

Meanwhile, fresh off his performance at the BC School Sports Track and Field provincials, Kaleb Stevens-Fleming took a silver medal in the men’s high jump with a height of 1.80 metres, and Fort St. John’s Diego Lascari took bronze in the men’s shot put with a throw of 12.48 metres.

In addition, Parker Andrews and Kiptyn Harvey of Fort St. John joined Dawson Creek’s Sophia Aylward and Tolor Gies on the links during the men’s and women’s golf competition.

While each failed to medal, they did manage to finish in the top 30 of their respective competitions.

Fort Nelson had sent track athletes to the competition as well, with Eli Hill, Niko Mackay, Jax Turgeon, Samuel Olkh and Charlotte Haayer making the trip to the Okanagan.

Hill competed in both the men’s pole vault and triple jump, achieving a fifth-place finish in the latter event and an 11th-place finish in the triple jump.

McKay finished eighth in the men’s javelin, while Turgeon took eleventh in the competition with a final throw of 29.37 metres.

Olkh finished 10th in the triple jump, and Haayer took 10th-place in the women’s long jump.

There were also athletes competing in swimming, softball, rugby, and box lacrosse during the B.C. Summer Games.

Ultimately, the zone finished fifth in women’s rugby, seventh in box lacrosse and sixth on the diamond in women’s softball.

In the pool, Charlie Lake’s Leonardo Rossi took gold in the men’s 200-metre freestyle, with a time of two minutes and 4.95 seconds, and had top 10 finishes in both the men’s 100-metre event and the 200-metre individual medley.

Cedar Wechlin, who coached the Cariboo-North squad in softball for the first time, wrote a retrospective post on Facebook celebrating the zone’s first victory in the event.

The B.C. Games were first created in 1978 and are seen as “more than four days of sport and celebration,” according to its website.

In total, Cariboo-North Zone 8 took 16 gold, four silver and eight bronze for a total of 28 medals.

The 2026 B.C. Summer Games wrapped up on July 26 in Kelowna.