Women shooters bag Manitoba's first medal at Canada Games

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Manitoba shooters Connor Deneka and Heather McCrea (below) won the province’s first medal at the Canada Winter Games Monday in Halifax. The duo won bronze in women’s team air rifle shooting. (PHOTOS BY ANDREW VAUGHAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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Heather McCrea (PHOTOS BY ANDREW VAUGHAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Team Manitoba claimed its first medal of the Canada Winter Games in Halifax yesterday when Connor Deneka and Heather McCrea sighted in on a bronze medal in the in female team air rifle target shooting event.

The Winnipeg pair combined to finish third with a team score of 757.0, behind Saskatchewan (788.0) and Quebec 759.0.

Deneka, 16, had an individual score of 389, while 20-year-old McCrea shot a score of 368.

In the men's event, brothers Christopher and Kevin Lemire, just missed out on a medal, finishing fourth with a score of 1,116. Christopher logged a score of 565 and Kevin scored 551.

Manitoba finished in a tie with Alberta, but were awarded fourth place on a countback.

Squash

HALEY Clake won 3-2 and Hanna Blatt won 3-1, but a 3-1 loss by Mia Kirbyson, and a default by injured Alix Younger, meant the best Team Manitoba could do on the squash courts against Northwest Territories was a 2-2 tie, giving them a standings of two losses and one tie.

"She (Younger) reinjured her wrist," said Ryan Giesbrecht, Team Manitoba's mission staffer in charge of squash. "She has a torn cartilage in her wrist. She played two matches yesterday, and her wrist was so painful, she pulled out. Later on she had it checked out, and was told by the doctor she couldn't play any more in this tournament."

In men's action, Andrew Thiessen picked up the only win (3-2) as Manitoba lost to Alberta 3-1. Connor Turk, Jake Hooker and Adrien Chamberland-Mike each lost their games 3-0.

Wheelchair basketball

TEAM Manitoba won one for its teammate Kyle Bunskoek yesterday, beating Nova Scotia 66-37 in a wheelchair basketball game, which was postponed from Sunday after Bunskoek was taken to hospital due to a "very serious," non-sports related illness, which Manitoba mission staff declined to reveal.

Aaron Moseley-Williams had 29 points against Nova Scotia, and Jeff Watson had 16.

Unfortunately, Manitoba was forced to play back-to-back games and lost the other game 67-50 to Prince Island giving them a 1-1 record.

Moseley-Williams had 27, and Watson added 16.

Women's curling

BETH Peterson and her rink of Robyn Njegovan, Melissa Gordon and Breanne Yozenko, suffered its second loss of the games, a 7-6 extra end decision to the North West Territories.

In a later game, the Njegovan foursome fell 6-4 to British Columbia.

Long-track speedskating

ELISE MacDonald and Milo Del Bigio were Team Manitoba's top skaters in long track speed skating Monday, but neither one could pull off a medal.

MacDonald finished fifth in the women's 3,000 metres in 4:56.64, and Del Bigio was sixth in the men's 5,000 metres with a time of 7:38.83.

Other finishers in the women's event were 12th place Heather McLean (5:13.19) and 23rd place Grace Boyd (5:53.20.

Chris Daeninck (7:54.02) was next in the men's event finishing 12th. He was followed by 23rd Hewson Elliott (8:34.30) and 24th Brett Appleyard (8:41.20).

Short-track speedskating

TARYN Dyer finished as the top Manitoban in the short track women's 500 metre speed skating event Monday, taking third place in the F final with a time of 2:58.486. Karine Martel was right behind her in fourth with a time of 2:59.272.

In the G final, Michelle Daeninck was fourth in 2:51.637, while Raelene Sawatzky-Dyck and Hannah Martin finished first and second in the H final. Sawatzky-Dyck was clocked at 2:52.595, and Martin crossed the line in 2:53.547.

Nick Couture was the top male Manitoba in the men's short track 500 metres. He finished third in the D final in 45.538. Devon Borus (46.226), was third in the E final; Chris Prendergast (47.262) was third in the F final; and Thomas Struthers (46.749) finished second in the J final. Jess Neufeld was disqualified in the F final.

The men's quintet also finished out of the medal race in the 3,000-metre relay when they had a time of 4:39.149 to finish behind Quebec (4:25.961), and Saskatchewan (4:36.821) in the A semifinal. With the first-place team in each of the three semifinals and the top two from the second-place teams making Thursday's final, Manitoba will not skate in the 3,000 final on Thursday.

Men's team gymnastics

TEAM Manitoba, made up of Taran Barrett, Tyler Franklin, Joshua Kehler and Jason Marks, finished ninth in the men's team artistic gymnastics competition Monday with a score of 234.15.

The team's apparatus scores were as follows: floor exercise, 43.95; pommel horse, 33.45; rings, 38.45; vault, 50.75; parallel bars, 31.06; high bar, 36.55.

Men's hockey

MANITOBA'S record dropped to 1-2 Monday after losing a 7-1 decision to Alberta (3-0) in men's Hockey. Geordie Maguire scored Manitoba's lone goal.

FLAG-BEARER CURSE BITES MANITOBA C7

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 15, 2011 C6