Staff
Local athletes competing at the Ontario Winter Games over the weekend ended up being stuck in the middle.
Isaac Keffer’s rink finished with a 2-3 mark, out of the medals, while the Northwestern squash team, with five of its eight members hailing from Fort Frances, wrapped up play with a 3-3 record—good for fifth place out of the eight teams.
After losing Thursday’s opener, Keffer and his rink of third Cody Ossachuk, second Cody Heyens, and lead Ian Grant bounced back Friday morning with a 7-4 victory over Tanner Horgan (Idylwylde Golf and Country Club).
But Keffer then dropped his next match to an old foe, falling 7-5 to Jordan Potter (Port Arthur).
He fell to 1-3 after losing a 7-6 squeaker Friday evening to the eventual gold-medallist, Ben Bevan (Annandale Country Club).
Keffer ended the tournament on a winning note, though, eking out a 5-4 win over Tyler Sagan (Westmount Golf and Country Club).
In squash, Team Northwestern had a rough Friday, losing all three of their matches to Team Ottawa, Team Toronia, and Team Northern.
But the tide started to turn Saturday as the local contingent beat Team Central.
In the consolation round, Northwestern bounced Western on Saturday afternoon and then Southwestern yesterday morning to claim fifth spot.
Local athletes on the squash team included Shawn Brady and Anniss Seid for the boys and Kaitlyn DeGagne, Angel McCormack, and Anika Alexander for the girls.
Meanwhile, local figure skater Mike Nelson finished 11th out of 12th in the pre-novice men’s category with a score of 46.23.
Nelson scored a 17.05 in the men’s short program and 29.18 in the free program.
