INNISFAIL – Several local athletes represented zone four at the 2018 Alberta Summer Games in Grande Prairie.
The four-day event took place July 19 to 22 and was open to Alberta’s young athletes.
A total of 13 different sports from eight zones were represented in the event.
Swimmers Keevyn Marston and Jayden Ahn with the Innisfail Dolphins both qualified for the summer games earlier this year.
“I have a little prayer I’d always say to myself to give me motivation to swim hard. It’s called the Jabez prayer,” said Ahn. “I just swam my hardest I could and surprisingly I got the highest points for my age group (to qualify for the Alberta Summer Games).
“In every style we are equal in speed,” he added, referring to his friend Keevyn Marston. “It’s really competitive for both of us.”
Ahn said he excels in breaststroke and butterfly while Marston excels at backstroke and free style. Ahn had several third-place finishes and several second-place finishes including the 200-metre individual medley, 100-metre butterfly and 4x50-metre freestyle relay.
Both were excited to experience the Alberta Summer Games.
“Just making it (to the summer games) is already an accomplishment,” said Ahn, adding he wanted to go there, do his best and make Innisfail proud.
Marston agreed. “I wanted to make new friends and feel the experience of being there,” said Marston.
The two swimmers were joined by several other athletes, including lacrosse players Hayden Sutherland, Kylan Alvarez, Sage Walstrom-Salt and Riley Benko of Innisfail, as well as Cole Hunter and Wyatt Duvall from Bowden.
Coaching staff and an athletic trainer from IMLA also attended the event.
Hayden Sutherland is a bantam lacrosse player that represented zone four in the summer games.
He has played lacrosse for five years.
“I love that I get to play with my friends. It’s a physical but not a violent sport, and it allows you to be active,” said Sutherland.
He noted other athletes from Red Deer, Bowden and Innisfail along with other kids from the area that represented zone four.
The lacrosse team representing zone 4 finished in fifth place.
"I was excited to go. It’s a good privilege to have, to go to the summer games,” he added.
“It’s a great bonding experience with other kids,” said Sutherland. “We tried to be the best we can be but it was also a good experience, even if we didn’t win the whole championship.”
Innisfail also had participants in several other sports at the 2018 Alberta Summer Games including:
Kylan Alvarez, lacrosse (5th place); Wally Genz, lacrosse (5th place); Brayden Harrington, baseball (5th place); Danny Harrington, baseball (5th place); Reanna Phillips, softball -- female (1st place); Nicholas Ramrattan, canoe-kayak (3rd, 4th and 5th place); Blake Sutherland, lacrosse (5th place); Kayla Vezina, canoe-kayak (3rd, 5th and 6th place); Kindrie Vezina, canoe-kayak (3rd and 5th place); Shannon Wagers, canoe-kayak (5th place); Sage Walstrom-Salt, lacrosse (5th place); and Jaidin Wiebe, soccer -- female (6th place).
