Over the past two weeks, Hannah Esopenko has been a busy Barracuda.
The 15-year-old Prince George Barracudas Swim Club member won three medals in breaststroke two weekends ago at the Canadian age class championships in Quebec City. Last weekend she competed against adult women in the senior national championships in Montreal, finishing as high as 28th, and this week she's swimming fast times again at the Western Canada Summer Games in Fort McMurray.
Esopenko won the silver medal in the 200-metre breaststroke Thursday, her first event of the Games, beating B.C. teammate Renae Ledoux to the wall in a close race. Kelsey Wog of Winnipeg won gold in 2:23.45, followed by Esopenko (2:30.36) and Ledoux (2:30.77).
Esopenko also raced the 400m individual medley. She finished fourth in her heat in 5:00.46 and did not qualify for finals. She's entered in today's 200m butterfly and on Saturday will swim the 100m breaststroke and 200m IM.
In other Prince George results Thursday from the Western Canada Games pool, David Dunn, 23, of the Prince George Pisces Swim Club, advanced to finals in the Special Olympics 100m freestyle, clocking 1:17.64 in the final to place seventh. Dunn was also seventh in the 50m backstroke in 47.64.
Meanwhile, in women's volleyball, 16-year-old libero Hallie Drezet of Prince George and Team B.C. are off to a great start after posting two match victories Thursday. The B.C. girls defeated Yukon Territory 3-0 (25-5, 25-8, 25-16) then swept Northwest Territories 3-0 (25-13, 25-1, 25-10).
B.C. will face Alberta (2-0) today at 11:45 a.m. PDT, then plays Saskatchewan (1-1) at 5:30 p.m. PDT.
On Tuesday, Jenna Van Delft helped B.C. to a 56-48 win over Alberta in the bronze-medal game. Van Delft, 15, scored six points in the medal match. Saskatchewan beat Manitoba 71-54 for gold. The B.C. men captured gold with a 66-60 win over Manitoba.
Last Saturday in judo, 17-year-old Lisa Russell of the Prince George Judo Club (under-55 kilograms) and 14-year-old Kimiko Kamstra (under-44 kg) of the Hart Judo Academy won their respective weight classes to bring individual gold to Team B.C.
In artistic gymnastics, Alia Wilson, 13, of Prince George Gymnastics Club, won a silver medal Monday in the team event.
