Some of Flin Flon’s brightest young athletes are coming home with provincial medals.
The Power Smart Manitoba Summer Games wrapped up on Aug. 13 in Steinbach with Flin Flon athletes winning four medals in total.
Local swimmers competing for Team Norman won three medals. Ryan Nawrocki won silver in the boys’ youth 50-metre freestyle, beating Winnipeg Blue’s Simon Chin by almost four-tenths of a second.
“It feels amazing,” said Nawrocki. “It was rather hard, but in the end it was really fun. I gave it 110 per cent.”
Team Norman also won two bronze medals in the 200-metre mixed youth freestyle relay and the 200-metre mixed youth medley relay. The relay team included local product Connor Brown, who brought home half of Flin Flon’s medals.
“These 13 swimmers from Flin Flon, The Pas and Thompson earned almost half the medals that Team Norman won for the entire games,” said Fawn Brown, Connor’s mother and president of the Flin Flon Aqua Jets swim club. “They won seven out of the 16 medals.”
The fourth medal for Flin Flon was won by the girls’ under-13 soccer team, which earned a bronze. The team was made up of players and coaches from Flin Flon and surrounding areas.
“It was a pretty amazing experience for the girls, because I don’t think Norman girls have ever medalled in soccer before,” said Steve Lytwyn, the team’s head coach. “Our team was the youngest team there, so this was a very good experience for the girls.”
Seven of Team Norman’s eight goals were scored by one player – 13-year-old Joie Simon. Joie scored the deciding goal in the team’s bronze-medal win against Team Westman.
After her performance, Joie was given the honour of being Team Norman’s flagbearer in the Games’ closing ceremony.
“There’s no doubt about it, we go where she goes.” said Lytwyn. “I don’t think there are too many girls in Manitoba who can keep up with her in a foot race.”
Goaltender Lia Yaworski held down the fort in the Norman net. When discussing the bronze-medal game, Lytwyn said, “We probably only had two shots the whole game, maybe three, and they had probably 20.”
Team Norman as a whole did not win a gold medal at the Games, but left with five silver and 11 bronze medals.
For Team Norman, the total of 16 medals is far below their 2012 medal count, but Flin Flon athletes fared better. Team Norman won 42 medals at the 2012 Games, while only one Flin Flon athlete won a medal.
The event gave people from across the North a chance to unite.
“It was really a community-building event, even though it was far away,” said Brown. “We all rooted for each other’s kids. It was fantastic.”
