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Winnipeg Free Press
6 days ago
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Kartusch, Mott claim junior links glory
That Spence Mott was able to make a pressure-free swing from the 18th tee box might've even surprised him after the way his day unfolded. The Shilo teen watched his one-shot lead turn into a three-stroke deficit by the third hole earlier in the day before he weathered a roller-coaster final round in the junior men's provincial championship. Yet, by the end of it, Mott had reclaimed the game that had him leading the tournament through 18 and 36 holes, respectively, and swung easy to a par on the last hole to cap a six-shot victory at Quarry Oaks on Wednesday. Golf Manitoba photos Spence Mott (left) had an up-and-down round Wednesday while Addison Kartusch repeated her women's triple-crown triumph from last year. 'It feels nice to win again. It's been a while,' the 18-year-old said. Mott, who began the event with consecutive rounds in red figures, finished 71-68-75 for a two-under 214 three-day total. Meanwhile, Addison Kartusch captured the junior women's title for the second year in a row and third overall in her career. Mott will lead Team Manitoba at the Canadian junior boys championship in Bathurst, N.B., Aug. 12-15. Kartusch will do the same at the Canadian junior girls championship in Sainte-Marie, Que., Aug. 13-16. Windy conditions toyed with players all day. Mott recorded 14 holes of birdie or better in the tournament, but his first Wednesday didn't come until the seventh hole. At that time, he was two shots off the pace set by Payne Wood, who began the day one stroke back of Mott. 'I felt more relaxed after I made a big number and just told myself to do what I've been doing the whole week. I've been playing good, so I just told myself to 'Relax,'' said Mott, who triple-bogeyed the par-5 second hole. 'Course management out here was a big thing. And definitely for me, attitude has been a big problem before — get one big score on the card, and the whole round goes downhill from there. We've been working on bringing it back instead of letting it go downhill even more.' The Westman resident returned the favour on the early swing with a momentum shift of his own shortly after as he birdied the par-5 ninth while Wood tripled. Golf Manitoba photo Addison Kartusch Mott's lead increased after the par-4 13th, as Wood carded a triple-bogey to put him in third place, four strokes back of the lead and two behind host course member Ty Brewster, who quietly hung around all day. Mott's advantage became sizeable down the stretch, as he parred the par-4 14th while Brewster scored a double-bogey and Wood bogeyed. All of the sudden, he had a four stroke lead that he would not relinquish. 'After hole 13, Payne started making big numbers — making triple and then a few bogeys coming in — so I knew after 13 if I made pars and birdies that I was pretty safe,' he said. Kartusch ended her provincial junior career in historic fashion, as the St. Charles teen repeated her triple crown in provincial tournaments, winning the women's match play, amateur and junior championships in the same summer. The 18-year-old became the first Manitoba woman to accomplish the feat last year, and she rewrote history again with her latest triumph. 'It just shows that all my hard work has paid off, and a lot of patience,' she said. Kartusch, who began the day seven strokes back of 36-hole leader Jeri Lafleche, led a fierce charge in the final round, carding a bogey-free 4-under 68 to win by five. Her rounds of 73-75-68 were good for a three-day total of 216 at even-par. 'It feels good. I know I can play good tournament golf, so it was nice to be able to do that this summer again,' said Kartusch, who plays NCAA Division 1 at Bowling Green State University. 'Obviously, I hit it well, but growing up in the prairies, you play with a lot of wind, practise with a lot of wind. And down at Bowling Green, our home course, you always have a lot of wind, so it's something that I found a tad easier to adjust to over time, and I know that I can play good golf in bad weather.' The biggest swing of the day came shortly after the turn, as Lafleche went triple-bogey, double-bogey on the par-5 11th and par-3 12th, respectively, while Kartusch parred both holes to assume a three-shot advantage — her first lead since the 16th hole in the first round. Golf Manitoba photo Spence Mott 'I kind of just waited until my last putt on 18 to relax, I guess, and think about it because, ugh, it's golf, you never know what's going to happen so I just stuck to my process and was very patient today,' she said. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. Brewster finished solo runner-up in the junior men's tournament at four-over (220) while Terrence Raffert, Ryder St. Laurent and Wood tied for third at 6-over (222). Brewster's score won the 15 and 16-year-old division, while St. Laurent topped the 13 and 14-year-old category. Lafleche ended solo second in the junior women's at six-over (222), while Payton Oakden finished third at 26-over (242). Jewel Lafleche won the 15 and 16-year-old category at 27-over (243), while Angelina Sitarz (55-over, 271) paced the 13 and 14-year-old division. Joshua Frey-SamReporter Josh Frey-Sam reports on sports and business at the Free Press. Josh got his start at the paper in 2022, just weeks after graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College. He reports primarily on amateur teams and athletes in sports. Read more about Josh. Every piece of reporting Josh produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
6 days ago
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Bringing the noise
The atmosphere in Pan Am Pool will be no short of electric this weekend, as provincial pride is on the line at the 2025 ManSask Summer Long Course Provincial Championships. It's one of the largest swim meets hosted in Winnipeg in years, with around 460 athletes from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, who will compete from July 10–13 in timed races based on age groups, before ending the meet on Sunday with a provincial relay where it's a province-versus-province showdown. 'So Canada Life Centre is loud, this place gets ridiculous,' said meet manager Dale Gustafson on the provincial relay. RENEE KARDASH PHOTO The ManSask Summer Long Course Provincial Championships will see 460 athletes from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia compete at Pan Am Pool from July 10-13. To qualify for ManSask, swimmers must meet their AA level qualification times, something many have been preparing for all season, with coaches tailoring the training and swimming programs leading up to the meet. 'These swimmers have all qualified because they have reached that threshold of time standards, so they're a little bit faster,' said Gustafson. 'We've got some pretty fast swimmers that are coming from across Ontario and Western Canada, so that'll be really cool to see this weekend, too.' But it's the final event of the competition that is set to be the highlight, as coaches across the 40 attending teams select their top swimmers to represent their provinces in relays and medley relays. And as the athletes pull on their provincial swim caps, Pan Am Pool will erupt with loud and proud cheers for the young athletes. 'It'll be the highlight, I can assure you of their weekend, for some of them, their season,' said Gustafson. 'It's so rowdy and supportive as the provinces go against each other. It's a wonderful way to finish (their season) off.' The ManSask competition is the final Swim Manitoba event this season in Winnipeg, although some swimmers will continue training leading up to the Canada Summer Games. For those on Team Manitoba headed to St. John's in August, the meet serves as a launchpad, being their last major competition before the Canada Games. 'It's a wonderful way to finish the season,' said Gustafson. 'And for the Manitoba swimmers who qualified to be here at home, for most of them in their home pool, and also to be welcoming and bringing everybody here, it's a wonderful weekend for that.' Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. With ManSask being one of the largest swim events at Pan Am, the organizing committee — formed in March by Swim Manitoba — has been preparing for the meet for nearly eight weeks. 'It takes a ton of work to put this all together, and it's through the good graciousness of all the volunteers that pull this stuff off,' said Gustafson. Preliminary rounds of competition start Thursday morning. 'This gives the kids the opportunity to swim against people they've probably never seen before, to hang out in the stands with teams from across the better half of the country,' said Gustafson. 'It's going to be a fun time.'
Winnipeg Free Press
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Running back Roberts MVP at Indigenous Cup
With his first year on the team, first time playing running back, and helping Team Manitoba win its first gold medal at the U-18 Indigenous Cup, Colton Roberts had himself a weekend as he earned MVP honours in Manitoba's debut hosting of the three-year-old event. Team Manitoba was up against top Indigenous football talent from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Northwestern Ontario, with the tournament hosted at St. Vital Mustangs Field in Winnipeg. With a 34-26 victory on Sunday, Manitoba capped off an undefeated tournament, and you wouldn't know Roberts was one of the more inexperienced players from his performance. He carried the ball 30 times for 296 yards, had two catches for 19 yards, and scored two touchdowns — all in just two games. WILL SPREITZER PHOTO Team Manitoba running back Colton Roberts (left) was named the U18 Indigenous Cup tournament MVP on Sunday. The Grace 11 student who plays for the Vincent Massey Trojans carried the ball 30 times for 296 yards, had two catches for 19 yards, and scored two touchdowns in the tourney. 'I've been putting in the work, trying to get better and stuff like that,' said Roberts, who also acknowledged the strong offensive line as a big part of his success. 'It all just ended up working out.' Roberts, who is Métis, just finished his Grade 11 year at Vincent Massey, and started playing football on his high school team only last year. He heard about the U18 Indigenous team through his head coach, and along with around 50 other players from various clubs, schools and programs across the province, he tried out and became one of the 27 selected to represent the province. U18 Team Manitoba head coach Russell Wallace says the team wouldn't be where they were without Roberts. 'Right from day one, we watched him, and we said, 'Oh this is going to be a very special player for us, and he's going to really help us,'' said Wallace. 'And throughout the tournament, throughout the practices, he was very consistent and you could see him getting better each day.' Surrounding Roberts was a team with a bond that was very special according to Wallace, something that helped them get over the hump and take gold in only the second year Team Manitoba has participated in the Indigenous Cup, which originally started as a tournament between Alberta and Saskatchewan. 'When we bring these high-performance teams or these football Manitoba teams together, you always have one passion, which is football, right?' said Wallace. 'But I think, for us, there's the fact that we're all Indigenous and we're all part of that culture. It just gives us kind of that other connection to each other.' Along with two weeks of grinding practices and building team chemistry, Wallace says the group took time to have conversations about their Indigenous culture, talking about their perspectives, backgrounds and reconciliation. 'I think it's important to have those conversations as part of the Indigenous team,' said Roberts. 'We had a ceremony before one of the games, our first game, where we ran out holding flags and they did their drumming and stuff like that. And yeah, I think we all learned a lot from that.' With half the team being new this year, Wallace says the leadership of the veteran players and even some of the newcomers stood out, along with the motivation of playing in front of a home crowd. 'That was kind of our key,' said Wallace. 'Leadership of the new players, but as well as our returning players to help kind of get us over that second place hump, to get us into that gold medal.' Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. 'In Manitoba, we have a (large) population and we have a very proud Indigenous community, so to be able to host it here in Manitoba was very special to our players and it gave us a little bit more motivation,' he said. For Roberts, he plans to try out again next year as Manitoba will look to go back-to-back. 'It was very special to see the bond that's created between these players that normally wouldn't have that opportunity to play against each other,' said Wallace. 'So to see that come together, it was very special for me as someone who's Indigenous as well as someone who's a football coach.' The U16 Western Championships also took place simultaneously over the weekend in Winnipeg, where Saskatchewan came away with the win. Manitoba defeated British Columbia in the bronze medal game, capturing their first medal in seven years.
Winnipeg Free Press
25-06-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘A chance to play football at a high level'
One of Football Canada's longest-standing amateur events is returning to Winnipeg for the first time in nearly two decades. The U16 Western Challenge will draw 160 of the best up-and-comers in tackle football from Western Canada, July 2-6. The tournament will run concurrently with the U18 Indigenous Cup, a separate event being hosted in Manitoba for the first time. Along with the 40-man roster from the host province, the U16 Western Challenge includes teams from Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. CAMERON BARTLETT PHOTO Fergus Kolida is the pivot for Team Manitoba in the U18 Indigenous Cup. Manitoba is hosting the largest iteration of the event for the first time. 'This is the absolute cream of the crop, in terms of U16 players, across the country,' said Bill Johnson, executive director of Football Manitoba. 'If you want to see the best amateur players, U16 level, this is where you get them.' It's the youngest level for interprovincial tackle football, meaning for many kids, it will be their first time representing their province. 'It's huge because we want to give local kids something to look forward to, something to look up to,' said Johnson. 'Our high-performance teams, provincial teams, it's not really on the radar. Kids who are playing tackle football are thinking they want to play university, they want to go on and play Rifles or (Canadian Junior Football League), they want to go on and play CFL, NFL… they never really think about provincial teams.' Manitoba last won the event in 2005. Saskatchewan has dominated in recent years and enters the tournament as four-time reigning champions. Games will go on July 2 (3:30 p.m., 7 p.m.) and July 5 (10 a.m., 1:30 p.m.) at Maple Grove Rugby Park. Meanwhile, the largest iteration of the U18 Indigenous Cup will run for the first time in the province when squads from Saskatchewan, Alberta and Thunder Bay, Ont., (representing Northwestern Ontario) convene. The tournament started as a two-team event between Alberta and Saskatchewan, which both run six-a-side leagues for Indigenous players. Last year, Manitoba jumped into the action, and because the interest has grown, this year will be played at nine-a-side. Manitoba's team, in particular, includes 24 players. 'First and foremost, we want to give these kids a chance to play football at a high level,' said Johnson. 'And for some of these kids, especially if they're coming from a smaller program, a rural program, they maybe haven't had the experiences, the coaching they need to play on our U18 provincial team.' Football Manitoba is running the event in conjunction with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The club's president and CEO, Wade Miller, footed the bill for every player on Team Manitoba last year, and he is doing the same this time around, along with players from Team Northwestern Ontario. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. 'It's really big for them to do that, and it makes it a lot easier, removes some barriers for some of these kids who otherwise just wouldn't be able to do it,' Johnson said. The Indigenous Cup contests take place July 3 (3:30 p.m., 7 p.m.) and July 6 (10 a.m., 1:30 p.m.) at Maple Grove. The action on the field will bookend a cultural event on July 4 (7 p.m.) at Princess Auto Stadium, where teams will celebrate their heritage with performances and traditional games. '(The Manitoba Aboriginal Sport and Recreation Council is) coming out, and they're going to set up some Indigenous-style games for the kids to try. And, for some of them, it's probably the first exposure they've had to some pieces of their culture,' said Johnson. 'It's kind of a cool thing.' Joshua Frey-SamReporter Josh Frey-Sam reports on sports and business at the Free Press. Josh got his start at the paper in 2022, just weeks after graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College. He reports primarily on amateur teams and athletes in sports. Read more about Josh. Every piece of reporting Josh produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
CBC
19-02-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Young twin curlers shoot for the stars at Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay, Ont.
Two young athletes at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay, Ont., have identical ambitions: to compete on the national stage like their mother, four-time Scotties champion skip Kerri Einarson. Twin sisters Kamryn and Khloe Einarson of Camp Morton, Man. are participating in the Future Stars program at the national women's curling championship, where they were paired with Team Manitoba (Einarson) for Tuesday's pre-game ceremony with the athletes. They curl about three to four times a week at the Gimli Recreation Centre. The 11-year-olds often watch their mother play on television, and but say they prefer getting to see her curl in-person . "I think it's a lot more stressful because you don't know what happened, but it's also just not as fun just because you get to see her after the games," said Kamryn of watching her mother on screen. Ahead of Tuesday morning's draw, the girls said the advice they would offer their mother would be to "relax and just have fun and do her thing," said Khloe. Kamryn plays second or third while Khloe usually plays as skip. "Just being on the ice, doing the thing that we love," said Khloe. They also had some words of encouragement to share with other young people who may be interested in curling. "Try it, you might turn out to like it. And if you have people to help you, I think you could grow to be a really good [curler]," said Khloe. "One day you could be on the ice like they are now, or even in the Scotties, so I think you should really try," said Kamryn.
