Josh Chalmers

Multimedia Journalist

Strathmore and area athletes were well represented at last weekends Alberta Summer Games in Lethbridge, and many came away from the tournament a

success.

The Zone 2 female rugby team came away from their tournament with gold medals.

While the boys' baseball and girls' basketball team won bronze and the girls softball team came away with a fourth place

finish.

Girls' Rugby

Carter Jones and Jade Ballance represented the area on the rugby team.

The Zone 2 rugby team had practiced only five times and had never played seven a side before the summer games.

Their first game was a true learning experience but they were able pull off a tie against the zone 4 team from Red Deer. In the second game of the day against Zone 8 they played amazingly and put up a tournament high 59 points, which is an impressive feat considering they only play seven minute halves.

They played Zone 6 in the last of the pools games and needed to produce another impressive score to ensure the upper hand in the tie break against Zone 4.

The girls responded with a 46 point victory giving them top spot in their pool.

In the semi-final they played against Zone 5, which surrounds Edmonton. The girls came out of the gate quickly scoring in the first minute of the game. Carter Jones scored on 50 metre run after breaking the first tackle. Shortly after that Jade picked up a short pass and dove into the try zone for the score.

The Zone 2 team went on to a 26-12 victory setting up a rematch against Zone 4 who they tied in their first game. After two days of grueling rugby and 30 plus degree weather the athletes were rewarded with a video dance party that all 2600 athletes were to attend.

The finals were played with 10 minute halves because it would be there only game of the day. From the onset you knew this was going to be a good game. The teams were very evenly matched and were forced to fight for every inch of the field. Zone 2 scored first but missed the convert giving them a five point lead. With a minute left In the half they gave up a try. With the game tied early in the second half Zone 2 was on a breakaway about to score when the winger was pulled down by the shirt collar. Because she would have scored if the penalty didn't take place they were awarded a penalty try and the kicker converted it. The last four minutes seemed to take for ever. Zone 4 was able to score but were forced to the outside leading to an attempted conversion from the side line which was missed.

With the ball being fed into the scrum by Zone 2 all they needed was a stoppage in play to end the game. They won the scrum but the ball came out sloppy and they we unable to get the stoppage they needed and turned the ball over. Zone 4 handled the ball inside the 22 meter line for over a minute before committing a handling error ending the game.

The coaching staff of Sophie Martin and Jerry Flaws were very impressed with the girls play and how quickly they were able to learn the game. With only 5 practices it was a quick learning curve but the girls rose to the challenge and captured the gold medal. Carter Jones scored seven tries for a total of 35 points and Jade Ballance wasn't far behind with five tries and 25 points. The two girls played extremely well and were a big apart of the teams success.

Girls' basketball

The Zone 2 girls' basketball team went 1-2 in round robin play before dropping their semifinal game 72-48 to Zone 3.

In the Bronze Medal game the team clinched a third place finish with a 55-39 victory over Zone 6.

Boys' Baseball

The Zone 2 boys' baseball team went 2-1 in the round robin, before losing in their semifinal game 11-3 to Zone 7.

The boys won the bronze medal with an 8-4 win on the final day of the tournament against Zone 6, a team they beat in the first game of the tournament.