Highlight Reel – May 2006

Highlight Reel – May 2006

Swimming

Oliver Dawson set two brand-new Canadian Records and wins three Silver Medals!

Five Canadians, all from the Grande Prairie Piranhas Swim Club competed at the prestigious AP Race at the iconic London Aquatics Centre. It’s an elite event created by Olympic legend Adam Peaty, with 850 competitors from 40 nations with over 11,000 spectators.

Dawson’s lightning-fast speed in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke, clocked a 59.33 to capture Silver and become only the third Canadian male in history to break the 1:00 barrier. Eighteen year old Dawson was just a fraction of a second behind Great Britain’s Adam Ramsay-Peaty, a seasoned veteran at the age of 32.

But he wasn’t done yet. Dawson secured his second Canadian Record in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke with a personal best 27.29 seconds for Silver, and added a third Silver to his haul in the 200m Breaststroke Super Final (2:08.93), just behind Great Britain’s Filip Nowacki. Dawson will represent Canada at the Commonwealth Games this July.
 

Hudson Frayn competed for Canada against the elite international roster including Oliver Dawson and Adam Peaty. In the Men’s 200m Breaststroke he achieved a Personal Best of 2:22.03, shaving 3.87 seconds off his previous best time.

Frayn also set 3 new season’s best times in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke finishing 29th overall in the prelims (1:04.67), 30th overall in the prelims of the 50m Breaststroke (29.21) less than 2 seconds behind the podium, and swam a 24.98 in the 50m Freestyle.

In the Junior Division:
Marley Monson won Gold in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke B Final (1:09.86), a time that would have placed her 9th overall in the super final, and Gold in the Women’s 50m Breaststroke Junior Final.


Mikayla Laurin earned a 5th place in the Women’s 100m Backstroke Junior Final and 7th place in the Women’s 50m Backstroke Junior Final.

Henrico Jordaan swam to a 7th place finish in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke Junior Final and 9th in the Men’s 50m Freestyle Junior Final.

Biathlon

Liam Tinworth was named to Biathlon Canada’s Development Team.

This past season he represented Canada at the International Biathlon Union Cups in Norway and the United States, with personal best finishes. He also achieved a Bronze medal in the 12.5km Mass Start at the Canadian National Biathlon Championships.

Liam got his start at the Wapiti Nordic Centre located South of Grande Prairie and currently trains at the Biathlon Alberta Training Centre.

Basketball

Deng Ngor was selected for Basketball Canada’s U18 Spring Training Camp and offered a spot on Team Canada for the FIBA U18 Men’s AmeriCup hosted by the International Basketball Federation.  

Deng was recognized as the Junior Male Athlete of the Year at the 2024 Northwestern Sport Excellence Awards (now known as the Grande Prairie Subaru Sport Excellence Awards).

Volleyball

Martin Noskey competed on two teams at the USA Volleyball Open Adult National Championships as part of the Canadian Men’s Masters Volleyball program. Team Canada earned the Silver Medal in the 50’s Bronze division, and in the 55’s Gold division Team Canada placed 4th.

Martin is an active part of the Board of Directors for the Grande Prairie Regional Sport Connection.

He has previous been the Head Coach for the Alberta U19 Men’s Volleyball team at the North American Indigenous Games, coached Zone 8 for the Alberta Winter Games (indoor volleyball) and Alberta Summer Games (beach volleyball) as well as coaching club, high school and junior high volleyball in the region.

Volleyball

Jeff Smith was the Assistant Coach of the USA Men’s Sitting Paralympic Volleyball Team competing at the USA Volleyball Open Adult National Championships in Orlando. They earned the Silver medal. They defeated Germany and Canada to get to the final. Brazil won Gold.

Jeff Smith also coached the U16 Velocity Volleyball Club female athletes to a Silver Medal in their tier at Nationals in Calgary.

Jeff previously volunteered 6 years of his time as a Director on the Board for the Grande Prairie Regional Sport Connection. He was also the Head Coach of Team Canada’s Men’s Sitting Paralympic Team for 8 years, earning Bronze at the World Paravolley Zonal and Bronze at the Para Pan Am Games.

Locally, Coach Jeff has inspired volleyball athletes who represented the Grande Prairie Regional College, Peace Wapiti Academy, Arctic Winter Games and several club programs, as well as across the province for Team Alberta, SAIT, University of Calgary and more.

Volleyball

Congratulations to the U16 Girls of Velocity Volleyball for winning the Silver Medal in their tier at the U16 Girls Youth National Championships!

They were coached by Chad Thomson and Jeff Smith.
Congratulations to the U18 athletes and coaches of the Velocity Volleyball Club. They earned the Gold Medal and are the U18 Girls Alberta Provincial Champions! The coaching team included Lane Matthews.

Hockey

Kamryn Ressler (of Grande Prairie) and Kasha Moses (of Calais) won the Silver Medal at the 2026 National Aboriginal Hockey Championships for the U18 Female Team Alberta in Regina, Saskatchewan. Locally they play for the Peace Country Female Athletic Club.
Congratulations to the Fairview Falcons on capturing Gold at the 2026 U18 Female B Hockey Provincials!

Track & Field

Joe Larsback, representing Fairview, captured four Gold Medals at the 55+ Alberta Summer Games! He swept the 70+ division track events in the 50m, 100m and 200m dashes, and added a fourth Gold to his haul in Long Jump.

He’s a retired bull rider who also competed in saddle bronc, and later turned his focus to extreme endurance sports conquering ultramarathons like the Sinister 7 in the Crowsnest Pass and Grande Cache’s legendary Canadian Death Race as both an individual and with a team.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Connor Lilley competed in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at the ADCC West Coast Trials in Los Angeles, California, a prestigious no-gi grappling tournament in a grueling, single elimination open event featuring over 700 top grapplers. The Gold medallist in each of the 8 weight divisions earn invites to the ADCC World Championships.

Connor has achieved his Purple Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

He began his martial arts training in karate and then started with BJJ as an athlete at the age of 8. At Heiho Dojo he’s grown his skills as an athlete and has also become a Training Partner and Coach.

Cheerleading

Danica Lefebvre and the University of Alberta Cheer Team have been named Team Canada for the FISU World University Championship this June in Sweden. They’ll be competing in the All Girl Elite Division.

They also earned the title of Collegiate Provincial Champions at the Alberta Cheerleading Association and were given the Sportsmanship Award.

The U of A Cheer Team also placed 2nd at the PCA Collegiate event in the Small Coed Advanced Division.

Danica got her start in cheer with Grande Prairie’s Gymniks All Stars Cheerleading program.

Dance 

The Troyanda Ukrainian Dancers earned the best of the fest winning 🥇1st place at the Shumka Dance Festival with their performance of Ancient Bukovyna.

These senior dancers from Grande Prairie under the direction of Troyanda alumnus Kailey Guenette, were also presented with the Bridgette Hardy-Crytes Festival Spirit Award.

 

If your sport organization has a team, athlete, coach or official with a championship, provincial, national or international highlights, send it to us. Submit pictures and event details by the 20th of the month to info@gpsportconnect.ca.*

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