Josh Zakala left seven Kelowna AquaJets records in his wake, as he swam to six medals at the 20th annual Ice Classic swim meet in Kamloops on the weekend.
The 14-year-old rewrote the history book by lowering the KAJ 200 individual medley record, held by Roland Bauhart since 1995, and shaving three seconds off the 200 breaststoke standard established by Graeme Geen in 1989.
Zakala also bettered his own club records in the 1,500- and 400-metre freestyle events, while helping his teammates lower two relay records in the 14-and-under age group. A time of 2:15.95 lowered Bauhart's IM mark, while Zakala swam a 2:33.30 to break Geen's record.
Sam McDonald, Ben Main and Noah Robertson teamed up with Zakala to set an AquaJets record in the freestyle relay with a time of 1:54.54, while Theo Mohamed, McDonald, Main and Zakala posted a record time of 2:10.40 in the medley relay.
Meanwhile, Main achieved a 2A standard in the 50 freestyle, qualifying him for the short course provincial championships in February in Surrey. Teammate Jenna Butterworth earned a 3A standard in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:57. The provincial 3A championships will be held in Victoria.
Other AquaJets earning to medals were Katie Dunlop (bronze, 200 breast, 2:49.15), Clarisse Obedkoff (bronze, 200 fly, 2:33.30), Taylor Desrosier (bronze, 50 breast, 48:35) and the 10-and-under girls medley team of Kate Cartier Lochlyn Scott, Natalia Greenwood and Desrosier (bronze).
AquaJets making it through preliminaries to swim in the final sessions at night were Clarisse Obedkoff, Emilia Obedkoff, Sydney Rankmore, Tia Itterman, Katie Dunlop, Sophie Schroeder, Jaya Melnyk, Madison Kornell, Jenna Butterworth, Denzel Mohamed, Cameron Feil, Josh Zakala, Sam McDonald, Noah Robertson, Michael Patora and Kjel Cartier.

Three MBSS Bears off to play in Texas

Three members of the Interior Conference champion Mt. Boucherie Bears have earned a trip to Texas during the Christmas break.
Curtis Urlacher, Cameron Spence and Carter Young will be among 36 players representing Football B.C. at the FBU International Games in San Antonio, Dec. 30 to Jan. 6. They're the only players from the B.C. Interior on the team that features 33 players from the B.C. High School Football Association and three who played in the B.C. Community Football Association.
The three Bears attended a regional tryout camp in the spring and were among 100 players short-listed to attend a camp at Simon Fraser University in May.
Team B.C. trimmed the roster to 52 after the second camp, from which the team was selected at a final camp held earlier this month at the B.C. Lions' practice facility in Surrey.
Urlacher, a middle linebacker with the Bears, was selected a B.C. high school provincial all-star, and was named the Interior Conference's outstanding defensive player for 2012.
Spence is a defensive back, who was named to the Okanagan Conference all-star team. He's slated to play safety for Team B.C.
Carter was one of the most versatile players in the Okanagan Conference - playing linebacker and fullback - and that might have contributed to him not being named to the all-star team.
The Boucherie trio and its Team B.C. teammates will open their FBU schedule on Jan. 3 against Team Europe at Heroes Stadium. Their second and final game is against Team U.S.A. on Jan. 5 in the Alamodome.

Bronze for Mustangs at Surrey tournament

Ranked No. 1 among 1A high school boys basketball teams in the province, the Immaculata Mustangs likely maintained their standing with a third-place finish in a tournament in Surrey on the weekend.
The Mustangs, the only 1A team in the tournament, won their opening game at Southridge High School, defeating the 2A Robert Bateman Timberwolves 66-59.
In a semifinal match, Immaculata fell 82-76 to the 3A Panorama Ridge Thunder of Surrey, who went on to win the tournament.
The bronze-medal match saw the Mustangs down the 3A Kwantlen Park Timberwolves 55-45.
Tournament all-star Alex Hart scored 41 points in the win over Robert Bateman, while Chris Macdonnell hit double figures with 12.
Hart, a B.C. under-17 provincial team player, who earned all-star honours at the national championship tournament in the summer, netted 46 points against Panorama. Macdonnell contributed 17 and Michael Gini, 12.
The bronze-medal match saw Hart lead the way again, with 19 points, to go along with 13 by James Casorso and 10 by Gini.
Coach Dino Gini saw his Mustangs taking a big step in improving as a team, and numerous players contributing more on the defensive side.
"I was extremely pleased with the weekend. We saw a lot of zone and I thought we adapted very well," he said. "We moved the ball around well on offence and the guys put in that extra effort on defence. I'm very proud of the boys."

Fripp Rockets fit to be tied

A pair of contrasting games produced the same result for the Kelowna Fripp Warehousing Rockets on the weekend.
Although outshooting the North Kamloops Lions 47-15 on Saturday, the Rockets ran into a hot goaltender and had to settle for a 2-2 draw in their Okanagan Mainline Amateur Hockey Association midget Tier 1 contest.
The next day against the Pursuit of Excellence under-18 team, the Rockets managed only 18 shots and goaltender Chris Turner faced 29, but the game ended in a 3-3 deadlock.
Kobe Oishi and Tanner Campbell scored for the Rockets in the game with North Kamloops, while Sam Bobyn earned the win in goal.
Playing at a higher speed and tempo than they're used to, the Rockets got a taste of what they'll face at the annual Daily Courier Kelowna Elite Midget International tournament next month when they took on POE.
The Rockets, although outplayed early on, adapted to the change of pace and took a 3-1 lead after two periods on goals by Stephen Hawes, Gage Colpron and Adam Beatty.
Penalty trouble for the Rockets early in the third period led to a 5-on-3 goal by POE, while they tied the game with seven minutes remaining.

Knights improve rank with silver medal effort

A second-place finish at a tournament in Chilliwack has moved the Kelowna Christian School Knights up to No. 8 in provincial 2A boys basketball rankings.
The Knights, stepping up to the 2A division after winning four of the past five B.C. School Sports 1A provincial championships, won their first three games at the G.W. Graham Invitational before losing 88-65 to the No. 2-ranked (2A) Holy Cross Crusaders of Surrey.
Despite battling a severe flu bug, the Knights showed they belong in 2A company by defeating the Princess Margaret Mustangs of Penticton 71-55, the King George Dragons of Vancouver 64-63 and the Westsyde Whundas of Kamloops 77-49.
Ryan Linttell, the player of the game, scored 21 points and Jordan Hass added 20 in the opener against Princess Margaret. Eric Langlois and Daniel Seinen chipped in with 10 apiece.
A basket with four seconds remaining on the clock secured the close victory over King George. Drew Schulz, the player of the game, led the Knights' charge with 22 points, while Langlois finished with 12.
Langlois' 18 points was tops for KCS against Westyde, with Linttell and Schulz adding 14 apiece.
The depth of the team showed as Seinen and Ethan Klukas also hit double figures with 12 and 11 points respectively.
In the title game, Seinen stepped forward for his best game of the tournament, scoring 22 to lead the Knights, albeit in a losing cause.