Hitting his first Major League home run was just one of the highlights of Jared Young’s time with the Chicago Cubs this year.
Prince George's first man to ever make the big leagues followed that with triples in each of the next two games before he started to cool off in July and was sent back down to the triple-A Iowa Cubs.
Back in Iowa, Young’s hitting form returned and he was batting .310 with 21 home runs and 72 RBI when the Cubs called him back in September for their playoff push. He tripled in his first game back and in his next game whacked his second career MLB home run but the Cubs fell short of the postseason.
Acquired on waivers Nov. 6 by the St. Louis Cardinals, Young will have a clean slate trying to earn an everyday MLB position with the Cards when he heads to Jupiter, Fla., in February for spring training.
This was also a spectacular year for Prince George long track speed skater Carolina Hiller.
In her first World Cup season, the 26-year-old Prince George Blizzard alumnus wrapped herself in a Canadian flag for a victory lap as a world champion.
That happened March 2 at the ISU world championships in Herenveen, Netherlands, when Hiller, Brooklyn McDougall and Ivanie Blondin won the team sprint event, after three consecutive silver medal World Cup results.
“Becoming world champion my first year on the World Cup circuit is an incredible feeling,” said Hiller. “I am so proud of us today and the work we have put in each race this season, to be able to end the season as world champions is amazing.”
Hiller is on her game again this season. After winning the 500-metre title at the Canadian championships in October and finishing second-quickest in the 1,000, she cracked the top-10 in the 500m at a World Cup race in Beijing and also won team sprint bronze with Blondin and Maddison Pearlman Dec. 3 in Norway.
The year also marked a medal breakthrough for ski cross racer Tiana Gairns. In her third year competing full-time on the World Cup circuit, the 25-year-old posted her first podium finish, winning bronze on March 12 in Veysonnaz, Switzerland.
Gairns also nailed down six top-10 World Cup finishes and won bronze at a European Cup stop in Reiteralm, Austria, the home of her grandparents, where she learned how to ski as a young girl when she lived there.Gairns is currently sidelined with a knee injury that's kept her out of the races this fall.
Gavin Rowell of Prince George, 24, is also on the World Cup ski cross tour and on Dec. 12 in Arosa, Switzerland, he finished a career-best seventh, topping the 14th-place result he had on Jan 21 in Val Thorens, France.
Biathlete Emily Dickson continued to make progress competing on the World Cup and IBU Cup stages. Her year started on a high Jan. 22 in Italy when she teamed up with Emma Lunder, Nadia Moser and Benita Peiffer to finish a season-high eighth in the relay. At the 2023-24 season-opener in Sweden, Dickson placed 58th in the sprint to qualify for her second career World Cup pursuit.
The 26-year-old Burns Lake native’s battle with celiac disease is ongoing and she has to be vigilant to avoid eating anything which contains gluten. She went to Europe loaded with packages of freeze-dried food prepared by her sister Allie, which has kept her well-nourished and out of sickbay.
Olympic bronze medallist Meryeta O’Dine, 26, is back on the World Cup snowboard cross circuit and started the season in France, posting an eight-place result on Dec. 3. Evan Bichon, 25, is also on board Canada’s World Cup train in men’s snowboard cross, keeping the 2026 Olympics in Italy as his long-term target.
On the junior hockey front, 2023 was a roller-coaster ride for Nico Myatovic. On May 19 in Game 5 of the WHL championship series against the Winnipeg ICE, the 18-year-old Prince George minor hockey product scored the winning goal on a penalty shot which gave the Seattle Thunderbirds their second WHL title.
Two months later, the Anaheim Ducks picked Myatovic 33rd overall in the second round of the NHL draft.
Myatovic was off to a productive start to his third full season in the WHL when he broke his leg late in a game Oct. 17 against Brandon. He and the T-birds are hopeful he will be back in time for the playoffs.
The year is just about over and the Prince George Cougars (24-9) entered the Christmas break ranked first overall in the WHL standings. Cougars forwards Zac Funk and Riley Heidt lead the WHL scoring race, each with 63 points. The Cougars also have two hotshot rookies making waves. Winger Terik Parascak has 52 points in 33 games and goalie Josh Ravenbergen has already tied the WHL rookie record with his six shutouts this season.
In high school volleyball, the Cedars Christian Eagles won their first high school volleyball provincial championship since 1998, claiming the single-A boys title Dec. 2 in Vancouver with a five-set win over Unity Christian of Chilliwack.
