Alix Wells achieved her Canada Winter Games goal on Thursday.
The 15-year-old Kelly Road secondary school student placed 15th in the women's super-combined (slalom, giant slalom) event at Ski Wentworth in Nova Scotia.
Knowing she will also be eligible for the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, Wells wasn't about to predict her own medal success at the Halifax Games and in her Team B.C. biography said she was shooting for a 15th-place result.
Now that she's done that, Wells will no doubt raise her sights on climbing higher in the standings for her final alpine event of the Games, the slalom races today. Wells, who has been living in Invermere during the ski season, finished 17th in the women's giant slalom on Wednesday.
She's still on the mend after suffering a broken leg on the soccer field in June.
In cross-country skiing, 21-year-old Matt Neumann of Prince George finished 17th Thursday in the men's 15-kilometre classic race at Ski Martock. Neumann covered the course in 39 minutes 45 seconds.
Jesse Cockney of Canmore, Graeme Killick of Fort McMurray and Kevin Sandau of Calgary made it an Alberta sweep of the medals. Cockney won a dash for the finish, stopping the clock in 37:03.3, three-tenths of a second ahead of Killick. Sandau won bronze in 37:04.6.
Alysson Marshall of Salmon Arm won gold for Team B.C. in the women's 10km classic race. Marshall's time of 29:32.03 beat that of silver medalist Emily Nishikawa of Whitehorse (29:34.6) and bronze medalist Andrea Lee of Black Creek, B.C. (29:35.4).
Team B.C. currently ranks third in the medal standings with 75, one less than the total won at the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse, with three days of competition left.
Three para -nordic athletes from B.C. finished on the podium Thursday. Asquith (Lou) Gibson of Langley won his third silver medal in as many events, finishing third in the 5km sit-ski event. In the 5km standing classic race, Mary Benson of South Surrey won silver, while former Prince George resident Courtney Knight of Burnaby, with guide Andrea Bundon of Vancouver, captured bronze.
B.C.'s figure skaters won three medals. Madeline Edwards and Zhaokai Pang of Port Moody won gold in novice dance, while Noa Bruser of Vancouver and Timothy Lum of Burnaby won bronze. Mitchell Gordon of Vancouver nailed down bronze in the novice men's competition.
In badminton, Team B.C. defeated Newfoundland and Labrador 5-0, followed by a 5-0 win over New Brunswick. Lisa Davison of Prince George is the B.C. badminton team manager.
B.C. has sent 242 athletes, 74 coaches and 22 mission staff to the Games in Halifax, which wrap up on Sunday.
