Team N.W.T. hot competitors

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Two years ago at the 1992 Arctic Winter Games, the Northwest Territories came third in the standings with 93 medals.

N.W.T. athletes racked up 26 gold medals, 33 silvers, and 34 bronzes, a total exceeding that of three other teams during the games held in Whitehorse, Yukon.

Scores of participants are hoping to surpass that total at the '94 Slave Lake, Alberta Games, and many have a good shot at the winners podium.

But the chef-de-mission for the '94 Games won't make any predictions as to how the 351 territorial athletes will do at the competition; he said his emphasis is elsewhere.

"I only have three goals for the kids. One - give it your best shot. Two - be good ambassadors for the N.W.T. Three - have fun, and if you win a medal it's a bonus," Dave Hurley said.

Hurley is the executive director of the Sport North Federation, a non-profit organization which is responsible for coordinating, preparing and selecting the team that will represent the N.W.T. at the Arctic Winter Games.

For those observers who want to keep an eye out for competitors who may do well, the following have been pointed out by Sport North Development officers.

In Arctic sport - Inuit games, Tim Anotingoar from Chesterfield Inlet has won medals at the many games he's been to and used to hold the world record in the head pull, said Sport North's Doug Rentmeister. Anotingoar is one of eight people competing in the open men category.

Both Julie Oolayou, from Lake Habour, and Meika MacDonald of Fort Smith are strong contenders in the open women category, each having won multiple medals in past games.

In basketball, both the junior men and junior women team earned silver two years ago. Bill Othmer, who's in charge of basketball for the territorial sports organization, said it's hard to predict how this year's junior players will place since there are so many new members.

He pointed out many are in the N.W.T.'s High Performance Program for basketball, which will form the next Canada Summer Games squad. Players to watch for good showings include Jordan Harker on the men's side and Terra Ward on the women's team.

Turning to badminton, Melanie Langille of Coral Harbour and Bernie Bennett of Yellowknife are expected to do well in the junior women's and open men's categories, respectively.

Two young cross country skiers to watch are Fort Smith's Corey McLachlan and Kirk Magrum from Hay River, both of whom have been burning up the ski trails for the past few years. They each earned medals at the last Games. McLachlan finished first and Magrum second in the junior men category during the game trials in January.

Rentmeister said the two N.W.T. junior curling squads should be melting the sheets in Alberta.

"Both are contenders...they're very dominant teams," Rentmeister said. "We're looking for big things out of these teams, at both the Arctic Winter Games and the nationals."

The junior men's team, skipped by Kevin Koe, went 6-0 at the N.W.T.-Yukon playdowns. Tara Hamer also skipped the junior women's team, wins and no losses at the same competition. Both will be representing the N.W.T. at the national in Truro, Nova Scotia, two weeks after Slave Lake.