The North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) have finished up - and talent from northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan communities came to play, bringing home golds, silvers and bronze.
Denare Beach’s Keeston and Clinton Merasty will be bringing home multiple medals, thanks to their prowess in the athletics events for Team Saskatchewan. Keeston earned silver medals as part of Team Saskatchewan in the under-16 male 4x100-metre and 4x400-metre relay races, along with a bronze medal in the under-16 male javelin event. Keeston came close to winning a fourth medal, finishing fourth in the under-16 male high jump event. Keeston’s best jump was 1.55 metres, missing out on the podium by just five millimetres.
Clinton won a trio of bronze medals and, like Keeston, finished just shy of a fourth medal. Clinton won bronze in the under-14 male shotput and discus events and was part of Team Saskatchewan’s under-14 male 4x400-metre relay team, winning another bronze medal. Clinton nearly won a fourth medal in the under-14 male javelin event, with a best throw of 33.23 metres, just seven millimetres short of New Mexico’s Sequan N Shendo-Smith’s 33.3 metre bronze-medal winning throw.
Jackson Chastellaine, originally from Cranberry Portage, was one of the most decorated athletes in the field for Team Manitoba, winning two gold and two silver medals. Chastellaine won both the 80-metre and 150-metre races in the male under-14 category, adding silver medals with Team Manitoba in the 4x100-metre and 4x400-metre team relay events. Jackson’s younger brother Cashton also won two silver medals as part of the relay team in the same events.
Paddling
The Saskatchewan canoe/kayak team was full of northern talent, with some paddlers coming back to the north with multiple medals to their names.
Out of the northern contingent, the Custers from Deschambault Lake had the best individual performance. Seventeen-year-old Rustin and 19-year-old Serge, brought home a combined eight medals, including three gold medals, for their skills on the water, including winning three events together as a two-man team.
Rustin and Serge won gold in both the under-19 male two-paddler 1,000-metre race, silver in the under-19 male two-paddler 6,000-metre race and bronze in the under-19 male two-paddler 3,000-metre race.
Rustin also earned two medals in mixed races, including a gold in the under-19 mixed two-paddler 6,000-metre race. Rustin was with paddler Elena Deschambeault in the mixed event. Rustin and fellow paddler Cathryn Michel also won bronzes in the under-19 mixed two-paddler 1,000-metre race.
The Custers weren’t the only duo from Deschambault Lake winning medals. Ava and Avery Sewap did the same in the under-16 female two-paddler 1,000-metre race, winning bronze together. The two also nearly won a second bronze, finishing fourth in the under-16 female two-paddler 3,000-metre race - Ava also finished fourth in the under-16 female solo 1,000-metre event.
Pelican Narrows’ Jaylynn Custer finished with a silver medal in the under-19 female solo 6,000-metre race.
Several other northern Saskatchewan athletes came home with one or more bronze medals. Embry Roberts from Pelican Narrows finished the games with three of them, earning a solo medal in the under-19 male 1,000-metre race. Roberts and fellow Pelican Narrows paddler Klayton Linklater earned bronze medals in the under-19 male two-paddler 1,000-metre race and the under-19 male two-paddler 6,000-metre race.
Shiloh Custer and Royce Charles won a pair of bronze medals together, finishing third in both the under-16 male two-paddler 1,000-metre and 3,000-metre races. The team of Cerise Charles and Ronisha McKay also earned bronze in the under-16 female two-paddler 3,000-metre race, while Shaylisa Ballantyne took home a solo bronze for her finish in the under-19 female 1,000-metre race.
Other sports
A pair of athletes originally from Opaskwayak Cree Nation who play for Flin Flon-area sports teams each won silver medals as part of the Team Manitoba under-19 male soccer team. Antonio Constant and Cheechoo Lathlin both played for the club, which beat Alberta in the opening round, then Ontario in the semifinal, setting up a finals matchup against British Columbia, which had already beaten Manitoba in pool play. B.C. beat Team Manitoba 3-0 in the final, sending the Manitoba squad home with silver medals.
Both Constant and Lathlin came to the Flin Flon area last season to play with local hockey teams. Constant suited up with the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN) Selects and played soccer with the Hapnot Collegiate Kings, while Lathlin made the Flin Flon Bombers out of training camp last year before missing most of the season with an injury.
Constant’s PBCN teammate Carson Favel also finished with a medal at the games. Originally from Ile-a-la-Crosse, Favel won gold in the under-19 male shotput event, putting the shot 13.07 metres (42 feet, 11 inches) from the start.
Flin Flon’s Hanna Lytwyn finished just short of the medals with the Team Manitoba under-19 female volleyball squad. The Manitoba team lost to Alberta twice but beat British Columbia twice in the preliminary round, moving them into the medal round where they beat Ontario in a five-set comeback thriller 20-25, 18-25, 25-5, 25-15, 15-9 to move on to the semifinals. Manitoba lost three sets to one to eventual silver medallists Wisconsin, setting up a bronze medal matchup with old foes Alberta, who beat Manitoba in three straight sets.
