THE FREE PRESS SPORTS VOL.7 NO.27 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2001 SECTION D www.pgfreepress.com Lea Oulton of the Bulkley Valley never gave up her lead in the junior girls 850 metre sprint. John mckenzie/free press Disarmed for Cup Former national biathlete makes smooth transition to X-country The Thursday PLAYBOOK ♦------------------------ ► Women 'Wolves win weekend The UNBC Timberwolves women’s basketball squad made significant gains this weekend while on the road, garnering their second and third wins of the season. The ‘Wolves defeated Douglas College 53-49 Friday, then Kwantlen 72-41 Saturday night. The two wins put the T-Wolves at six points, half the points needed to challenge for a playoff spot. The UNBC men didn’t fare as well. Coming off a split last weekend at home they gave up both games this weekend, losing to Douglas 86-74 Friday and Kwantlen 78-71 Saturday. The losses bumped the ‘Wolves out of the sixth-place playoff position they seized the previous weekend. Next ‘Wolves games are at home, February 10. ^Judo gold in Kamloops Thirty-four Prince George judokas brought back medals from the Kamloops Open Judo Tournament this past weekend. From the Hart Judo Academy Darby Yule and Curran Furry were gold in their divisions. Jonathan Strasdin, Nicole Bere-zowski, Ashley Strasdin, Stefan Zwiers and Gaston Gillard won golds for the PG Judo Club. Fallon Woodhouse, Christine Goldthorpe, Jessica Goldthorpe, Shawna Hemshuck, Casey Cameron and Jenna McGregor each brought back a gold medal for the College Heights Judo Club, but Kait-lyn Woodhouse came back with the most hardware, winning gold medals in three different divisions. The meet was the final selection tournament for the BC Team to represent at the Junior National Championship in April. Final selections will be made this week. ► Benson burns up Cup races Jacqui Benson raced a division up from her junior ranking as a senior at two Continental Cup cross-country ski competitions over the past few weeks. The Caledonia Nordic Ski Club member placed 10th overall in sprints, 16th in classic and 26th in freestyle at the Cup race in St. Paul, Minnesota in late January Earlier this month she placed 8th in sprints, 10th in classic and 13th in freestyle at another Cup race in Ish-peming, Michigan. For Tuppy Hoehn, making the jump from biathlon to crosscountry competition was no more difficult than unslinging the rifle. The former national biathlon team member dove in headfirst as a member of the UNBC Cross Country Ski Team after retiring from national competition last year to pursue her post-secondary education. She missed the sprint competition Saturday at the second BC Cup race at Otway, but skied to an easy gold medal in the senior women’s division during Sunday’s 10-kilometre classic with a time of 36:13.3. Although Hoehn competed at the national level in biathlon for five years, Sunday was her first ever standard Nordic competition. While the two sports overlap quite a bit, Hoehn says it was still a challenge to adjust to skiing without pausing to shoot targets. “I’m kind of getting used to it now. It’s just about learning to pace yourself and get the rhythm of it down without the shooting,” she says. Biathlon competitions range anywhere from 7.5 to 15-kilometres. A biathlon race equivalent to the cross-country 10-kilometre Hoehn won Sunday would include four target-shooting portions as well. “The dynamics of the race itself are very different, going straight through like that. But stopping to shoot doesn’t necessarily make it eas- Please turn to Young, Page B2 SPRUCE KINGS HOST 2nd PLACE MERRITT CENTENNIALS Friday, February 9th and Saturday, February 10th at 7:30 pm Minor hockey players wearing team jersey admitted for only a toonie. FRIDAY NITE IS "ROYAL BANK TOONIE TOSS NITE" ADULTS $8 SENIORS/STUDENTS $6 CHILDREN $5