It was a banner year in sports for local athletes on the provincial, national and global stage. (Harbourside FC/VIU Mariners/The Canadian Press/Island Images Photography/Nanaimo NightOwls)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

champions

Top Stories of 2024: Gold medals, national titles and plenty of success for local athletes

Dec 26, 2024 | 10:23 AM

NANAIMO — Headlined by multiple Olympic and Paralympic gold medals, but backed up by provincial and national championships, key rebuilds and lots of success — the year in sport on the mid-Island was a big one.

While NanaimoNewsNOW will have more on this as our series continues, the biggest sports story of the year was the success of Ethan Katzberg in the men’s hammer throw, and Nicholas Bennett in the pool during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Katzberg blew away the field, sending his first throw 84.12 metres on Aug. 4, a mark no other competitor would come remotely close to throughout competition.

It was Canada’s first medal in the hammer event in over 100 years, and was backed up a few days later by Canada also winning gold in the women’s hammer throw.

Bennett’s accomplishments in the pool were prolific in Paris, winning two gold in individual medley and breaststroke events, and a silver medal in freestyle.

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Both medal winners were joined in Paris by Olivia Lundman, from Lantzville, and Trevor Hirschfield from Parksville.

Lundman and her partner Evan Dunfee placed 20th in the new race walk marathon event, while Hirschfield was a member of Canada’s wheelchair rugby team.

On the ice
It was an eventful year for local hockey teams, with not all the action happening on the ice.

In January, five Alberta Junior Hockey League teams made the mid-season decision to defect to the British Columbia Hockey League.

While the Nanaimo Clippers are yet to cross paths with their Alberta counterparts yet in regular season action, it’s expected games will happen sooner rather than later.

After playing in a mini-league in the 2023/24 season, the five clubs joined the BCHL’s interior division for the 2024/25 season.

The Clippers themselves had a mixed 2024, finished fifth in the Coastal division for the 2023/24 season with a record fo 27-23-3-1, before falling 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs to Victoria.

Results have been up and down in the 2024/25 campaign, with the team sitting eighth in the division at the Christmas break with a record of 10-15-2.

Veteran goaltender Darian Feser has been instrumental to the Bucs success this season. (Damon James/Island Images Photography)

The VIJHL also made news in April , with the league following in the BCHL’s footsteps and breaking away from Hockey Canada.

The move to an independent league status allowed for more crossover with BCHL clubs on the Island for affiliate players.

Once play got underway in September, both mid-Island teams had drastically different results.

VIJHL champions in 2023, the Oceanside Generals faltered and sit last in the league with a 5-23-3 record, while their mid-Island cousins the Nanaimo Buccaneers experienced somewhat of a resurgence.

After just seven wins over their last three seasons, the Buccaneers moved in the right direction under new head coach Bill Bestwick and are 12-17-1-1 at the break.

Field of play
The boys of summer also took major steps forward in 2024, with both the Nanaimo NightOwls and Harbourside FC seeing some gains.

In their third season of West Coast League play, the NightOwls went 26-28 through their season and finished just outside the playoffs.

While the goal of making the WCL’s post season remains unfulfilled, fans saw an exciting product at Serauxmen Stadium, including a Canada Day double header with Island-rival Victoria, as well as considerable local and import talent on display nightly.

Despite Nanaimo not making the post season, local fans still saw playoff ball as the Victoria HarbourCats were forced to relocate for one of their post-season games in August, due to a scheduling conflict with their facility on the south Island.

Billy Bagiopoulos (front right) and Suka Behery (front left) have driven a majority of Harbourside’s offence this season, combining for 17 goals. (Harbourside FC)

Next door, Harbourside FC’s teams again had mixed results.

The men’s squad earned the club’s first event League1 BC playoff berth, where they took on regular season champion TSS Rovers in late July.

Boosted by the league’s leading scorer Billy Bagiopoulos, and a dynamic partnership with Suka Behery, the team finished fourth in the standings and were able to secure their playoff spot before their final game of the regular season.

The women’s team finished 2-8-2, good for sixth place in the standings, after narrowly missing out on playoffs last year.

However, many of the players were part of a PACWEST-winning VIU Mariners squad which won the provincial title for the second time in three years via a narrow 1-0 win over Capilano in October.

The nation’s best
The VIU Mariners men’s and women’s basketball teams continued to earn their success.

At the holiday break, the men’s team was ranked as the best team in the CCAA, thanks in large part to their perfect 12-0 record.

A score-by-committee approach has led to considerable success for the team, led by Kameron Bender and Kaeleb Johnson offensively.

The women’s team were ranked fifth in the country at the end of the season’s first half, going 11-1 through their schedule to date.

Elsewhere, former junior hockey player-turned powerlifter Tyler Ollech earned a silver medal at the Canadian Powerlifting Union National Championships, held in Prince Edward Island in September.

Ollech made the move into competitive lifting around two years ago and competed in the 74 kilogram class, breaking some personal records in the process.

On the skate park, 12-year-old Evie Pritchard took home multiple medals at events across North America in 2024.

She started her year with a silver at the Canada Skateboard National Street Championships in Montreal, then placed fourth at an amateur competition in Phoenix, Arizona.

Pritchard wrapped her year with a bronze medal at Exposure, an event for women and non-binary skaters held annually in California.

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