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Burnaby medals in all divisions at summer swim provincials

The Burnaby Barracudas medalled in all four age groups, including a pair of gold medals, at the B.C. summer swimming water polo provincials in Nanaimo last week.

The Burnaby Barracudas medalled in all four age groups, including a pair of gold medals, at the B.C. summer swimming water polo provincials in Nanaimo last week.

Burnaby's under-14 and u-16 coed teams both won gold, defeating runner-up Abbotsford Whalers in their respective finals on Aug. 15.

The u-14 Barracudas defeated Abbotsford 8-2 in the B.C. title match led by a pair of hat tricks by Luka Maletic and Dasha Strigoun.

Maletic tallied all three of this goals in the opening quarter to give Burnaby an early 4-0 advantage. Keith Jung and Ty Koch also scored for the 'Cudas.

Alex Kalajdzic had a solid game in the Burnaby net.

The u-16 Barracudas had an exciting 5-4 victory over the Whalers in the championship final.

Gareth Jones, who was one of five swimmers, including Stewart Crombie, Nabil AliMohammad, Sade Alexis and Isabelle Joaquin, playing up in the earlier u-18 gold-medal match, scored the game-winning goal with his second marker of the match with less than three minutes left.

Crombie opened the scoring at the 15-second mark. Maletic, playing up from u-14, tallied later in the first quarter to give Burnaby a 2-0 lead. Maria Strigoun also scored in a tight fourth quarter.

The underage u-18 team lost a tight 11-10 decision in overtime to Coquitlam, a team with five nationallevel players in the lineup, in the provincial final.

Jones counted five goals, while Henry Mackenzie added four.

Leo Shen tied the score 10-10 with just 16 seconds left in regulation time to send the game into extra time.

"The 18-and-under team battled it out in a David-and-Goliath situation," said Burnaby coach Patrick Geary. "It was an incredible effort."

Burnaby's u-12 team also came home with a silver medal following a 10-8 loss to Crescent Beach in the provincial final.

Wilson Chieng and Nemanja Ivezic were the top goalgetters for the mainly first-year Burnaby players in the game.

The Barracudas' roster included four swimmers eight years old or younger.