Vikes athletes represent Canada at 2023 Pan American Games

October 20, 2023 - Kelley O'Grady

Collage of UVic Vikes athletes competing at the 2023 Pan American Games.

VICTORIA – Twelve University of Victoria athletes and alumni will compete for Canada in four sports at the 2023 Pan American Games, which run from Oct. 20 - Nov. 5 in Santiago, Chile

Official website | Team Canada | Watch on CBC

Rowing

UVic men's rowing pair Connor Attridge and Quinn Storey will team up to compete on the world stage for the first time in Santiago.

"This is the first [multisport] major event for both Quinn and I, so we're pretty excited—this is the real deal. It's so cool to be surrounded by all of these high-level athletes; at the airport, we saw Maggie Mac Neil and some of the Canadian skateboarding team; it's amazing to be a part of an international event like this," said Attridge.

The Island-based Rowing Canada is opting to send a development team to the Pan Am Games, given that it's not an Olympic qualifier.

Attridge and Storey are the only two decentralized athletes on the team. According to Attridge, the stars aligned, and the Vikes pairing enabled the duo to train together over the past few months while simultaneously preparing for the Pan Am Games and the upcoming Canadian University Rowing Championship.

"This is an amazing opportunity for us as full-time university students to represent Canada at this event. The only reason it's feasible is because of support from Rowing Canada, Aalbert (UVic men's coach), UVic and our professors who made this possible," said Storey, who transferred from UBC this year to begin his masters.

Attridge and Story will also join UVic women's rowing alumna Abby Speirs in the mixed eight, which Canadian gold medalist Kristen Kit will cox. Speirs, who helped the women's rowing team win a national banner in 2022, will also race as a member of the women's eight plus coxswain and the women's four.

Rowing runs October 21-25 (Days 1 to 5) at the Laguna Grande de San Pedro de la Paz in Concepción.

Field Hockey

A berth to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games is on the line for women's field hockey alumna Kathleen Leahy, Alexis DeArmond (reserve), and three-time U SPORTS Player of the Year Anna Mollenhauer.

This will be the second Pan Am Games for Mollenhauer, who graduated from UVic last spring. She made her senior national team debut in 2019 and has since earned 39 CAPS with Team Canada.

With 76 outdoor and 15 indoor national team caps to her name, Leahy will suit up for Canada again as they chase Olympic qualification.

The women's field hockey team qualified for Santiago 2023 by virtue of their bronze medal performances at the Pan American Cup in January 2022. The gold medalists in Santiago will qualify for the Paris Olympics, while the silver and bronze medalists will earn spots in world last-chance qualifying tournaments to be played next year.

They are ranked 15th in the FIH world rankings and are the number three team in the Pan American region.

Travelling with Team Canada as staff members are women's field hockey alumni, Carrie Trumpy and Nancy Mollenhauer, who are going as team managers for the women's and men's field hockey teams respectively.

The women's team will open the group stage with a match against Cuba on October 26. Host nation Chile and Mexico are the other two teams in Canada's pool.

Rugby

Set to make her Canadian women's sevens debut is second-year women's rugby star Carissa Norsten, a Maple Leaf Academy player and last year's U SPORTS Rookie of the Year who shone this past summer with Canada's U20 women's rugby team.

Norsten will leave the Vikes shorthanded at this year's Canada West and U SPORTS Championship to join Team Canada in Santiago. However, for UVic head coach Brittany Waters, a former national team player, she is excited and happy for Norsten, who will gain valuable international experience playing at the highest level.

Joining Norsten is former Vike Shaylaya Valenzuela and alumni Lockie Kratz and Ethan Hager, who will represent the men's side.

While Kratz has become a mainstay on the men's squad, Hager will compete in just his second tournament with the Canadian men's sevens team, having debuted at RAN Sevens in August, where he put on an impressive performance, scoring five tries.

Santiago 2023 will mark the start of a new season for Canada's sevens teams, having last competed at Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens in Langford, B.C, in August. At that event, Canada's women's sevens team punched their ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with a dominant gold medal performance, while the men's team placed second.

Rugby sevens will take place November 3rd and 4th (Days 14 to 15) at the Estadio Municipal de La Pintana.

Swimming

Former Vikes swimmers Erin Hedlin and Danielle Hanus will represent Canada in the water with Heldin in the ocean and Hanus in the pool. In 2015, Hedlin cracked the top-10 in the 10km marathon at the Pan Am Games in Toronto and followed up with his second world championship appearance. He earned a spot on the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games team when he finished second in the men's 10km race at the Canadian Trials under Vikes assistant coach Ryan Clouston.

Hanus, a U SPORTS gold medalist and five-time Vikes record holder, will return to the Pan Am Games for a second time, and is looking to finish atop the podium.

The Pan American Games begin on Oct. 20 and run until Nov. 5.