Bellingham paddlers make big medal haul at national championships

Eight athletes competing for the Bellingham Canoe and Kayak Sprint Team combined to bring home 23 gold medals, seven silver and five bronze from the National Sprint Championships held Aug. 3-6 in Oklahoma City.

“It was overall a successful experience, and I am so excited I got to go through it with my second family, my team,” Sierra Noskoff said in a news release. “We are all so close, and we all support each other. It was a really great nationals.”

Abby Scoggins, Noskoff, Ana Swetish and Elena Wolgamot made a clean sweep of the gold medals in the Bantam (U14) age group and nearly claimed all the silvers, as well. Milan Gauthier and Emma McCoy combined to earn a number of gold, silver and bronze medals in the Juvenile (U16) age group, while Swetish and Wolgamot picked up a couple of gold and silver medals racing up in the U16 age group.

Gauthier was invited to join the Olympic Hopes USA Team for competition in Hungary later this month.

Fellow BCKST members Chayse Gauthier, Jonas Ecker and Cameron Bartlett also had good showings, making it to several event finals and posting personal best times, according to the release.

“I loved how much I learned about racing in a highly competitive and incredibly friendly environment.” McCoy said in the release.

This story was originally published August 11, 2016 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Bellingham paddlers make big medal haul at national championships."