Many local athletes came home from the 2014 Saskatchewan Winter Games last week with a new friend hanging around their neck.
Estevan athletes helped win 10 of the 37 medals earned by Team South East at the Games in Prince Albert, which ended on Saturday.
Many others from surrounding areas also came home with some hardware.
Among the medals Estevan teenagers won individually or contributed to as part of a team were four silver medals in synchronized swimming, three silvers and a bronze in table tennis and two silvers in hockey.
The South East female curling team, comprised of four athletes from nearby areas, also claimed gold.
The district finished sixth in the medal standings, with 10 gold, 15 silver and 12 bronze. Regina won the medal count with 89, edging out Saskatoon with 87.
South East synchro team manager Brenda Lyons said the experience at the Games was surreal, adding her team made the most of it by spending time in the athletes' lounge, going to movies and other activities.
The festivities came to an end on Saturday with the Saskatchewan Games flag being handed over to Estevan, which will host the Summer Games in 2016.
Estevan also got some good news, as the Saskatchewan Games Council announced a legacy program on Friday which will provide funding for host cities to build venues and complete upgrades.
Future hosts can apply to the Games Council for legacy program funding of up to $250,000, which must be matched by the host community.
Lyons, who is co-chair of marketing and communication for the 2016 Games, said the announcement will help the committee secure sponsors.
"From what they told us, it's an amazing program. To have our sponsorship dollars matched dollar for dollar is amazing. Not all the money going into capital projects will have to come from our corporate community, but it'll be nice for them to know their money is going twice as far."
Lyons noted the money earned through the matching program will be diverted largely to the building of a new track and resurfacing the tennis courts at the high school.
SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING
For the district synchro team, comprised mainly of Estevan Mermaids swimmers, last week was the stuff of dreams.
The team's medal haul included silver for Tracy Irwin in figures, Brooke Kruger in solo, Irwin and Hannah Whitman in duet, and another silver in the team competition.
"The girls were really focused on their goals and knew exactly what they needed to do going into their competitions," said Lyons.
"It was pretty remarkable. We're always considered one of the underdogs, so to go in against Saskatoon and Regina, they train a lot more than we do, but we knew we had a really, really strong team. We knew we had the ability to get a team medal. We didn't really set individual medal goals. I sorta knew in the back of my head we were going to be contenders in those, but you never really know at any given time."
For Irwin, whose medal in the team event brought her total to three, Lyons said it was rewarding to see her follow through on her expectations for herself.
"Tracy Irwin got a silver in figures, which is really very hard to do because there were 65 athletes. It's really incredible. She swam a really good duet performance as well. She had high expectations this year and I think she put a lot of pressure on herself."
Kruger, meanwhile, had a breakthrough performance in her solo event and also placed fourth in figures.
"Brooke's medal was definitely the best she's ever swam her routine. It's not a huge surprise, but maybe her placing was higher than we had anticipated. I'm very, very proud of that routine."
The members of the second-place group in the team event were Irwin, Kruger, Whitman, Taylor Kuntz, Eden Palmer, Danika Poirier, Kelsey Potoma and Alyssa Wieting.
In other results, Hannah Mantei was sixth in the solo event, Potoma was 11th and Nyla Dyck was 12th. Palmer and Wieting finished 10th in the duet competition.
It was the first Winter Games experience for Lyons and team coach Tess Rensby, and she said it was the highlight of her coaching career.
CURLING
The South East rink of Chaelynn Kitz (skip), Angela Hookenson (third), Taylor Marcotte (second) and Halynne Lamontagne (lead) had a week to remember, capturing the gold medal in female curling.
The team, coached by Shane Kitz, defeated Regina 6-4 in the gold medal game on Saturday.
Kitz stole one in the seventh end to put her ahead by one coming home without hammer. In the eighth, Kitz threw a perfectly placed guard on a stone in the four-foot, leaving a draw for Regina, but their last stone rolled off of Kitz's shot rock to give the locals the win.
The Kitz rink went 4-0 in round-robin play to win their group, defeating Prairie Central 9-5, South West 13-3, North 9-0 in four ends and Lakeland 8-3.
Kitz faced Saskatoon in the semis. The teams were tied heading to the eighth end, but Kitz didn't have to throw her last stone after Saskatoon was heavy on a tap back. Kitz won the game 5-4.
Kitz and Lamontagne are from Oxbow, Hookenson is from Lampman and Marcotte hails from Torquay.
TABLE TENNIS
The South East contingent was a combination of athletes from Estevan and Carry The Kettle First Nation. The local athletes combined for four medals.
Jean Rose Jollie Be and Carry The Kettle's Emily Ryder took silver in the cadet female team event. Estevan's Jay Ross Jollie Be and Tate Wrubleski earned silver in the junior male team event. Jean Rose Jollie Be picked up her second silver in cadet female singles.
The South East squad also earned an overall team bronze medal. Wrubleski was fourth in junior male singles and Jay Ross Jollie Be was fifth.
Estevan's Lindsay Collins managed the team.
HOCKEY
The South East male and female hockey teams both won silver, and both teams had local players.
The female team included Megan LeBlanc and Michaella Matthies of Estevan, Teanna Sieben of Bienfait, Ashlyn Taillon of Lampman and Ashton Magotiaux of Carlyle, all of whom play in Estevan.
They fell 8-3 to South West in the gold medal game after posting a 3-0 record in the round-robin.
LeBlanc, who scored three goals and two assists in the tournament, said it was a unique experience.
"It was really fun. I'd definitely do it again, getting to meet all those new girls and hanging out with them for a long period of time. The hockey was amazing, it was fast and fun to play."
She said the final was close until the third period.
"It was a great game. Everything was good until the third and then we kinda had a few mistakes. Everyone tried hard and we were all good sports about it.
"It was amazing because everybody was so proud and the medals were really nice. It feels good. We worked hard and it paid off."
Meanwhile, the male team included Estevan's Cole Fonstad, Lampman's Colton Schell and Carnduff's Cody Levesque.
The team fell 8-4 to Parkland Valley in the final after winning all three pool games.
FIGURE SKATING
Three members of the Estevan Skating Club participated in the free skate at the Winter Games. Emily Hanson finished fifth, Nikki Kistanov was sixth and Madison Folkerts was 15th.
