Manitoban Athletes Selected for Team Canada at 2015 Pan Am Games

Published On: June 24, 2015

Winnipeg, MB – The Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba officially announces the list of Manitoban athletes selected to form part of Team Canada at the Toronto 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games. With only 16 days away from the start of the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games, we invite you to congratulate the 14 athletes and nine coaches who have been officially announced to represent Manitoba at the Games.

At CSCM, we are excited to join the Toronto 2015 celebration and we are proud that Canada has become the only country to host its third edition of the most important sport celebration of the Americas, the Pan Am Games. In the days to come, we will share the spirit of the Games with the Host Society, the athletes, coaches and volunteers, as through the games we are reminded and invited to relive the memories and the legacy that Winnipeg 1967 and Winnipeg 1999 left in our community.

The list of athletes includes those who are from Winnipeg or those who train and develop in Manitoba through the Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba, such as the Senior Women’s Volleyball Team and the Senior Women’s Wheelchair Basketball team, the list includes:

Individual Sports

Sport: Archery | Athlete: Jason Lyon

Beijing 2008 Olympian and fifth place at 2011 World Archery Championships, which at the time was the best result by a Canadian recurve archer since match play was introduced in 1987. In 2013, he became the first Canadian to win a world championship individual recurve medal in 42 years.

Sport: Athletics | Athlete: Nicole Sifuentes

2012 Olympian and IAAF World Indoor Medallist

Sport: Athletics | Athlete: Erin Teschuck

Canadian distance runner at North Dakota State Universtiy. Tesschuck finished fifth in the 3,000m steeplechase competition at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships this month.

Sport: Artistic Gymnastics | Athlete: Isabela Onyshko

 2015 Junior Athlete of the Year. Competed at 2014 Commonwealth Games and FIG World Championships in 2014.

Sport: Racquetball | Athlete: Jennifer Saunders

Pan Am veteran who has competed for Canada on 23 occasions, winning 11 medals at the IRF World Championships.

  • Completion Schedule: Racquetball will take place in the Toronto Pan Am Exhibition Centre from July 19 to 26.
  • Born: 11/18/1976
  • Age: 38
  • Height: 170cm
  • Weight: 75kg
  • Birthplace: Thompson, Manitoba
  • Hometown: Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • Source: olympic.ca/team-canada/jennifer-saunders/

Sport: Swimming | Athlete: Chantal Van Landeghem

Canadian record holder, an NCAA All-American and winner of the NCAA’s Elite 89 award as a sophomore. She just finished her junior season at the University of Georgia. Van Landeghem is planning on sitting out the next NCAA season to focus on Olympic training for upcoming Olympic Games to take place in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Sport: Triathlon | Athlete: Tyler Mislawchuk

Tyler Mislawchuk made his ITU World Triathlon Series debut in 2015. In just his third start on the elite circuit, he finished 10th at the London stop where he was the highest-ranked Canadian man. Mislawchuk is in his third year as a member of the national development team, splitting his training base between Australia and Spain.

Team Sports

Sport: Beach Volleyball | Athlete: Taylor Pischke

Taylor Pischke has been a rising star on the beach volleyball circuit since making her international debut with Melissa Humana-Paredes at the 2012 FIVB World Junior Championships where they finished fifth. The duo then won back-to-back bronze medals at the 2013 and 2014 FIVB World Under-23 Championships. Also in 2014, they won the NORCECA Continental Championship and posted a fifth place finish in the FIVB World Tour Grand Slam event in Sao Paulo. Pischke has also played indoor volleyball with the University of Manitoba Bisons.

Sport: Water Polo | Athlete: Shae Fournier

Shae Fournier had an impressive junior international career, winning gold medals at the 2008 and 2010 Pan American Junior Championships to go with a sixth place finish at the 2009 FINA World Junior Championships. She has made two appearances at the Summer Universiade, just missing the podium with fourth place finishes in both 2009 and 2013. She made her senior international debut in 2014, competing in the FINA Water Polo World League.

Sport: Senior Women’s Volleyball Team

Athletes:  Tesca Andrew-Wasylik, Lisa Barclay, Lucy Charuk, Dana Cranston, Marisa Field, Tabitha Love, Jennifer Lundquist, Shanice Marcelle, Brittney Page, Kyla Richey, Danielle Smith, Jaimie Thibeault

Sport: Senior Men’s Volleyball Team

Manitoban Athletes: Dustin Schneider (Brandon, Manitoba) and Toontje Van Lankvelt (Rivers, Manitoba)

Pan Am Hopefuls – waiting to be announced:

Sport: Shooting | Athlete: Monica Fyfe

Monica Fyfe has wanted to represent Canada since winning her first senior national title in 2005 at age 14. That earned her a spot on the 2006 Commonwealth Games team where she finished sixth individually and won silver in the 10m air rifle pair event. She returned to the Commonwealth Games in 2014. In between, she made two appearances at the Pan Am Games in 2007 and 2011, recording her best result in her initial outing when she placed seventh. After competing at the 2006 ISSF World Junior Championships, Fyfe made her ISSF World Cup debut in 2007 and that year recorded her career-high result of ninth at the stop in Fort Benning. Fyfe won five national titles between 2005 and 2011.

Sport: Weightlifting | Athlete: Marie Josee Aires Pilon

Marie Josee Aires Pilon won the 2015 National Weightlifting Championships and was named the top Female Weightlifter in Canada this year. She made two appearances in Commonwealth Games finishing ourth place in 2010 in New Delhi and third place in 2014 in Glasgow.

Sport: Weightlifting | Athlete: Daryl Conrad

Description: Winner of the weightlifting 85kg category at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Conrad became a heavy favourite with a pesonal best career weight of 301KG.

Manitoba Coaches

  • Lorie Henderson – Artistic Gymnastics
  • Derek Ingram– Golf
  • Larry McKay – Men’s Volleyball Team
  • Arnd Ludwig – Women’s Volleyball Team
  • Ryan Ratushniak– Women’s Volleyball Team
  • Shane Smith – Women’s Volleyball Team
  • Mandy Los – Women’s Volleyball Team
  • Bill Johnson – Women’s Wheelchair Basketball
  • Michele Hinze – Women’s Wheelchair Basketball

Parapan Am Games Hopeful – waiting to be announced

Sport: Para-athletics, Paralympic Track and Field  | Athlete: Colin Mathieson 

Description: Colin Mathieson is a four-time Canadian Paralympian having competed a the Paralympic Games in 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012 with a medal in 1996 in the 4x400m relay. Mathieson is a member of the Canadian national team since 1995. In addition to his Paralympic accomplishments he has also won three bronze medals from the IPC World Championships (2002, 2013) and a silver medal from the 2006 IPC European Championships in Helsinki. Colin also holds several Canadian Championship titles from 1994 to 2014.

  • Born: 1/1/1979
  • Height: 160 cm
  • Weight: 55 kg
  • Birthplace and residence: Winnipeg, Manitoba.
  • Source: Wikipedia, paralympic.ca/athletes/37812

Parapan Am Games Announced

Sport: Senior Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team

Athletes: Elaine Allard, Janet McLachlan, Arinn Young, Cindy Ouellet, Rosalie Lalonde, Maude Jacques, Katie Harnock, Darda Sales, Tracey Ferguson, Jamey Jewells, Erica Gavel, Melanie Hawtin

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About Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba

The Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba (CSCM) was created as one of the many legacies of the 1999 Pan American Games held in Winnipeg. CSCM is recognized as the home of Olympic and Paralympic athletes training and developing in Manitoba. CSCM is a proud member of the Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network, which works to provide a world-class, multi-sport daily training environment for athletes and coaches through integrated services and programs (in the fields of physiology, strength and conditioning, nutrition, psychology and support services) to enhance the training environment for Olympic and Paralympic athletes and coaches throughout the province. With the ongoing support of Sport Manitoba, the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee, Sport Canada, Own The Podium, the Coaching Association of Canada, the Pan Am Games Legacy Fund, and the Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries. CSCM continues to be recognized as a ‘hub’ for high performance sport activities in Manitoba. At CSCM, we use creativity and innovation to push the perceived barriers of human potential and the results are incredible athletic performances. Athletes come to us with their dream of reaching the podium and we have the people, the expertise and the tools to help them reach their goal.

Media Contact             

Luisa Miranda Alarcón, Marketing & Events Manager
Direct Line: 204.474.7204 | Email: media@cscm.ca