The first half of the 2018 Saskatchewan Winter Games in North Battleford is in the books and it was a very strong showing for Moose Jaw athletes.

Moose Jaw’s Molly Morris picked up a gold medal in the speed skating female 200-metre and then claimed a silver medal, along with fellow locals Morgan Capili and Avery Seman, in the 2000m relay.

She said she’s very proud of how she was able to perform over her three days at the games.

“I came here hoping that I would win a gold, or any medal, I just really wanted to do my best and I was able to do that,” said Morris.

Morris’ gold medal performance on Tuesday in the 200m saw her edge out Saskatoon’s Heather Harrison by only 0.081 seconds. She entered the final as the second seed, but dug down to pull off the win.

“I just took every race one at a time, kept believing that I could and eventually I accomplished it,” said Morris.

“I knew I had a chance, I wasn’t sure if I could get the gold medal, but I wanted to try for it.”

The Sask Winter Games are a weeklong event, but the preparation for the games starts long before the start gun goes off. Morris said she’s happy that her hard work paid off.

“I’ve put about a year’s worth of training to get ready for the Winter Games and it paid off,” said Morris.

The second medal came as part of a team in the relay and Morris said that they weren’t expecting to come away with silver as they entered in third place overall.

“We’re just hoping that we would do our best and we did even better,” she said.

In the relay, Team South West posted a blazing time of 3:54.335 to come away with the silver.

With her time at the games in the books, Morris said she’s really happy with how everything turned out and the experience that she gained.

“It’s been such a good meet, the Winter Games have been so much fun. I went for the Summer Games two years ago and we finished fourth in soccer, but I’m so happy of our team today after we did our best,” said Morris.

Moose Jaw’s Justin Wiens also put together an outstanding performance at the Games during the first half, claiming three medals for Team South West.

He won gold in the judo male 50+ kilogram skills competition on Wednesday. That came on the heels of a bronze medal in the team competition on Tuesday and a silver medal in the individual under-60kg competition on Monday.

Team South West also won bronze in the female judo team competition with Moose Jaw’s Abby Dore helping them onto the podium.

Moose Jaw’s Shaine Closs scored a silver medal in the tumbling trampoline mixed event. Her score of 29.100 was just behind gold medalist, Regina’s Jamie Jen Reschke at 29.500.

The games are continuing into the weekend, click here for updated medal standings and results.