Just call them the champions.

The Jasper Cougars’ junior high school girls basketball team took home a gold medal last weekend, finishing up their season in Edson.

In a nail-biting 31-26 win over Grande Cache, it was the first gold the girls had won since 2006.

After athletes from around the world displayed their talents in pursuit of medals at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the sport of climbing gained a prerequisite step on the ladder toward becoming an Olympic sport at future summer games last week when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) membership officially recognized the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) as the governing body for the sport.

The Jasper Junior Olympics saw a local girl take gold on Saturday (Feb. 27) at Marmot Basin in the biggest race in North America.

Jacquelyn Proc took gold in the ten year old girls category. She finished with the fastest overall time of any competitor with a time of 42:82.

“I felt really good because my first time, the person beat me by like two milliseconds, so I was really trying to do a little better,” said Proc.