The spring championship season continues for SMUS athletes, with the badminton teams wrapping up their provincial tournaments in Burnaby while golfers and track and field athletes prepare to compete on the provincial stage this week. Strong performances at recent championships have built momentum as the Blue Jags head into another busy week of competition.
Badminton
The SMUS Boys and Girls Badminton teams each finished 14th in their respective draws at the BC Championships held last week in Burnaby.
The SMUS Girls lost 6-1 to Vancouver Christian in their final match early Friday morning. YouLan Li and Lisa Pai won their doubles matchup to earn the lone SMUS point. Pai received the Most Improved Player award, and Li won the Super 16 MVP award for SMUS as the tournament concluded.
The Blue Jags opened the provincial tournament with a pair of victories on Wednesday. The SMUS Girls beat Prince George 6-1 and Alberni 5-2 in their first two preliminary pool matches. In their third match, the SMUS Girls fell 5-2 to Crofton House. Li and Pai of SMUS won their match in three sets (9-21, 21-10, 21-18). Teammates Memi Sonsophon and Jacqueline Liu took their match by default after one of the Crofton House players suffered an injury.
Those Wednesday results moved the SMUS Girls into Round of 16 play on Thursday, when they were knocked out of BC title contention with a 5-1 loss to Elgin Park. Li and Pai again won their doubles match to earn SMUS its point. In the first round of consolation play, the Blue Jags were defeated 4-2 by Mount Douglas. But they followed that up with a 6-1 win over Prince George in their final match Thursday.
Meanwhile, the SMUS Boys fell 6-1 to RE Mountain in their 13th-place match on Friday. SMUS doubles pair Elmond Aphiwetsa and Ryan Wang opened with a close loss in three sets (25-23, 18-21, 22-20) – the best match they played in the provincial tournament. Doubles B pair Humphrey Yang and Michael Yi also pushed their match to three games (21-19, 12-21, 21-15). Kevin Li in singles earned the sole win for the Jags. Aphiwetsa received the tournament’s Super 16 MVP award for SMUS.
The SMUS Boys dropped their first three matches at the provincial tournament on Wednesday, falling by 7-0 scores to both RE Mountain and Lord Byng before losing 6-1 to Moscrop. Michael Yi and Irving Wang won their match to earn the point for SMUS against Moscrop.
On Thursday, the SMUS Boys lost 7-0 to eventual BC champion Steveston-London in their Round of 16 match. In subsequent consolation action, they were edged 4-3 by Churchill. Aphiwetsa and Wang in Doubles A, Li in Singles A, and Li and Justin Zhao in Doubles C won their games to account for the three SMUS points against Churchill. The SMUS Boys ended Thursday play by defeating Prince George 5-2.
Golf
The SMUS Boys Golf team will open play Tuesday in the BC AA Championship tournament at the Redwoods Golf Course in Langley.
The two-day, 36-hole tournament will conclude Wednesday. The Blue Jags head into the tournament as Island AA champions after winning that honour last month at the Cowichan Golf Club in Duncan.
Track and Field
Nineteen SMUS athletes will take part in the BC Track and Field Championships, which run this Thursday through Saturday at McLeod Stadium in Langley.
The Blue Jags head into the provincial meet on a roll after winning seven events at the Island Championships late last month in Nanaimo.
Leading the way for SMUS was double gold medallist Wil Hamilton, who finished first in both the Junior Boys 100-metre and 300-metre hurdles. Other SMUS individual first-place Island finishes came from William Low in the Junior Boys high jump, Calvin Winnett in Junior Boys pole vault, and Martin Winnett in Senior Boys pole vault.
The Blue Jags’ two 4x100-metre Boys relay teams also ran to top spot in their Island finals. The Junior Boys 4x100 squad — including Hamilton, Low, Ben Keyes, and Tor Nelson – won their event, and the Senior Boys team of Parker Sheehan, Tommy Hong, Adam Zilber, and Martin Winnett claimed their second straight Island 4x100 relay title.
