Spring playoffs, championship tournaments and qualifying meets kept Blue Jag athletes busy across a wide range of sports this past week. From medal-winning performances in rowing, badminton and tennis to strong playoff runs in soccer and rugby, SMUS teams continued to build momentum during a busy stretch of championship season.
Rowing
The SMUS Rowing team enjoyed a fantastic weekend on the water in the 2026 Shawnigan Regatta, which ran Friday through Sunday. Blue Jag rowers captured four gold, four silver, and six bronze medals in the event.
Twenty-two of the 25 SMUS crews qualified for ‘A’ finals with 14 of those crews reaching the podium. Five SMUS crews placed fourth, one crew placed fifth, two placed sixth, and two placed eighth.
“A huge congratulations to all the SMUS Rowing team,” said SMUS Head of Rowing Susanne Walker Curry.
This was the final regatta for the school’s full 2026 Rowing team. Twenty-four SMUS athletes will now train in preparation for the Canadian Secondary School Rowing Association Championships, June 5-7 in St. Catharines, Ont.
SMUS results at the Shawnigan Regatta:
Gold U19 Novice Women 4X+; U17 Novice Women 4X+; U17 Women 8+; U17 JV Women 4+
Silver U19 Women 2-; U19 Women JV 4+ (U17 W 4+); U19 Novice Men 4X+; U19 JV Women 4X-
Bronze U19 Mixed 2X; U19 Mixed 4X- (only school crew in final); U17 Novice Men 4X+; U17 Women 4+; U17 Men 4X+; U17 JV Men 2X
Fourth U19 JV Men 8+ (a mix entry of 4 women and 4 men); U19 JV Men 4X-; U19 72.5kg Men 2X; U17 Women 4+; U17 JV Men 4+
Fifth U17 Novice Women 4X+
Sixth U17 Men 4X+; U19 Novice Women 1X
Eighth U19 Women 1X (out of 26 entries); U17 Men 1X (out of 22 entries).
Badminton
Both SMUS Badminton teams claimed medals and qualified for the BC Championships as the Vancouver Island Championships were staged last Friday at SMUS and Mount Douglas.
The host SMUS Girls captured Island silver, advancing all the way to the final before falling 5-2 to Mount Douglas. The Blue Jags’ doubles teams of Nicole Meng/Janette Ooi and YouLan Li/Lisa Pai won their respective matches against Mount Douglas in the final.
In pool play, SMUS beat Claremont 6-1 and Quw’utsun 5-2. Against Quw’utsun, “Yina Ding showed grit and resilience, winning her singles match in three sets (20-22, 21-12, 21-10),” said SMUS Coach Lawrence Wong.
In the cross-over semifinal, SMUS defeated Alberni District 5-2. “Memi Sonsophon won her singles match to ensure an early lead. It was a solid, consistent effort by the whole team,” Wong said.
Mount Douglas claimed its fifth straight Island Girls title in the final. “They stacked their strongest players in doubles A – that was too difficult to beat,” Wong said.
Meanwhile, at Mount Douglas, the SMUS Boys earned the Island bronze medal.
In pool play, the Blue Jags beat Wellington 7-0. SMUS then played valiantly against Vic High but ultimately lost 4-3. In the cross-over semifinal, the Jags fell 5-2 to Mount Douglas. SMUS Coach Brian Ho said doubles games by the SMUS teams of Kevin Li/Carl Sham and Ryan Wang/Elmond Aphiwesta, “were riveting and well-deserved victories over Mt. Douglas.”
The SMUS Boys secured third place with a 5-2 victory over Dover Bay.
Both SMUS teams will now prepare for the BC Championships, May 27-29 in Burnaby.
Tennis
The SMUS Boys Tennis team captured the silver medal in the Vancouver Island tournament held last Monday at Brentwood College to also qualify for the provincial championships.
The Blue Jags defeated Oak Bay and Shawnigan Lake School to top their preliminary pool. SMUS then beat Claremont in a semifinal before falling to the host Brentwood College squad in the final.
Michael Liu of SMUS turned in a notable performance, winning 6-0, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 in his four singles matches against each school and defeating all top-seeded players.
Both SMUS and Brentwood now move on the BC Championships, May 20-22 in Vancouver.
Senior Girls Soccer
The SMUS Senior Girls Soccer team advanced all the way to last Thursday’s Ryan Cup championship game and delivered an admirable performance in the final before falling just short in a 2-1 loss to Reynolds at Starlight Stadium.
The Blue Jags surrendered a pair of first-half goals but fought till the end of the entertaining match. Elspeth Rodger scored a goal on a nice individual effort to close the gap to just one and SMUS had a handful of other good chances to score, including one that rang off the post in the second half.
The Blue Jags beat host Royal Bay 2-1 in a Ryan Cup semifinal on Tuesday. Fiona Davison and Clara Pressello scored first-half goals for the Blue Jags, who led 2-0 at the intermission and weathered considerable pressure from the home team in the second half.
The SMUS Girls are in Nanaimo for the Island Championship tournament this week. They began the tournament with pool games against Nanaimo District and Oak Bay on Monday.
Senior Boys Rugby
The injury-plagued Senior Boys Rugby team fell 57-26 to host Claremont in an Island League match on Thursday. The Blue Jags got two tries from Santi Flores La Salvia and singles from Des Grant and Seb Allard. Grant added three conversions.
“We lost to a fresh and fully healthy Claremont,” said Blue Jags Coach Clayton Daum. “That’s the best game I have seen them play in a decade.”
The Senior Boys will travel to Shawnigan Lake to meet the host team in an Island semifinal playoff game this Tuesday at 4:45 pm.
Junior Boys Rugby
The SMUS Junior Boys beat Claremont 29-24 in Thursday’s preliminary to the Senior match.
Junior Jag tries came from Declan Ross, Bruno Chen, Steffen Wang, Russell Wilson, and Tiger Zhong. Ross and Chen each added a conversion. SMUS coaches substituted liberally as they matched the number of players Claremont had available.
The SMUS Juniors will also travel to Shawnigan Lake on Tuesday for an Island semifinal against the host squad beginning at 3:30 pm.
Track and Field
SMUS Track and Field finished off its Lower Island league circuit this past week with a number of Blue Jag athletes qualifying for both the Lower Island meet this Wednesday at UVic and the Island Championships, May 20 and 21 in Nanaimo.
Meanwhile, both Martin Winnett and Calvin Winnett of SMUS have already qualified in the pole vault for the BC Track and Field Championships June 4 to 6 in Langley.
Golf
The SMUS Golf team finished seventh at the Independent Schools Athletic Association tournament this past week at McCleery Golf Course in Vancouver.
The Blue Jags were led by Austin Yang, who shot 75, and West Dingle, who fired a 76.
