It was another busy week of athletics at SMUS including a 10-medal performance for the SMUS crew at the Shawnigan Lake Regatta, an Island Championships title for the Senior Girls Tennis team, a silver medal for the boys badminton team and a first-place finish for the SMUS sailing team at the Discovery Cup. Senior Girls soccer prepare to head into the Island championships as the South's No. 1 seed, while rugby, track and golf are still in full swing.
Rowing
The SMUS Rowing team enjoyed another strong weekend on the water, taking 10 medals – including four gold – in the Shawnigan Regatta.
Sixteen of the school’s 21 crews made the finals in their events. In addition to the four golds, SMUS rowers also captured three silver and three bronze medals over the competition, which was held under a mix of sunny, rainy and windy conditions.
It was the final regatta of the season for the full SMUS team. “A huge congratulations to all the SMUS Rowing team,” said Head of Rowing Susanne Walker Curry.
Twenty-three members of the SMUS team will now train in preparation for the Canadian Secondary School Rowing Association Championships, to be held from May 30 to June 1 in St. Catharines, Ont.
Winning gold for SMUS at the Shawnigan Regatta were the U19 Women’s JV 4+, the U19 Men’s 72.5-kg. 4+, the U19 Mixed 4X-, and the U19 Novice Men’s 4X+.
Taking silver for the SMUS crew were the U17 Women’s 4+, the U17 Men’s 4X+, and the U19 Novice Men’s 8+.
Capturing bronze medals for the school were the U17 Novice Men’s 4X+, the U19 Novice Women’s 4X+, and the U19 JV Men’s 4X-.
Three SMUS crews finished fourth in their events – the U17 Novice Women’s 4X+, the U19 Mixed 2X, and the U17 Novice Women’s 2X. Finishing fifth for the school were the U19 JV Men’s 8+ (a mixed entry of four women and four men, who beat five all-male boats), and the U19 JV Men’s 4+ (the SMUS U17 Men’s crew).
Tennis
The SMUS Girls Tennis team captured the Island Championship held May 5 at Brentwood College in Mill Bay.
The Blue Jags defeated Brentwood 3-2 and Gulf Islands 4-1 in pool play. They then faced Shawnigan Lake School in the semifinals, a match they won 4-1.
In the final, SMUS once again met host Brentwood. Rina Chida and Bianca Toaxen turned in dominant performances, each winning a set of singles in the finals. The schools were deadlocked 2-2 going into the final doubles match featuring Amya Naimi and Toaxen. But the SMUS girls came out on top with a 6-3 set win and an overall victory of three sets to two to wrap up the Island title.
“It was a nail-biter with tension on both sides,” said SMUS Coach Dayton Preissl.
SMUS will play host to the BC AA Championship tournament May 22 to 24 at the Henderson courts.
Badminton
The SMUS Boys Badminton team brought home the silver medal from the Island Championships held Friday in Duncan.
The SMUS Boys swept through pool play and the semifinal winning each of their games 7-0 against Claremont, Shawnigan Lake, and Dover Bay, before falling 6-1 in the final to Mount Douglas.
The second-place Island finish earned the SMUS Boys a spot in the BC Championships to be held May 29 to 31 in Richmond.
Meanwhile, the SMUS Girls won their pool at Islands by beating Oak Bay 4-3 and Dover Bay 7-0. SMUS fell to Shawnigan Lake in the semifinal and faced Oak Bay again in the Island third-place game. It was extremely close as the matches went 3-3 with the deciding match continuing into Round 3. Unfortunately, the SMUS Girls lost that last match, which left them fourth on the Island, narrowly missing out on a trip to the BC tournament.
Sailing
The SMUS Sailing team enjoyed some excellent conditions on the water in Cadboro Bay during their first regatta this past Saturday in the Discovery Cup.
Although the wind was light initially, the conditions picked up and 18 rounds of racing were possible over four hours. The SMUS 2 team turned in a first-place showing with some strong finishes in the afternoon, led by the pairings of Siena Gil and Joan Jiang, and Dheen Tatra and Jessica Lei, who recorded a series of ‘bullets’ or first-place finishes. These two pairings were very capably supported by the Grade 9 tandem of Leighton Foster and Jonah Wilkins, as well as Bronwyn Ellis and Nadia Sadowska. The SMUS 1 team performed capably as well, but just missed out on the medals.
Senior Girls Soccer
The SMUS Senior Girls head into this week’s Vancouver Island AA Soccer Championship tournament in Courtenay as the South’s No. 1 seed.
The Blue Jags will take on Stelly’s (South 2) in their first game on Thursday at 12:15 pm. They will also faced Gulf Islands Secondary that day at 3:30 pm.
SMUS will meet host Mark Isfeld Secondary (North 1) in a key matchup on Friday at 9 am before concluding Islands playing Brooks of Powell River (North 3) at 3:30 pm.
The top three teams from Islands will qualify for the BC AA Championship tournament May 28 to 30 at Burnaby Lakes West.
In their lone game last week, the Blue Jags fell 4-2 to visiting Oak Bay in a Ryan Cup semifinal on Tuesday. Joss Olcen and Avery Geddes scored for SMUS, which was missing some key players for the match.
Senior Boys Rugby
The SMUS Senior Boys Rugby team did not play a formal game this past week and will spend this week preparing for the Vancouver Island final on May 21 at UVic.
The Blue Jags received a bye into the Island final by virtue of having the best record on the season. They are currently ranked No. 3 among BC AA teams.
Junior Boys Rugby
The SMUS Junior Boys did not qualify for the Island playoffs this season, missing out on the postseason by the slimmest of margins.
The Junior Jags finished 2-1 in three Lower Island games, beating Claremont and Royal Bay and losing to Oak Bay. However, a final-game Claremont upset of Oak Bay left those three teams with identical 2-1 records. On bonus points, Claremont finished first with seven, Oak Bay was second with six, and SMUS third with five.
Nevertheless, the Junior Boys will continue to train and play some exhibitions before the end of school. Last week, a combination of SMUS Grade 8 and 9 players beat Shawnigan Lake, and Coach Ian Hyde-Lay says another matchup between the schools is in the works as well as an exhibition against a Vancouver Island Tide U15 squad. Some of the Juniors will also be moving up to bolster the Senior Boys in their playoff run.
Hyde-Lay highlighted the play of Kieran MacKay, Liam Whiteside, Seb Ely, Remy Albert and Heinrich Dietrich as bright spots for the Junior Boys this year.
Senior Girls Rugby
The SMUS Senior Girls Rugby 7s team concluded its season with a windup jamboree on Friday afternoon at Spectrum.
Helena Kim, making her Senior team debut, scored the Blue Jags’ try in a 37-5 loss to the host school. Kim also recorded a try for SMUS in its’ other game, a 45-5 defeat to Vic High.
Sofia Emelianenko served as the Blue Jags’ captain and kicker on Friday. Linn Kuepper played her first-ever rugby game and made a number of tackles. Valentina Elizalde Olea showcased her versatility and speed. Also making their debut on the Senior team were Maya Cortes Mujaes, Paula Suarez, and Miho Oishi.
Earlier in the week, the SMUS girls fell 29-5 to Stelly’s and 30-0 to Reynolds in their final two regular season games. Kai Ross scored the try in the game vs. Stelly’s.
“A big shoutout to all the seniors playing in their last regular season game: Carlotta D’Amico, Molly Gramada, Maria Garcia, Lily Ford, Kai Ross, and Sofia Emelianenko,” said Coach Chloe Hill-Huse.
Track and Field
The SMUS Track and Field team competed in the sixth and final Lower Island league meet last Wednesday with some standout performances by Amelie Fleck, Beatrice Sharpe, Yingfan Bai, Caitlyn Chen, Will Hamilton, Josh Hobbs, Michael Carpiano, Tommy Hong, Jaiden Daniels, Alex Pan, Owen Sandquist-Sherman, Luc Denux, Will Cuddihy, William Low, Connor Lee, Cohen Labrecque, Finlay Hlannon, Kevin Yin, and Martin Winnett.
The SMUS team will compete at the Lower Island Championships this Wednesday (May 14) all day at UVic.
Golf
SMUS Golf team members travelled to McCleery Golf Course in Vancouver last Monday (May 5) to compete against 15 other teams in the Independent Schools Athletic Association Championship tournament.
Charlie Chae posted the low round for the Blue Jags team with an 86 over the often narrow McCleery layout.
SMUS Athletes of the Month
Senior Girls Soccer standout Joss Olcen and Senior Boys Rugby powerhouse Seb Allard have been honoured as the SMUS Athletes of the Month for April.
Olcen, a Grade 12 forward, has been an integral part of the Blue Jags’ offence in what has been a sterling season to date for the team. Olcen routinely sets up or scores goals for the Jags, including a recent three-goal performance in a Ryan Cup playoff game. She will continue her education and soccer career at the U Sports level with Thompson Rivers University this fall.
Allard, a Grade 11, is a workhorse in the forward pack for the Blue Jags, playing every minute of every game without tiring, providing big tackles, strong running, and lineout and scrum expertise. Coach Clayton Daum says he also brings an extremely positive attitude and energy to the team: “It’s been a long time since SMUS has had a big powerful second row who can grind with the big boys.”
