The Senior Girls soccer team pulled off a AA Island Championship title in Courtenay last week, while SMUS Tennis teams prepare to host the provincial AA Championships at Henderson and Oak Bay Recreation Centres. SMUS rugby prepares for Islands, while track and field athletes are set to compete in the UVic-hosted Provincial Championships.
Senior Girls Soccer
The SMUS Senior Girls Soccer team captured the Vancouver Island AA Championship this past week in Courtenay.
The Blue Jags recorded three wins and a loss during the five-team round-robin, hosted by Mark Isfeld Secondary. Despite a 2-1 loss at the hands of the host school in a Friday morning game, SMUS secured top spot when it beat Brooks of Powell River 1-0 in its final match of the tournament.
That result, coupled with a 2-1 Isfeld loss to Brooks the previous day, left SMUS with nine points and Isfeld and Brooks tied with seven each. Brooks took second by virtue of its win over Isfeld – the defending Island and BC champion – which placed third.
SMUS will carry the top Island seed into the BC AA Championship tournament May 28 to 30 at Burnaby Lakes West. Brooks and Isfeld also qualified for the provincial tournament.
The Blue Jags got off to a fast start in the Island tournament, beating Stelly’s 2-0 in their first game on Thursday. Mackenna Brown and Julia Rothwell scored for SMUS in that game. The Jags followed up with a 3-0 decision over Gulf Islands Secondary, powered by two goals from Kate Fraser and a single from Manon Denux. Keeper Indigo Edgington recorded the shutout for SMUS in both opening-day wins.
Friday did not start well for the Blue Jags, as they fell 2-1 to Isfeld in an early morning game. Brown scored the lone SMUS goal in that contest while both goals for the hometown Ice came on opportunities awarded by the officials – via a penalty kick and a free kick.
However, SMUS got the win it needed later in the day, with Kate McQueen scoring the game’s lone goal against Brooks and Edgington posting another clean sheet. When Isfeld could only muster a tie against Gulf Islands in its final game, the Island title went to the Blue Jags.
Tennis
SMUS teams will play host to the BC AA High School Tennis Championships this Thursday through Saturday at the Oak Bay and Henderson Recreation Centres.
The Island-champion SMUS Girls team will take part in a 10-team draw, and has been placed in a preliminary pool with Glenlyon Norfolk School, Shawnigan Lake School, West Point Grey Academy of Vancouver, and Port Coquitlam’s Archbishop Carney.
The SMUS Boys team will compete in an 11-team draw that is broken down into four pools. The Blue Jags have been grouped with Archbishop Carney and South Kamloops for preliminary play.
Making up the SMUS Girls team are: Bianca Toaxen (singles), Rina Chida (singles), Amya Naimi, Lina Cratzius, Miku Asai, Caro Vega, Sonia Naimi, and Maddie Tacke
Comprising the SMUS Boys team are: Michael Liu (singles), Wataru Yamano (singles), Jack McQueen, Ethan Curtis, Kian Hamidian, Oliver Talbot, Josh Vaupel, and Aaron Gill.
“We do not see many of the Mainland teams during the season, but I believe both the [SMUS] Boys and Girls teams are poised to do well,” said Coach Dayton Preissl. “Given the Girls’ strong performance winning Islands and coming second at ISAAs, they have a good chance of continuing their strong season at provincials.”
The SMUS Girls begin action bright and early on Thursday with an 8 am match against GNS at Oak Bay. In their other Thursday matches, the Blue Jags will take on Shawnigan at 11 am at Oak Bay, and then meet West Point Grey at 2 pm at Henderson. SMUS will complete preliminary play with an 11:30 am match on Friday against Archbishop Carney at Henderson.
In Boys action Thursday, SMUS will face South Kamloops in a 12:30 pm match at Henderson and Archbishop Carney at 3:30 pm at Oak Bay before heading into quarter-final play on Friday.
The BC tournament will wrap up with the Girls and Boys championship matches at noon on Saturday at Oak Bay.
Rugby
The SMUS Senior Boys Rugby team will battle rival Brentwood College for the Island AA championship this Wednesday (May 21) at the University of Victoria’s Wallace Field. Kickoff will be at 1 pm.
The Blue Jags will be looking to avenge a loss in the Island final to Brentwood last year. SMUS downed Brentwood 33-15 in a league match last month.
“We went in [to the Island final] overconfident last year and made some poor decisions early in the game, which cost us later,” said SMUS coach Clayton Daum. “This year, I think we are better prepared and have a fantastic group of leaders who will be able to manage the game and stick to our plan. We are excited to see our forwards take them on upfront and for our backs to play a complete game the way that we’ve always known them to be able to do. Brentwood is an excellent team and is well coached, and our boys know that games from earlier in the season mean nothing when it comes to playoffs.”
“We beat them earlier in the season, but we’ve grown a lot since then – especially after some tough matches,” added SMUS coach Oliver Nott. “We’re looking forward to testing ourselves against them again and hopefully coming home with the Island Championship this year.”
Brentwood is traditionally quite strong in the backs, but Daum said: “I think we have them upfront in the forwards with our size. I’m very excited for the game. I think it’s going to be very entertaining.”
SMUS is currently ranked No. 3 among BC AA teams while Brentwood sits fifth. Both SMUS and Brentwood will take part in the BC Championships May 28 to 31 in Abbotsford.
Track and Field
SMUS Track and Field team members are aiming to earn Island medals and claim spots in the provincials as the Vancouver Island Track and Field Championship meet runs Tuesday and Wednesday (May 20 and 21) at Centennial Stadium.
Blue Jag Grade 11 sprinter Parker Sheehan is among those to watch in the Island field, as he has posted the best time (11.27 seconds) among all those entered in the Senior Boys 100 metres. Other SMUS sprinters Tommy Hong (11.58) and Alex Pan (11.81) are also medal hopefuls in that event. Sheehan also has one of the better times in the 400m this season and will race for SMUS in that event as well.
Josh Hobbs and Adam Zilber are representing SMUS in the Junior Boys 400m. Isaac Ren and Michael Carpiano will race for the Blue Jags in the Junior Boys 1,500m. Carpiano will also run the Junior Boys 3,000m.
Luc Denux of SMUS will run in the Senior Boys 1,500m. Beatrice Sharpe, Amelie Fleck and Sophie De Launiere will race in both the Senior Girls 1,500m and Senior Girls 2,000m steeplechase. Denux and SMUS teammate Owen Sandquist-Sherman will compete in the Senior Boys 3,000m and Sandquist-Sherman is also contesting the Senior Boys 2,000m steeplechase. Fleck and Sharpe will also run in the Senior Girls 3,000m.
Will Hamilton will race for SMUS in the Junior Boys 100m hurdles and 300m hurdles. Finlay Hlannon will represent the Blue Jags in the Senior Boys 400m hurdles, and SMUS teammate Will Cuddihy will contest the Senior Boys 1,500m racewalk.
SMUS will also be racing in the Senior Boys 4x100m relay, the Senior Girls 4x100m relay, and the Junior Boys 4x400m relay.
William Low will compete for SMUS in the Junior Boys high jump and Cohen Labrecque will represent the school in Senior Boys high jump. Martin Winnett of SMUS takes the top performance to date into the Senior Boys pole vault field, where he will be joined by Hlannon.
Yingfan Bai and Caitlyn Chen will compete for SMUS in Senior Girls pole vault. Hong, Harry Lynch and Jaiden Daniels will represent SMUS in Senior Boys long jump and both Chen and Bai will compete for the school in Senior Girls long jump.
Lynch, Daniels, and Kevin Yin will contest the Senior Boys triple jump for SMUS while Chen will also compete in the Senior Girls triple jump. Connor Lee of SMUS will compete in the Senior Boys javelin.
Action began Tuesday at 9:45 am and will conclude on Wednesday. Competitors will be looking to secure spots in the BC Track and Field Championships June 5 to 7 in Langley.
