Spring championship season continued at full speed for SMUS athletes this past week, with strong performances across track and field, golf, rugby, soccer and tennis. Blue Jag teams and athletes earned podium finishes, qualified for Island and provincial championships, and continued to battle through high-stakes playoff competition.
Tennis
The SMUS Boys Tennis team will travel to Vancouver this week for the BC Championship tournament beginning Wednesday at the UBC Tennis Centre.
The Blue Jags are seeded ninth among the 12 Boys teams in the provincial draw. They have been slotted into Preliminary Pool H, along with fourth-ranked Magee of Vancouver and sixth-seeded South Kamloops.
The top two teams from each of the four pools will advance to the quarterfinal stage of the draw on Thursday. Other schools in the BC tournament include No. 1-ranked St. George’s, Moscrop, RC Palmer, Sentinel, Steveston-London, Gleneagle, Collingwood, Brentwood College, and Semiahmoo.
The tournament concludes on Friday.
Golf
The SMUS Golf team captured first-place honours in a high school tournament played last Tuesday at Cottonwood Golf Club in Nanaimo.
The Blue Jags took the title on the strength of rounds by Jeff Su (73), Ricardo Chen (74), Ming Tsang (75), and West Dingle (75).
The SMUS Golf team will play in the Island AA Championship tournament this Wednesday at the Cowichan Golf Club in Duncan.
Track and Field
SMUS Track and Field athletes ran, jumped, and vaulted their way to 10 first-place finishes in the Lower Island Championships held last Wednesday at UVic.
Grade 10 speedster Will Hamilton led the way with two individual golds – in the Junior Boys 100- and 300-metre hurdles. Other individual first-place finishes by SMUS competitors included Isaac Ren (Junior Boys 1,500 racewalk); Parker Sheehan (Senior Boys 100); Declan Ross (Junior Boys triple jump); Jaiden Daniels (Senior Boys triple jump); Martin Winnett (Senior Boys pole vault); and William Low (Junior Boys high jump).
SMUS also claimed first place in both the Senior Boys 4x100 and 4x400 relays and second place in both the Junior Boys 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
Earning individual second-place finishes for SMUS were Alex MacKay (Junior Boys 100 hurdles); Finlay Hlannon (Senior Boys pole vault); Seb Allard (Senior Boys shot put); Declan Ross (Junior Boys high jump); Yingfan Bai (Senior Girls pole vault); and Amelie Menzebach (Senior Girls long jump). SMUS third-place showings came from Santiago Rankin (Junior Boys triple jump); and Tommy Hong (Senior Boys long jump).
Thirty SMUS athletes will now move on to the Vancouver Island Championships, which run this Wednesday and Thursday in Nanaimo.
Senior Boys Rugby
The season will be on the line as the SMUS Senior Boys Rugby team meets Oak Bay in the Vancouver Island third-place game this Wednesday at Shawnigan Lake School, beginning at 3:45 pm.
The winner will claim the final Island berth in the BC AAA Championship tournament, May 27 to 30 in Abbotsford.
The injury-bitten Senior Jags fell 57-12 to Shawnigan Lake in an Island semifinal last Monday. Seb Allard and Remy Albert scored tries for SMUS and Desmond Grant added a conversion.
“We finished the game with 13 players,” said SMUS Coach Clayton Daum. “I thought the boys showed a lot of grit and courage in a competitive game.”
Junior Boys Rugby
The SMUS Junior Boys Rugby team’s season came to an end on Thursday with a 38-25 loss to Oak Bay in the Vancouver Island third-place game at Wallace Field.
Jasper Dingle scored a try and added a conversion and a penalty in the defeat for SMUS, which trailed by only one point at the half. Des Farish, Yusuke Tomita, and Jude Kuzminski-Parry also contributed tries for the Junior Jags.
Last Tuesday, the SMUS Juniors dropped an 80-5 decision to host Shawnigan Lake in an Island semifinal. Tiger Zhong scored the lone try for the Jags.
Senior Girls Soccer
The SMUS Senior Girls Soccer team wrapped up its season by competing in last week’s Vancouver Island AAA Championship tournament in Nanaimo. The Blue Jags recorded a tie and two losses in preliminary pool play and did not advance further.
In opening-day play last Monday, SMUS fell 2-1 to Nanaimo District Secondary and 3-0 to Oak Bay. Lauren Arndt scored the lone goal for the Blue Jags on the day.
In their final game of the season, the Blue Jags earned a 1-1 draw against Spectrum. Elspeth Rodger supplied the goal for SMUS.
Despite missing players for various reasons and losing a key starter to injury right before the Island tournament, SMUS made an impressive late-season push to reach the Ryan Cup championship game and the team battled hard during its three games at the Islands.
