Senior Boys Rugby
The SMUS Senior Boys Rugby team displayed a flare for the dramatic last Wednesday (May 21), waiting until the dying seconds to score the go-ahead try in the Vancouver Island AA Championship game at Wallace Field.
Ewan Webber-Smith powered across with just seconds remaining on the clock to give the Blue Jags a 34-33 win over visiting Brentwood College. The decisive try was preceded by a clutch tackle, steal and subsequent 70-metre run by Declan Longridge.
Webber-Smith scored two tries on the day, as did Junior Boys call-up Santiago Flores La Salvia. SMUS trailed 19-12 at the break but kept the ball with the forwards in the second half to survive a contest that included a number of lead changes. Still, it took consecutive tries for the Blue Jags to erase a 33-22 deficit with nine minutes left in the game.
“We are really proud of the way the team kept fighting right until the end,” said SMUS Coach Clayton Daum. “It wasn’t always pretty, but they never gave up. The team did a good job of recognizing our advantage in the forwards in the second half and we just kept pounding away. Brentwood is an enterprising team who punishes your mistakes quickly and we will need to be much more disciplined if we see them again at provincials.”
Tristan Mo and Quinn McMeekin, each with a try, and Jack Driscoll, with two conversions, rounded out the scoring for the Blue Jags.
The win propelled SMUS into this week’s BC AA Championships at Abbotsford as the top Island seed and ranked No. 3 overall in the provincial draw behind top-seeded Collingwood of Vancouver and No. 2 Robert Bateman Secondary of Abbotsford. Brentwood is ranked No. 4 with Vancouver’s Sir Charles Tupper at No. 5.
The Blue Jags will take on Argyle of North Vancouver in a quarter-final on Wednesday, beginning at 9 am. The winner of that game will advance to an 11 am semifinal on Thursday against the survivor of a Robert Bateman-Westview (Maple Ridge) quarterfinal matchup. The tournament wraps up with the championship match on Saturday.
“Our goal at the start of the season was to win Islands and medal at provincials, so we are one step closer,” said SMUS Coach Oliver Nott. “The energy and belief in the team makes me think there is a good chance that we will be playing in the top game on Saturday in Abbotsford.”
Senior Girls Soccer
The SMUS Senior Girls Soccer team will be trying to add a BC AA Championship to an already impressive season resume when it competes in the 16-team provincial tournament beginning this Wednesday at Burnaby Lakes West.
With the Vikes Invitational title, the Independent Schools Athletic Association tournament crown, and the Vancouver Island AA Championship to their credit already this season, the Blue Jags are now attempting to capture the biggest prize of all – the BC title – which they last won in 2023.
SMUS has been placed into Pool C for the tournament along with St. Thomas Aquinas of North Vancouver, Vernon, and Prince George’s Duchess Park. Only the top team in each of the four pools advances to Thursday afternoon’s semifinals.
“I would say we enter the BC tournament as one of the top seeds and we are looking to finish on the podium,” said SMUS Coach Jackie Cunningham. “This special group has proven time and time again they can compete with anyone and their resilience is impressive.”
Indeed, the nucleus of this Blue Jags team has been playing together for years. In fact, eight members of the current team travelled to Montreal with Cunningham in 2019 for the Canadian Accredited Independent Schools tournament.
The Blue Jags will open against Duchess Park at 11 am on Wednesday and also face Vernon in a 2:30 pm game that same day. They will complete round-robin play by meeting St. Thomas Aquinas at 9 am on Thursday.
The tournament wraps up with the championship game on Friday. Most of the BC Championship games will be live streamed.
Rowing
SMUS Rowers will compete in 12 events at the 78th annual Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association Championships beginning on Friday in St. Catharines, Ont.
The SMUS Rowing shells, oars and equipment have already arrived in St. Catharines on the Shawnigan Lake School trailer, which left for Ontario last Wednesday morning.
SMUS will be among 123 high school teams from across Canada and Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia competing in the regatta, which ends Sunday.
Competing for SMUS in the Junior Men’s 4-plus will be Tristan Salter, Matt Nacey, Mateo Laca Swets, Leo Denis, and Elise Gomori. The Junior Women’s 4-plus boat will include Rachel Oliver, Clara Curry, Mia Nadra, Liz Hardcastle, and Addy Newman-Ting.
David Welton and Lucy Turnbull will represent SMUS in the Mixed 2X while Salter and Dennis will compete in the U17 Men’s 2X. Liam Haberl and William Zeng will row in the Senior Men’s 72.5-kg. 2X, while Brady Hsu races in the Senior Men’s 1X.
Competing for SMUS in the Novice Women’s 4X-plus are Newman-Ting, Nadra, Oliver, Meiyi Jiang, and Erin Nichols. Comprising the SMUS entry in the Senior Women’s 4-plus are Bianca Batoni, Braelyn Rowan, Rowan Denis, Hardcastle and Curry. Turnbull will race in the Senior Women’s 63-kg.1X.
SMUS will be represented in the Novice Mens 4X-plus by Adrian Lai, Nacey, Swets, Welton and Oliver. Rowing for SMUS in the Senior Mens 72.5-kg. 4-plus are Sam Kreigler, Oliver Pressello, Zeng, Haberl, and Batoni. Competing in the Mixed 4X- are Denis, Kreigler, Pressello, and Rowan.
Golf
The SMUS Golf team earned a second-place finish at the Island Championships held last week at Arbutus Ridge in Cobble Hill.
The young team, including Grade 9s Jeff Su, Austin Yang, Lisa Pai, and Charlie Chae, as well as Grade 11 Sting Zhang, will represent SMUS at the BC Championships beginning Monday, June 2, at Big Sky Golf Club in Pemberton.
Su, Yang and Zhang each shot 78 to lead SMUS at the Islands while Pai fired an 84 and Chai an 86.
“This young team is very excited about the opportunity of representing the school at the provincial level,” said Coach Steve Bates. “Big Sky offers amazing mountain views and pristine greens as it sits at the base of the 8,000-foot Mount Currie. It is one of the premier golf destinations in the Whistler area.”
Track and Field
A total of 15 SMUS athletes qualified for the BC High School Track and Field Championships during the Vancouver Island Championships held this past week at UVic’s Centennial Stadium.
Blue Jag performances were highlighted by first-place finishes from Parker Sheehan in the Senior Boys 100 metres, Will Hamilton in the Junior Boys 100 hurdles, Martin Winnett in the Senior Boys pole vault, and the SMUS Senior Boys 4x100 relay team.
Sheehan, who ran the anchor leg on the relay, was also fourth in the 400, while Hamilton also finished third in the 300 hurdles. Other members of the winning 4x100 SMUS Senior relay team include Tommy Hong, Alex Pan, and Winnett.
Other SMUS Island medallists included Finlay Hlannon, who was second in Senior Boys pole vault; William Low, who was third in Junior Boys high jump; Owen Sandquist-Sherman, who was second in the Senior Boys 2,000 steeplechase; and the second-place Junior Boys 4x400 relay team.
Sandquist-Sherman also placed fifth in the 3,000. Making up the silver-medal 4x400 Junior Boys relay team were Milann Wenham, Isaac Ren, Josh Hobbs and Hamilton. Hobbs also placed fourth in the Junior Boys 400 while Hlannon was fifth in 400 hurdles.
Other SMUS BC qualifiers included Beatrice Sharpe (4th in Senior Girls 2,000 steeplechase, 6th in the 3,000), Amelie Fleck (5th in Senior Girls 2,000 steeplechase, 8th in the 3,000), Caitlyn Chen (5th in both Senior Girls long jump and triple jump), and Will Cuddihy (4th in SB 1,500 racewalk).
The BC Championships go June 5 to 7 in Langley.
Tennis
The SMUS Girls Tennis team finished fourth in the BC AA Championships, hosted by the Blue Jags over three days last week at Henderson and Oak Bay Recreation Centres.
The SMUS Girls went 3-1 in pool play, finishing second out of five teams to advance to Friday’s semifinal. In the semifinal, the Blue Jags lost a hard-fought match to eventual BC champion Crofton House and moved on to play for third against West Point Grey Academy.
Although SMUS had previously defeated WPGA in pool play, the Blue Jags couldn’t repeat the win in the bronze-medal match, losing 4-1 to finish fourth overall out of 10 teams.
Notable performances for SMUS included the Doubles C team of Caro Vega and Maddie Tacke, who went undefeated with four straight set wins. The Doubles B team of Lina Cratzius and Rina Chida posted a strong 4-2 record, as did the Doubles A team of Bianca Toaxen and Amya Naimi. Sonia Naimi and Miku Asai also delivered strong performances for SMUS.
The SMUS Girls enjoyed an outstanding season, finishing second at the ISAAs and first at the Island Championships.
The SMUS Boys also had a strong provincial tournament showing, finishing second in their pool and advancing to the quarterfinals. SMUS lost 5-0 to eventual BC champion Collingwood but bounced back with a 3-2 win over Glenlyon Norfolk to earn a spot in the fifth-place match. In a close contest with Gulf Islands Secondary, SMUS fell 3-2 to finish sixth out of 11 teams.
“A standout performance came from Michael Liu, who won four of five sets in Singles A,” said Coach Dayton Preissl. “The rest of the team – including Jack McQueen, Oliver Talbot, Josh Vaupel, Kian Hamidian, Wataru Yamano, Aaron Gill, and Ethan Curtis – also contributed to a great season.”
Badminton
The SMUS Senior Boys Badminton team will be among 16 squads from across the province competing in the BC Championships, beginning Thursday at Clear One Badminton Centre in Richmond.
SMUS has been placed in Pool G for the event, along with Johnston Heights of Surrey, Charles Best of Coquitlam, and RE Mountain of Langley. The Blue Jags, who finished second at the Vancouver Island Championships in Duncan, will meet Johnston Heights at 8 am on Thursday before facing Charles Best at 11 am and RE Mountain at 2 pm.
Members of the SMUS Boys team include co-captains Kyle Shek and Jaden Berger-North, Cedric Tam, Jerry Dang, Connor Lee, Kevin Li, Elmond Aphiwetsa, and Harry Cai.
“The boys have worked hard to improve their skills throughout the season, and we're hoping to do better than last year’s standing,” said Coach Lawrence Wong.
The provincial tournament continues until Saturday.
Middle School Rugby
SMUS Boys Rugby 7s teams swept to both titles as the Lower Island Middle School Championships were hosted by the school last week.
SMUS beat Arbutus 40-0 in Friday’s Grade 7-8 Boys final to top the eight-team Competitive Division. That followed a victory by the SMUS Boys in Thursday’s 12-team Grade 6-7 tournament.
