3 Championships! SPRING 2013
SIX IN A ROW: THE TENNIS DYNASTY CONTINUES The senior tennis team continued its stranglehold over the BC AA Championship with an exciting 6-5 victory over Brentwood in this year’s final. Once again, Coach Al Rose put together a squad with enormous depth that managed to win the key matches in this tense showdown between the two long-time rivals. While players have come and gone during the amazing run of six straight titles, Coach Rose has been a constant source of wisdom and tactical acumen that has kept the team rolling each year. His highly competitive nature is hidden well by his dry wit and calm approach, but his coaching expertise is legendary and he should be justly proud of his amazing run of success. As usual, the team says goodbye to a group of senior players. All have played a crucial role over the past three years of keeping the winning tradition going. Iacopo Beltramo, Jack Huebner, Aidan Jarrar, Katarina Angus, Victoria Konantz and Hailey Reeves will all be sorely missed.
GOLF TEAM WINS NORTH SHORE CHAMPIONSHIP The golf team had a terrific year. They won the North Shore AA Championship and finished 2nd at the Zone Championships and 7th at the provincials. Once again, the squad was led by Alix Kong. Alix was the top girl at the BC Championships and her ability to always shoot in the 70’s was a huge reason the team was so successful. The team says goodbye to three amazing Grade 12’s – Pierce Kamensek, Amar Mainra and Zamaan Jiwani. They will be sadly missed. However, Coach Payne has three current Grade 9 students ready to step up and play full time. Ben Basran, Dillon Cooper and Nick Lewis are all looking like future superstars so 2014 could be a very good year!
HOWE SOUND CHAMPIONS! The senior boys’ basketball team went into the season with high hopes. Those hopes were realized with a North Shore AA League Championship and a Howe Sound Championship, which earned them a berth in the provincial championships. The team finished the regular season with a 7-1 record. This earned them the right to host the Howe Sound tournament. Since this was a full double-knockout tournament, the quest for the provincial berth became a 10-day long odyssey. Collingwood opened with wins over Chatelech and STA. This set up a game with Elphinstone. The Cavs’ win over the highly touted Cougars put them one win away from the BC’s. However, Elphinstone won their next game, which set up a second match-up against Collingwood. This time, the Cougars won and both teams went into a ‘do or die’ game the next night. The game went back and forth, but Collingwood blew it open in the last two minutes to earn their berth in the provincials. The provincial championships were a mixture of the highs and lows that occur in sports. On the opening day, the Cavs provided a huge upset as they defeated the #5 seed, Wellington. This put them into the quarterfinals. Sadly, the team was to lose their next three games and finish 10th. However, it was still a great year for Coach Hill and his team.
EUROPEAN ADVENTURE FOR SENIOR GIRLS’ BASKETBALL The senior girls’ basketball team plays in the tough North Shore AA league. While they have been highly competitive over the years, a championship has eluded them. However, thanks to Coach Morgan McLaughlin, the senior program will always provide the girls with memories they will cherish forever. She is an amazing coach, and she started the tradition of the senior girls’ tours to Europe over the Christmas holidays. This year’s tour saw the team visit Denmark, Sweden and Norway over a 12-day period. The girls experienced New Year’s in beautiful Copenhagen, Denmark. They then travelled to Lund, Sweden for the annual Lundaspelen Tournament that involves 250 teams from 10 countries. After this incredible experience, they moved to Gothenburg and then onto Oslo, Norway. Many basketball teams tour, but few programs have a coach who has gone out of her way to create a trip that is incredibly unique and exposes Canadian girls to the richness of European club basketball. It is a perfect combination of world travel with tough competition. Collingwood has now done this trip in 2010 and 2012. 2014 is just around the corner, girls. It’s time to hit the gym for some practice!
RUGBY BOYS REVEL “IN THE LAND DOWNUNDER” The senior rugby team travelled to Australia in March for their bi-annual tour of Australia. Forty-four boys were joined by five teachers and a physiotherapist for a trip of a lifetime. As usual, this trip was a mixture of hard rugby against top-notch Australian sides and fun activities that kept the boys and coaches in good spirits. This year’s tour highlights included games against two of Sydney’s top rugby schools, multiple trips to the beach, go-karting and the mind-blowing Aqualoop at Wet N Wild waterpark.
While the squad’s overall record was not that impressive, the quality of the rugby was outstanding throughout the trip. The players’ willingness to always ‘step up’ in the face of some incredibly tough opposition was a source of pride for the coaching staff.
BC CHAMPIONS IN RUGBY The senior rugby team won its second provincial championship in three years with a 20-10 victory over Rockridge. This now gives Collingwood a record seven BC titles in AA rugby. The BC Championship meant it was a clear sweep for team as they also won the Hatch Shield and the Lower Mainland Championship. In the final, Collingwood scored two tries in the last 10 minutes of play to break a 10-10 draw. Marshall Fuller scored a try with nine minutes to go, but it was only when Nick Ludwig scored a try in the final minute of play that the Cavs assured themselves of the trophy.
As exciting as this was, the final game paled in comparison to the drama of the provincial semi-final. In that game, Collingwood trailed by 11 points with 10 minutes to go. However, the team refused to lose hope and when Marshall Fuller bulled his way over to cut the lead to four points, there was suddenly a belief that a remarkable comeback could be in the books. With less than a minute to go, Collingwood pressured a lineout on the SMUS five metre line which caused a dropped ball. Marshall was once again the ‘man on the spot’ and when he applied downward pressure to the ball, Collingwood was off to the finals. And the rest, as they say, is history.
TRACK TEAM BRINGS HOME TWO PROVINCIAL MEDALS The track team had a very good year. 34 athletes qualified for the North Shore Championships in 73 events. At the North Shores, our runners, throwers and jumpers were all highly successful. Three athletes qualified for the Grade 8/9 BC ChampionshipsMichael Knowles, Emma Rastad and Hailey Szybunka. Michael won a silver medal in high jump and Emma won a bronze in long jump. These are pretty amazing results considering the competition. Four athletes earned berths into the Senior BC Championships. Jessie Io, Brooke Mounsey, Grace Thompson and Gabby Zeitler all qualified. Best of all, they will all be back next year to lead the team to even greater success.
BLOWN AWAY IN ST. CATHERINES ROWERS STYMIED BY THE WIND Brynn Danvers, Madison Mailey and Carlo Quicho are Collingwood’s top rowers. They represent Collingwood in all high school events, but they also row with the Deep Cove Rowing Club. All three have aspirations of rowing at the university level and based on their dedication to the sport, there is little doubt this will happen.
on heat times. This was particularly devastating to Brynn and Madison as they were so far ahead in their heat that they had wisely eased up to conserve energy for further races. As a result, their heat time was not great. So instead of racing for a place on the podium, they were awarded 5th place. This also affected Carlo as he was denied a chance to improve his standing in the finals.
Brynn, Madison and Carlo all rowed well enough at the Shawnigan Lake and Brentwood regattas to earn themselves a trip to the Canadian ‘Schoolboys’ Regatta in St. Catherines, Ontario. This event brings together the best high school rowers from across the country and the eastern United States. All was going well for all three rowers when high winds prevented semi-finals and finals from taking place. After two days of waiting for better weather, the officials awarded medals based
As disappointing as it was for Brynn and Madison to be denied a chance to row for a medal, the girls quickly refocused as they had been invited to participate in a Junior National team camp. And as it turned out, the trip to St. Catherines was all worthwhile as both girls were named to the Junior National team. They have been asked to row for Canada at the CANAMEX regatta this July in Oklahoma. They will compete in a quad and maybe two doubles crews. This is amazing news for two incredible Collingwood athletes.
MAJOR ATHLETIC AWARD WINNERS The major athletic awards were given out at Collingwood’s Senior Awards Ceremony. The Pedca Spirit Award is given to ‘The Outstanding Male and Female Athletes Who Also Inspired Others’. The Jim Burnett Award is ‘In Recognition of a Senior Athlete’s contribution to multiple teams as a leader, committed teammate and unsung hero’. The Pedca Spirit Award winners were Leigh Sawchyn and Taylor Milliken. Leigh was a four-sport athlete in her final year at Collingwood. Not content with volleyball, basketball and soccer, Leigh added track to her busy schedule in Grade 12. Leigh earned School Colours in all four sports and was a co-captain of both the basketball and soccer teams. Leigh’s leadership skills on and off the court were superb, and her willingness to always lead through example was appreciated by all her coaches. Blessed with silken moves and blazing speed, Taylor wowed his teammates and the opposition whether he was on the soccer field or rugby pitch. Taylor was such a talented athlete that he earned a starting position on both the senior soccer and rugby teams in Grade 10. Taylor won multiple individual awards and was a human highlight reel, but always conducted himself with great humility and brought a great work ethic to every team he played for at Collingwood.
The recipient of The Jim Burnett Award is Lester Lee. Lester participated in cross-country, track and cricket. He earned a berth in the BC Championships in cross-country in both Grade 11 and 12. Lester was truly a committed teammate in every sport he competed in. Lester was also the moving force behind the creation of a table tennis team here at Collingwood. Lester was the team manager, coach and star player. He did it all.
MOUNTAIN BIKERS WIN OUR FIRST NORTH SHORE BANNER Collingwood’s junior boys captured the North Shore Mountain Bike banner and trophy despite some pressure from top riders from the very competitive Squamish and Whistler teams. Jack Almond, Ellis Lynch-Neal and Oliver Atkins were all outstanding in the final race. While Collingwood riders have won many individual awards over the years, this was the first team award.
The success of Collingwood’s Athletics program is built on three essential factors: the skill and dedication of our coaches, the enthusiastic support of our parents, and the passion and talent of our student athletes. Each year, hundreds of Collingwood students build their skills, develop lasting friendships and learn valuable life lessons by participating in school sports. We are proud of our tradition of sporting excellence at Collingwood.
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