5 minute read
Around the School
Around the School athletics
cross country
The 2019-2020 Cross Country Season will be one to remember for the Crusaders. Both the Junior Varsity (JV) and Varsity teams won the Athletics Manitoba Milk Run, and were both crowned MHSAA Provincial Cross Country Champions. Grade nine runner Siwon Jengsuksavat led the Junior Cru by winning the individual provincial title. He was closely followed by Ryan Kulbacki (2nd), Alex Sala (5th) Kephren Gould (6th), and Lorence Dela Cruz (8th).
The Varsity team was led by an entire team of grade 11’s. The team consisted of Alex MacMillan, Nic and Matteo De Stefano, Avery Stubbings and Maheep Reshia. Next year they will try and be one of only a few teams in Manitoba to ever win four straight championships (2x JV, 2x Varsity). Congratulations to the more than 30 runners that trained hard throughout the fall and represented the school with heart and determination.
football
The 2019 Crusader Football season was one of change. For the first time in more than a decade, St. Paul’s fielded two football teams - one Varsity team and one Junior Varsity team. The Varsity team had a number of veterans from the 2018 season who were determined to return to the ANAVETS Bowl for another opportunity to claim the top division of the Winnipeg High School Football League. The season saw several rare weather events occur - a lightning storm shortened Homecoming 2019, and a Thanksgiving snowstorm saw an entire week of Varsity football cancelled, extending the season by one week! Through it, all the members of the 2019 Varsity Crusaders kept their focus on their ultimate goal. In the playoffs, the Varsity Crusaders played some of their best football and were able to capture the ANAVETS Bowl convincingly. Congratulations, to all players and coaches on a great season.
Volleyball
“This year’s volleyball team was one of the most talented teams in Crusader Volleyball history”, says Coach Voth.
The team played in four finals in their first four tournaments of the year. The Crusaders won one tournament and lost to three different teams along the way. Those four teams made it to the provincial finals, at the end of the year. Because of a tiered West Winnipeg Athletic Conference (W.W.A.C.) league, we also played the Westwood Warriors a record of 10 times over the season. We won five of those contests. The last two matches went five sets, and a 2-point spread determined both. In the end, the Crusaders captured the W.W.A.C. league championship. The Crusaders then travelled to Steinbach to defeat a feisty Brandon Vikings team in the Provincial semi-final game. The next round, the Crusaders lost to the Westwood Warriors by two points in the 5th set, dashing the Crusader dream of another provincial championship.
The Crusaders were awarded a record number of provincial graduating all-stars- six in total: James Duerksen, Justin Cross, Eric Loewen, Scott Mann, Josh Stackiw, and Yaroslav Paches. Justin Cross was named the number one player in the province and James Duerksen was selected to receive the prestigious Dr. Dale Iwanoczko Memorial Scholarship.
A record three players were recruited to join the All-Manitoba team - Justin Cross, Scott Mann, and James Duerksen. Look for these players to be playing C.I.S. volleyball next year!
activities & Clubs
DRAMAtic Society
The St. Paul’s High School Dramatic Society was thrilled to present Robin Hood, by Dan Nigro, December 6-8, 2019.
Delightfully directed by Mr. Comeault and Ms. Toutant, the play was beautifully produced by Mr. Adair and Ms. Janzen. Several dozen students, tirelessly working on and in the set, transformed Murray Hall into a window to a gorgeous Sherwood Forest and an imposing Nottingham Castle. The noble Robin (Noah Banmann ’20) and his merry band, the delightful Maid Marian (Nicoletta Kaluzny), the horrible Prince John (Greg Karvelas ’20), his sleepy mother (Grace MacPherson), and the ludicrous Sheriff (Navin Vanderwert ’20), brought the familiar tale back to us in a new light, one that made all laugh but also wonder differently about the environment and social justice.
The play was enthusiastically received by scores of students and the larger community of St. Paul’s High School. There were multiple enthusiastic ovations. Congratulations on an outstanding performance! plenty of singing, heaps of dancing, and scrumptious period food and drink.
Debate
2019 marked St. Paul’s High School’s firstever participation in the World Scholar’s Cup, an academic competition that tests skills in debating, essay writing, and academic knowledge. After qualifying at the Winnipeg regional round, two teams from St. Paul’s went to Sydney, Australia, in an attempt to qualify for the World Tournament of Champions held at Yale in mid-November. There, the teams did excellently, finishing first and third in the essay writing competitions, and third and eleventh in debate. This qualified them for the Yale Tournament of Champions, from which they returned in November having finished 65th and 85th overall in the world, a decent standing given it was their first effort at this event.
In many ways, the greatest strength of participating in the World Scholar’s Cup is that it brings together students from such different global contexts, inviting them to work together and recognize each other’s common humanity. St. Paul’s congratulates the six student competitors— Noah Banmann ’20, Tommy Feldman ’20, Chris George ’20, Brock Nykoluk ’20, Rohan Sethi ’20, and Navin Vanderwert ’20—and looks forward to many more WSC events in years to come!
Band
Our musicians have been busy. On November 5th, Robbie Gerstner and Jay Na performed at the St. Paul's High School Tribute Dinner, while the Grades 11/12 Concert Band performed at the Remembrance Day Liturgy on November 8th. The Advent Music Concert followed shortly afterwards on Tuesday, November 26th. It was extremely well-attended, with upwards of 400 guests. Parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends were treated to performances from the Introductory Band, Grades 9/10 Concert Band, Grades 11/12 Concert Band, Junior Jazz Band, and Senior Jazz Band, as well as the Junior & Senior Choirs. We thank the St. Paul's Community for its support of the Performing Arts at our school.
Robotics
This year the Robotics Club has been working on completing their mini-sumo robots and coding Edison Robots, with the intent to compete in the Manitoba Robot Games on March 21st. Due to COVID-19, the games have been postponed. This past term, students worked diligently to build a Lego Mindstorm EV3 (pictured on the right) and a Lego Rally Car (pictured to the left).
