Competition across numerous sports continued fast, with SMUS teams either completing league campaigns or hitting the playoff trail.
Badminton
In badminton, at the Junior City event, Patty Boonsermmit and Emma Xia won gold in doubles while Adrienne Ho grabbed a bronze medal in singles. For the boys, Jonathan Nguyen and Tony Dao also placed first. At the Senior level, after a second place city league finish, SMUS went one better in the Islands, taking out favoured Mount Douglas 6-5 in the final. Kudos to Mido Luo on her singles victory.
Rowing
The rowing team attended the May 10-12 Shawnigan Lake Regatta. Mother Nature cooperated all weekend, with a full slate of races taking place under sunny skies. Eight SMUS crews reached the podium, with the U19 Women's Novice 4X, the U19 Women's JV 8+ and the U19 Women's JV 4+ winning gold medals.
South of the border, the U19 Men's 4+, featuring Nathan Yang, Max Oblin, Liam Hodgins, Matthew Cormie and cox Anna Considine, competed in the prestigious Windermere Cup at the University of Washington. In a fine performance, the crew captured a silver medal in its race.
Eighteen SMUS rowers now continue training in preparation for the Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association Championships, to be held May 31 to June 2 in St. Catharines, Ontario.
Rugby
The Senior Boys battled bravely in the Alumni Weekend Boot Game versus Oak Bay, but came unstuck immediately before and after halftime en route to a 53-22 defeat. Jin Woo Park, Jacob Robb and Ben Shaw all gave fine performances.
The team then closed league play with two comfortable wins, easing past both Claremont and Belmont to set up a May 16 return tilt with Oak Bay in the Howard Russell Cup final.
At Junior Boys level, SMUS enjoyed a very solid 34-15 victory over Oak Bay in league play before defeating the same opponent 31-10 in the City final. Dave Duru contributed a total of five tries to the cause, while Eddie Kim, Duke Curran and Paul Mueller performed solidly. Next up is a vital May 16 Island semi-final versus Brentwood, with both sides seeking BC qualification.
On the Girls side, the Blue Jags celebrated their own Alumni Weekend game with a convincing victory versus Oak Bay for the newly minted Robinson Cup, before running the table once again in City exhibition play. Tremendous support play and decisive tackling were evident in decisive wins versus Claremont, Oak Bay again, Glenlyon Norfolk School, Victoria High, St. Margaret's School and Spectrum. Seniors Tate Robinson and Kiri Ngawati provided their usual stellar leadership, with many of the junior players the beneficiaries. Congratulations to speedster Kenzi Farish on her selection to the BC NextGen squad.
Check out more photos of our Junior and Senior rugby teams playing during Alumni Weekend on the SMUS Photo Gallery.
Soccer
Senior Girls Soccer, with Nesha Colgate and Margo Leggatt to the fore, played through an exhausting 10 days, first scrambling past Stelly's 1-0 in Ryan Cup quarterfinal action. While a subsequent 3-1 semi-final loss to City champion Reynolds was heartbreaking, there was little rest before SMUS travelled to Duncan to take part in its own provincial qualifier.
A somewhat unexpected 1-0 loss to Shawnigan ensured a tense fight through a very competitive pool, with the Blue Jags indeed securing a narrow 1-0 win over Ballenas and then a critical shootout victory versus Brooks. When all was said and done, SMUS ended up in the bronze medal game, going on to upend Frances Kelsey 2-1. Zoe Lott and Claire Pontefract turned in solid performances, while goalkeeper Claudia Murr registered multiple key saves.
The team now looks forward to the BC AA championships, to be held May 30 to June 1 in Campbell River.
Tennis
The SMUS tennis team also enjoyed success, winning the AA Island tournament for the third consecutive year. After taking out Shawnigan Lake School 8-3 in the semi-finals, SMUS edged a very determined Brentwood College School squad.
Credit to Max Zhang and Alex Ross who fought back in the final match to take the deciding set and confirm a hard fought 6-5 win. The team now travels to Vancouver May 23-25 for the provincial AA competition.
Track and Field
The track and field squad performed admirably in its Lower Island finals, with the Senior Girls coming within three points of toppling perennial champions Oak Bay. The Junior Boys also finished in second place.
Congratulations to Angelina Shandro, who was named top female track athlete in the city for her consistent excellence at 100m, 200m and 400m. Tion McLeish again won both the 800m and 1,500m at Grade 9 level, while Kyle Stenberg and Liam Erlic claimed gold and silver medals in the Junior Boys 300m hurdles. Others who contributed to the fine overall team showing were throwers Chika Duru, Preetinder Dhillon, Ella Chin and Hemmesh Pillay. In addition, Jocelyn Zhao, Izzy Champion and Calum Webber-Smith each ran well in multiple events.
All the athletes now look forward to the Island meet.
(Photos by Noah Krueger and Kyle Slavin)
