Squash
Squash took centre stage this past week, with SMUS one game away from a clean sweep of the ISA tournaments.
The Junior boys entered two separate teams in the competition, going on to finish 1st and 2nd overall. The A group, featuring Christian Yuen, Oliver Kerr, Alden Weymar, Owen Vincent and Louis Champion, swept to the title, with the second squad of David Baker, Erik Lin, Jamie Kim, Ryan Chow and Rocky Pan just behind.
The Senior boys only just missed out on a clean sweep, dropping an extremely competitive 3-2 match to Shawnigan Lake School. Jay Herring, Gosha Iazvenko, Stanley Weng, Lucas Galloway and Kevin Zhang all played to a very high level.
The Girls team also claimed the championship, thanks to a well balanced effort from Alex Brown, Sofia Quon, Ellie Ross, Katie Hooton and Angel Hu.
Basketball
The Senior boys went 1-2 at the Vancouver College Emerald Tournament, dropping contests to AAAA teams Semiahmoo and Heritage Woods, but recording a big victory over Pinetree. Tristan Kuhn paced the offence, while Karter Fry contributed well on the defensive boards.
The Junior boys, by virtue of commanding wins over Belmont (76-63) and Mount Douglas (57-35), secured a second place City league finish. The squad then went on to a third place finish in the Claremont Spartan Invitational, defeating both Dover Bay and Semiahmoo but falling narrowly to provincial No. 2 ranked St. George's. As has been the case all season, Izzy Helman and Tadeo Allerding have been in commanding form, while Ben Beattie, Rick Xie, Allistair Catto, Kyle Ferguson and Ethan Brownsey have each had their moments.
The group now has a 10-day window to prepare for the City tournament.
At the Junior development level, SMUS won a crucial game versus Parkland to gain the final place in the City playoffs. The Blue Jags then travelled to GP Vanier in Courtenay, winning two of three games in the Towhee Classic to place third overall. Dave Duru averaged a double-double in rebounds and points, while also contributing some highlight reel blocks.
The team now looks forward to a January 30 City quarterfinal versus top-ranked Vic High.
At the Senior girls level, Meredith Selwood had two solid performances in both games this past week. She continues to perform well at both ends of the floor and leads the team in rebounding. While SMUS lost to Lambrick Park and Royal Bay, the players are eager to start the next portion of their season. There is now a breather before South Island playoffs start on February 7.
