The city finalists in SAPEC junior high volleyball have been determined for Thursday’s tier I championships at Bellerose Composite High School.
At 6:15 p.m. the Sir George Simpson Voyageurs (7-0, 21 GW/2 GL) play the Lorne Akins Gators (6-2, 20 GW/10 GL) in the girls final.
In league play Simpson placed first and Lorne Akins was third. The Voyageurs also beat the Gators in four sets in the regular season.
In Monday’s semifinals, Simpson swept the fourth-place Richard S. Fowler Falcons 25-18, 26-24, 25-10 and Lorne Akins prevailed 25-18, 25-23, 13-25, 16-25, 15-10 against the second-place Vincent J. Maloney Marauders, last year’s city champions.
At 7:45 p.m. Lorne Akins (9-0, 27 GW/0 GL) and the William D. Cuts Crusaders (8-1, 24 GW/5 GL) square off in the boys final.
The Gators knocked off the second-place Crusaders 25-13, 26-24, 25-16 in the league fixtures.
In Tuesday’s semifinals, Lorne Akins swept fourth-place Maloney 25-19, 25-10, 27-25 and Cuts defeated third-place Simpson 25-21, 20-25, 25-22, 25-23.
In last year’s final the Gators polished off Maloney in three sets for their SAPEC-leading 12th volleyball championship in school history and their sixth since the coaching duo of Ken Bishop and Ian Steinke took over the team’s bench duties in 2001.
Alberta Golden Bears centre Nick Ternovatsky was voted to the Canada West all-star team.
The high school football product of the St. Albert High Skyhawks and Alex Krausnick-Groh of the Calgary Dinos tied in balloting for the starting spot.
Ternovatsky made headlines at the 2010 CIS East-West Bowl when the third-year Golden Bear benched 225 pounds 31 times.
Meanwhile, the Golden Bears play the Dinos today at 3 p.m. at McMahon Stadium in the 74th annual Hardy Cup. It will be broadcast live across western Canada on Shaw Television and Shaw Direct. The winner will host the national semifinal Mitchell Bowl next Saturday against the Atlantic University Sport champion.
Last weekend the Bears qualified for the Canada West final by scoring 28 straight points to shock the Saskatchewan Huskies 31-30 in Saskatoon. The top-seeded Huskies looked to be in control at 30-3 in the third quarter, when the fourth-seeded Golden Bears rallied with a touchdown before quarter time and added three more TDs before the gun sounded.
Jean-Marc Jones, a fifth-year linebacker, recorded five tackles and five assists in the playoff upset. Defensive back Dean Guedo had two tackles and one assist. Both players are Skyhawks grads.
Another Skyhawks alumnus, slotback Chris Dobko with the second-seeded Dinos, caught 11 passes (fifth-highest on the team) and averaged 16.4 yards per reception in eight games this year. Dobko also led the Dinos in kick returns with 14 for 284 yards. Last year as a freshman he made the travelling squad for the Vanier Cup finalists.
Kashia Wallin and Carleigh Miller of the Alberta Pandas were named all-Canadian in CIS women’s soccer.
Wallin, the Canada West most valuable player and nominee for the Chantal Navert Memorial Award as the CIS player of the year, was selected to the first all-Canadian team on defence.
Miller was a second team selection at midfield.
Wallin, a fifth-year Panda, and Miller are graduates of St. Albert Catholic High School.
Robert Blunden and Janelle Romanchuk were honoured at the Edmonton Rugby Union’s awards banquet last weekend.
Blunden, a member of the metro Edmonton city conference champion Bellerose Bulldogs, was acknowledged as the Gareth Jones Shield winner as the U16 player of the year.
Romanchuk, a high school product of the lady Bulldogs, was the recipient of the Shelaine Kozakovich Cup as the junior women’s player of the year. Last year’s top junior was Janna Slevinsky of the Bulldogs.
At the provincial level, Blunden played for the U16 team and Romanchuk made the U19 team.
The Hawks Basketball Academy bantam girls are hooping it up in Calgary this weekend against club teams.
The Hawks are comprised of 12 bantam-age players of varying abilities. They practice twice a week and play exhibition games and some tournaments.
The focus is on the Basketball Canada curriculum, which is what most college and universities coaches follow. It recognizes 11- to 15-year-olds as the key ages in developing the fundamentals to compete at the highest level in high school and beyond.
Coaches are John Dedrick of the 2010 3A provincial gold-medal winning St. Albert Skyhawks, the defending metro Edmonton premier conference champions and Andre Lussier, who has experience running the Basketball Alberta Centre of Performance.
The Skyhawks senior girls also act as mentors by taking part in practices and refereeing some of the games.
For more information about the basketball academy, email [email protected]
