The defending national champion and 2016 PacWest provincial champion Camosun Chargers men’s volleyball team completed another successful season, finishing fifth at the Canadian Collegiate Athletics Association national volleyball championships earlier this month.
The Chargers defeated the Mohawk College Mountaineers in straight sets (25-13, 25-18, 25-20) to open the tourney but fell in the semifinal to the Red Deer Kings, a drawn out five-set affair in Red Deer’s favour (25-18, 19-25, 19-25, 26-24, 15-11).
“Taking care of Mohawk in straight sets was gratifying and playing a terrific match against Red Deer College, which was according to the players, officials and fans ‘the match of the tournament’, showed how far we have come as a team,” said Chargers coach Charles Parkinson.
Camosun then fell to the Douglas College Royals in the bronze medal game, a rematch of the PacWest provincial final won by Camosun in five sets.
Chargers setter Vitor Macedo was named a First Team Championship All-Star and Savana Walkingbear earned a Second Team All-Star at nationals.
Try out track and field this weekend
Youth and athletes of all ages are invited to The Pacific Athletics and the Victoria Track and Field Club’s “Try it Out” sessions at UVic’s Centennial Stadium.
The sessions will be held Sunday and then again next Sunday, April 3, from 10 to 11 a.m.
They are designed to give athletes looking to participate in a track club environment an idea of how it works. Coaches will be on hand to take the athletes through two modified event practices each Sunday. More information regarding the two clubs and their programs is available at their respective websites pacifathletics.ca and victrack.ca.
Gymnastics qualify for provincials
A pair of Saanich gymnasts qualified for provincials on March 19 at the Mt. Arrowsmith Gymnastics Invitational in Port Alberni.
Jordan Reilly (Junior Olympic 6, 2002) had an outstanding meet, earning bronze on vault, silver on bars, bronze on beam and bronze on floor, with a bronze medal all-around. Georgina Love (Junior Olympic 6, 2004) had a consistent performance and finished in eighth place all-around.
Both Reilly and Love train with Falcon Gymnastics and helped Zone 6 win a collective 10 medals.
The B.C. Championships are April 15 to 17 in Langley.
Royals ready for WHL playoffs
The Victoria Royals enter the Western Hockey League playoffs today as the regular season champions with a record of 50-16-6.
For the first round, the Royals host the Spokane Chiefs for Games 1 and 2 beginning at 7 p.m. today and Saturday at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.
The Royals held its annual team awards on Sunday. Joe Hicketts was named the team MVP for the second straight year. Alex Forsberg earned the Mayfair Optometric Top Scorer Award with 31 goals and 60 assists (91 points).
Matthew Phillips finished the regular season as the top scorer among all WHL rookies and was named the Royals’ rookie of the year and took The Keg Fans’ Choice award, as chosen by online voting.