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the SCORE April 2015

Volume 8 | Issue 1 Highlighting the athletic accomplishments of students in the

Central Valley Athletic Conference, featuring Prairie Spirit School Division

March is not only the time of university basketball madness north and south of the 49th, but also the time of SHSAA bas-ketball across the province, culminating at HOOPLA, held this year in Saskatoon.

Conference playoffs began the second weekend in March. In girls' play, Asquith and Hepburn advanced to regionals from the 1A level, as did VCA (the conference 6 champions) and Hague from the 2A level. Clavet (the conference 3 winners), Delisle, and Dalmeny advanced from their 3A conference playoffs.

In boys' play, Hepburn won their 1A conference to advance, while Rosthern and Stobart moved forward in the 2A cate-gory. At the 3A level, VCA (the conference champion) and Delisle also moved on to regional play. There were no 4A conference playoffs and CVAC had no teams entered into 5A play.

The regional championships, held the following weekend, promised to be more challenging as only one team would advance to the “final four” championship from each site.

CVAC teams bring home Hoopla medals March 26 - 28, Saskatoon

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Lord Asquith Senior Girls Basketball team, with coaches Perry and Vicki Quittenbaum

Girls In 1A girls' regionals, Hepburn was eliminated from advanc-ing after a last second 57-56 loss to St. Walburg, but Asquith built on a convincing victory over Central Butte Friday night to defeat Lake Lenore 59-54 in the final, advancing to Hoop-la.

In 2A girls' playoffs, Hague was eliminated after a tough loss to Regina Harvest City, but VCA advanced to the regional final with a convincing victory over Lashburn. Up against a strong Meath Park squad on its own court in the regional final, they were unable to overcome the challenge, losing 93-65.

At the 3A level, Dalmeny and Delisle were eliminated Friday by Caronport and Indian Head, respectively. Meanwhile, Clavet rolled through their regional playoff, scoring over 100 points against both Tisdale and Esterhazy and advancing to Hoopla.

Finally, at the 4A level, Warman rolled over its opponents at regionals, handily defeating John Paul II and Moose Jaw

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Senior basketball … continued from page 1

Vanier, returning to Hoopla for another run at provincial gold.

Boys In 1A boys' regional play, Hepburn was eliminated from ad-vancing by a very strong squad from Middle Lake.

At the 2A level, Rosthern and Stobart advanced with one basket victories on Friday night to face the host schools in their regional finals on Saturday afternoon. Rosthern stepped up and defeated Balcarres 71-70 in a very exciting game, moving on to Hoopla 2015 in Saskatoon. Unfortu-nately, Stobart was unable to do the same, losing to Saska-toon Ecole Canadienne 71-47.

In 3A play, Delisle lost a tight match to Regina Harvest City on Friday, while VCA handily defeated Nipawin, matching them against Regina in the regional final. Experience and depth paid off for VCA, as they defeated Harvest City 76-57, punching their ticket to Hoopla 2015.

Finally, at the 4A level, Warman defeated Yorkton Sacred Heart by 25 points on Friday night, but were unable to over-come injuries, losing to Moose Jaw Central 86-71 in their regional final.

Hoopla 2015 Five CVAC teams advanced to Hoopla 2015 in Saskatoon. In the 2A boys' playoff. Rosthern was making their first appear-ance in years. They lost a tough match to top seeded St. Brieux on Friday, putting them into the bronze medal game against Canora on Saturday. A strong effort was put forth, but the Huskies lost 76-69, leaving them with dreams of returning next year.

In the 1A girls' playoffs, Asquith lost on Friday to a strong squad from Kenaston, matching them against Kinistino in

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the third place game. A strong effort from the opening toss put Asquith ahead early. They did not ease off, defeating Kinistino 55-36 and capturing the 1A bronze medal.

Three CVAC teams advanced to the Hoopla finals. At the 4A level, Warman girls came out flying. They defeated Lumsden 76-70 on Friday night, pitting them against top seeded Moose Jaw Peacock in the final. Warman jumped out to a commanding lead in the gold medal game, scoring 27 points in the first quarter. To their credit, Moose Jaw maintained their composure, and slowly but surely cut into the Wolver-ines lead. They eventually took control of the game, winning 75-65, reclaiming the title they won last year, and leaving Warman with silver medals draped around their necks.

In the 3A boys' championship, VCA was involved in two of the most entertaining games at Hoopla this year. On Friday, they jumped out to an early lead, scoring 51 points in the opening half on their way to defeating Saskatoon Legacy Christian 86-80 in a physical, fast-paced game.

Saturday evening had VCA matched up in the final against the top seeded Regina Christian. This time it was Regina who jumped out to an early lead only to see VCA fight their way back into the game and take the lead themselves. The lead then exchanged hands for the remainder of the game. Unfortunately, foul trouble eventually took its toll as VCA had several starters foul out in the final minutes. Regina Christian escaped with an 85-82 victory, winning their sec-ond championship in three years and leaving the Lions with their second consecutive silver medal.

Finally, at the 3A girls' level, Clavet Cougars came into the Final Four as the top seed. They demonstrated their strength of play, defeating Assiniboia 68-39 in their semi-

Valley Christian Academy Senior Boys Basketball team, with coach Brad Wall (left)

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final, putting them into the final against Caronport, the de-fending 3A champions. This game was one of the most tightly contested matches of the weekend. The lead went back and forth with neither team able to take any significant control of the game. Eventually, it came down to a shot made or a shot missed, as Caronport upset Clavet 67-66, leaving CVAC with its third silver medal of the day.

Another exciting season ended with tears of joy and frustra-tion. Congratulations to all the coaches and players who put forth their best efforts for themselves, their teammates and their schools. CVAC looks forward to seeing and hearing about your successes in the future.

Warman High School Senior Girls basketball team, with coach Betty Bird (right)

Clavet Composite School Senior Girls basketball team, with coach Chad Williams (left)

Senior basketball … continued from page 2

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Warman High captures

Provincial 3A wrestling team gold

March 13 + 14, Regina Warman High School hosted the rural regional wrestling championship on Saturday, March 7. Coordinated by Jesse Reis, it was the first time wrestling regionals were held within CVAC. Wrestling is not presently a high profile sport in CVAC. Teams were entered from Warman High and Stobart Community School (Duck Lake), looking to place in the top four to advance to the provincial cham-pionships.

In the female category, CVAC had four girls moving on to provincials. Adrea Andeson (WHS) placed third at 53 kg, while Taylor Gardippi (SCS) and Twyla Gamble (SCS) placed fourth at the 60 kg and 64 kg weight classifications, respectively. CVAC's best result came from Alyssa Tumack (WHS) who placed second at the 73 kg level.

Warman High School wrestling team, with coach Jesse Reis (second from the left)

In the male category, four wrestlers moved on to the pro-vincial championship. Derek Buhler (WHS) placed fourth at 98 kg while Micah Heide (WHS) placed second at 73 kg. Most impressively, Brandon McKimmon (WHS) and Jesse Ens (WHS) placed first and second, respectively, in the 110 kg category.

At provincials in Regina on March 13 and 14, CVAC repre-sentatives, like all rural wrestlers, faced a great challenge from the Saskatoon and Regina programs in their attempt to become SHSAA medalists. In the female division, none of the CVAC wrestlers was able to advance to the medal round.

In the male division, CVAC via Warman High captured two medals. At 110 kg, McKimmon wrestled very well, capturing second place and the silver medal. Meanwhile, at 73 kg, Heide, the Warman team captain, won his first four match-es, pitting him against his regional final opponent once again in the provincial final. Although he lost the spirited bout 10-6, his second place finish led Warman High to the 3A provincial team championship!

It is a challenge to establish a new sport within an athletic community. CVAC wishes the best of luck to those coaches working to develop a wrestling program within their school and our district.

Our coaches devote their time and expertise to train and develop our student athletes. Thank you to all CVAC coaches for your invaluable contributions!

Individual medalists Brandon McKimmon (left) and Micah Heide (right)

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Senior Curling report The first weekend of February brought the best senior CVAC curlers to Dalmeny Curling Club to determine which two boys, girls and mixed teams were going to represent CVAC at regionals in Meadow Lake at the end February.

In the mixed category, Langham advanced to regionals as district champions, defeating Aberdeen and Colonsay along the way. Delisle, after losing their first game, rolled off four consecutive victories to advance as the second qualifier.

In boys' play, the defending provincial semi-finalists from Colonsay also proved to be a challenge to their opponents, as they once again advanced as district champions. Borden, who dropped their first game to the Colonsay squad, refo-cused and scored five consecutive victories to also move on to regionals.

In the girls’ category, the defending provincial champions from Hanley proved tough to beat. Returning three starters from that team, they went undefeated advancing as district champions. Colonsay girls, who gave Hanley a tight game in the A side final, also advanced, defeating Aberdeen in the B side final.

From regionals, CVAC advanced three of the six teams to provincials. In the mixed category, Delisle won both their games on Friday while Langham went 2 and 1, losing to a strong team from Meadow Lake. On Saturday morning, Delisle also lost to Meadow Lake while Langham kept their hopes of advancing alive with a win over Leovillle. This set up a head-to-head showdown between the two CVAC teams for the final position at provincials. Langham defeat-ed Delisle 7-3, punching their ticket to provincials in Prince Albert.

In boys' play, Borden won its two games on Friday while Colonsay went 2 and 1, losing to St. Walburg. On Saturday, Borden was also defeated while Colonsay won their morn-ing game, setting up another head-to-head match between two CVAC for a position at provincials. This time, as op-posed to districts, Borden prevailed, winning 7-5 and mov-ing on to Prince Albert for the championship finals.

Finally, in the girls' category, Hanley continued its domina-tion, winning three consecutive games over the two days and advancing as the regional champion. Colonsay was not quite as fortunate as they lost two of their three games to Turtleford.

At provincials, the teams from CVAC were up against very solid opponents. In mixed and boys' play, Langham and Bor-den, respectively, went 1 and 2 in their pools, failing to ad-vance to the semi-finals on Saturday. In girls' play, Hanley went 2 and 1 on Friday, putting them into a tie-breaker on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, they were unable to ad-vance, losing 4-3 to Maple Creek.

Once again, thank you to all those who took the time to give our students an opportunity to develop their skills. Curling appears to be the school sport where community coaching is becoming more of the norm and CVAC appreci-ates the effort of schools and communities to support this sport for their students.

Hanley Senior Girls Curling team, with coach Scott Anderson

Colonsay Senior Boys Curling team

Walter W. Brown Senior Mixed Curling team, with coach Rebecca Ryde

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Upcoming Dates

Date Event Location

April 14 Junior Badminton various locations

April 16 Junior Badminton Group A: Martensville High Group B: Delisle

April 18 Due date for nominations for SHSAA awards Send to Grant Elke

April 18 Junior badminton finals Warman High School

April 22 Senior Badminton various locations

April 25 Senior badminton Districts Martensville High School

April 28 CVAC Executive meeting Division Office

April 30 Athletic Directors meeting, 4 p.m. Division Office

May 2 Senior Badminton Regionals Meadow Lake

May 9 Provincial Badminton Moose Jaw

May 20 Conference A Track Meet Griffith Stadium, Saskatoon

May 21 Conference B Track Meet Griffith Stadium, Saskatoon

May 29 District Track Meet Griffith Stadium, Saskatoon

June 5 + 6 Provincial Track Meet Yorkton

June 10 Junior soccer TBD

June 17 - 19 SHSAA Annual General Meeting North Battleford

Nominations for SHSAA Coaching awards Every year, the SHSAA recognizes individuals who have served as excellent coaches, officials, or all-around contributors to CVAC schools and programs over their careers. School staff are asked to nominate individuals they believe deserve to be formally acknowledged by their peers. Information packages were sent out sever-al weeks ago to all schools running SHSAA programs. They explain the criteria for each award and the struc-ture to be generally followed when submitting a nomination.

Nominations must be forwarded to Grant Elke by Saturday, April 18, to be presented to the nomination com-mittee on Tuesday, April 28. Those chosen as nominees will have their information forwarded to the athletic directors in each school for discussion at a staff meeting prior to the Athletic Directors Meeting on April 30.

At the A.D. meeting, a vote will be tabulated and the recipients of the male coach, female coach, official, and service awards will be announced. The SHSAA will make a presentation to these individuals at their Annual General Meeting in June.

SHSAA Sportsmanship awards Colonsay’s Senior Girls volleyball team was awarded the SHSAA Sportsmanship Award for their 1A Girls Volleyball season.

Warman High School’s Senior Girls volleyball team was awarded the SHSAA Sportsmanship Award for their 4A Girls Volleyball season.

Congratulations on receiving these prestigious awards!

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… continued

The first week of February meant CVAC junior basketball playoffs!

CVAC’s basketball leagues are split into Tier A and Tier B groupings. Most of the teams in both tiers participated in a six-game CVAC season supplemented by weekend tourna-ments. Hopefully the teams were playing their best ball at the end of the season.

Tier A The Tier A finals, held in Osler on February 7, were preced-ed by several elimination games as only four boys and four girls teams could advance to the championship round. Earli-er in the week, Clavet defeated VCA and Dalmeny defeated Martensville High in boys’ play, advancing to join Osler and Warman High on Saturday. On the girls’ side, Langham de-feated Osler in a tight match, advancing with Dalmeny, VCA and Warman High to the “final four”.

Girls In the first semi-final, Dalmeny and VCA battled, with Dal-meny emerging with a 34-31 victory. In the second semi-final, Warman proved too much for Langham, getting by their less experienced opponents rather handily. In the third place game, Langham and VCA clashed in their final games of the year. In the end, VCA prevailed 58-38, finishing third overall.

CVAC Junior results

Junior Basketball Tight championship games the norm

Osler Junior Boys basketball team, with coach Brian Lewchuk

Dalmeny Junior Girls basketball team, with coach Sandra Schatz

In the gold medal game, Warman’s size and experience was matched against Dalmeny’s quickness and intensity. The game itself was a struggle from the beginning with neither team able to gain much of an upper hand. Dalmeny took a 39-38 lead with about 2 minutes left, followed by a flurry of activity, but no points, resulting in Dalmeny emerging as the upset Tier A champions for 2015.

Boys On the boys’ side, the Warman/Dalmeny semi-final started as a struggle, but Warman slowly gained the upper hand, eventually defeating their opponent 56-47. The second semi-final game, between Osler and Clavet, demonstrated the value of experience, as Osler’s grade 9 depth carried them to a 47-20 victory. The third place game had Dalmeny showing its depth and experience as they defeated Clavet 58-38.

The championship game was billed as a battle between big bodies in a confined space, and that it was. Scoring was difficult, as shots were contested from every angle. Osler opened up a lead in the first quarter and Warman, while working to cut into it, could never quite gain control of the scoreboard. In the end, Osler’s rebounding allowed them to

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break away, defeating Warman 43-34, capturing their first Tier A boys’ championship.

Tier B The Tier B finals, also a “final four” structure, were preceded by multiple preliminary games during the week as 11 girls teams and 14 boys teams battled to get into the champion-ship tournament. The championship tournament – a great event for Leask School to host – was held on February 7.

Girls In the girls’ semi-finals, the depth of the programs in As-quith and Hepburn were highlighted as they defeated Ros-thern and Vanscoy, respectively. In the third place game, Vanscoy finished with its best result ever, defeating Ros-thern in a battle between programs on the rise.

The final pitted two very well matched opponents who were quite familiar with each other. The game was a struggle that went back and forth, but Asquith eventually emerged with a 36-33 victory over Hepburn, capturing the Tier B champion-ship.

Boys In the first boys’ semifinal game, Asquith showcased a pow-erful squad, defeating last year’s champions from Hepburn handily. In the second semifinal, the top-ranked host team from Leask was upset by an ever-improving Waldheim team. It was the final two games that gave spectators more than their money’s worth - especially since CVAC does not charge admission!

In the third place game, Leask and Hepburn battled from the opening toss of the ball. The game went back and forth for four quarters, with Leask finally squeezing out a one point victory, defeating Hepburn 46-45.

The final game had the same level of intensity, as both As-quith and Waldheim really wanted the victory. Once again, the game went back and forth, with multiple lead changes.

And once again, as in the girls’ final, Asquith emerged victo-rious, defeating Waldheim 44-43, giving Lord Asquith School a sweep of the 2015 Tier B Championships.

Congratulations to everyone involved in another successful season. Thank you to everyone for adapting so well to the rule changes put in place to further the development of individual and team skills. The sport continues to grow by leaps and bounds (no pun intended) and that is the result of a tremendous amount of work being done by coaches and players.

Lord Asquith School Junior Boys basketball team, with coach Melissa Wickett

Lord Asquith School Junior Girls basketball team, with coach Vicki Quittenbaum

Junior basketball … continued from page 7

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Junior Curling The CVAC junior curling championship took place on February 27 and 28 at the Dalmeny Curling Club. Eighteen teams registered to take part in the boys, girls and mixed playoffs on a cold sunny weekend.

With seven teams entered, the girls' championship was dominated by a relatively young team from Allan. After receiving a first round bye, they won twice to advance to the A-B final. There they met the team from Colonsay whom they had defeated earlier in the draw. Once again, Allan demonstrated great draw weight, jumping into an early lead and finishing undefeated in the girls' championship.

Blaine Lake Junior Mixed curling team, with coach Karen Fiala

Rosthern Junior Boys curling team, with coach Marg Knoll

Allan Junior Girls curling team

The boys' championship was a solid eight team competition with Colonsay and Rosthern the dominant teams in this year's playoff. Meeting in the first round, Colonsay defeated Rosthern in a tight game. Rosthern shrugged off the defeat and proceeded to win four consecutive games on the B side, matching them up against Colonsay in the A-B final. Ros-thern came out firing, scoring multiple points in three of the first five ends and coasting to a relatively easy victory.

This meant that the championship would come down to a “winner take all” game. Once again, Rosthern had a strong start, scoring four points in the first two ends, and, once again, coasted to a relatively easy victory, capturing the boys' championship.

The mixed championship involved only three teams this year. An experienced Blaine Lake squad proved itself the best team in the category, sweeping through the double knockout draw against Leask and Delisle to capture the championship.

Looking forward, CVAC hopes to see the number of junior teams increase beyond 20. We will be working with the Saskatchewan Curling Association as we look to find ways to get a growing number of schools involved in the curling pro-gram being offered.

The Score newsletter • Published throughout the school year • Contact: grant.elke@spiritsd.ca

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Athletic Directors Calendar Saturday, April 18 Due date for nominations for SHSAA awards.

Thursday, April 30 CVAC Athletic Directors meeting at Division Office, 4 p.m.

Thursday, May 6 Deadline for SHSAA E5 for Track and Field.

Wednesday, May 13 Due date for SHSAA resolutions.

CVAC portal The CVAC portal is listed along the top bar on the Prairie Spirit home page. The portal is accessible to staff and the public, and only Athletic Directors have permission to make changes to the information presented.

The portal provides a complete CVAC calendar, the CVAC Executive, a list of the Athletic Directors in all CVAC schools and upcoming tournaments. In addition, all sports are listed on the left side of the portal, each with the names and emails of all the CVAC coaches for that sport, by age classification (junior/senior) and gender (boys/girls), where applicable. Other information includes rules, league, tournaments, forms, officials lists, clinics and awards.

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CVAC Executive 2014/15

Craig Reinhardt, President | Josh Janzen, Vice-President | Grant Elke, Extra-Curricular Commissioner/Treasurer

Jon Yellowlees, Coordinator | Noel Roche, LEADS representative | Judy Walker, Officials Commissioner

Tyler Scheidt and Sandra Schatz, Members at Large