B.C. representative rugby teams swept gold at the Western championships in Kelowna last weekend.
The senior women’s team, including Burnaby Lake club forwards Carolyn McEwen, Taylor Kapaiwai, Alica Noger, Emily Van Gulik, Sonya Foulds and Kathleen Grudzinski, and backs Annie Arnott and Emily Young, defeated the Prairie Wolf Pack in a two-game series, 24-20 on July 31 and 34-27 on the following Sunday at the Apple Bowl.
The Western regional championships replaced the former National Women’s League format from earlier seasons.
The under-18 women’s team also took first place, edging the Prairie team on points difference, following a 25-17 victory on Sunday. The Wolf Pack took the opening game 27-20.
The teen boys both swept their series against the Prairie reps.
The u-18 boys won 31-3 and 34-17, while the u-16 boys opened the weekend series with a 27-14 win before claiming the Western title with a 44-0 victory on Sunday.
In Ottawa, B.C.’s u-17 boys defeated Ontario 14-12 to win their series 2-0. The u-16 B.C. girls also swept their two-game set with Ontario following a 46-12 win.
The u-15 B.C. boys’ were narrowly defeated by Ontario after a 24-24 draw to start the series.
Ontario eked out the win in the second meeting, edging B.C. 12-11.
Field hockey silver
B.C.’s under-16 field hockey teams came close to gold at the national championships in Brampton, Ont. last week.
The B.C. blue u-16 boys lost to the Ontario hosts in a shootout, while the girls’ blue team were beaten 3-1 in the gold-medal final.
The B.C. boys were unbeaten in the preliminary round, including an earlier 2-1 victory over the eventual Ontario champions.
Jason Dhaliwal shared the tournament lead with five goals with Isaac Farion of Alberta and Quebec’s Sran Gurkirat.
B.C.’s u-16 white girls’ team shared the bronze medal with Ontario white following a 1-1 shootout draw.
The u-18 girls’ field hockey nationals kicked off in Surrey on Wednesday.
B.C. blue opened with big wins over B.C. white and Ontario, defeating our provincial counterpart 5-0 before beating up on the Central Canada reps 6-1 on Thursday.
Medal games start Saturday at 10:45 a.m.
