February 2019 Athletics Review

February was quite a month for our competitive sports teams. The hockey program finished off a terrific season by playing outstanding hockey during our annual Ross Cup Tournament. They came second in pool play and lost a closely contested semi-final game to the eventual winner from Cowichan. The team showed tremendous improvement over the course of the year and we were delighted by their strong finish. Our Senior Girls Basketball team, despite being short handed, battled right to the end and played some of the top island teams tough at the South Island qualifying tournament.  Senior Zjaya Doman was particularly impressive as she rattled off fourteen three pointers in her last two games of the year. Meanwhile, our Junior Girls Basketball program actually fielded two teams for the first time and both had stellar seasons. The Tier II team went undefeated in the Mid-Island league and eventually captured silver after a loss to Quamichan in the final. The Tier I team, despite being mostly Grade 8s and Grade 9s, qualified for the Island Championship which is extremely difficult to do at the junior level as we have to compete against 3A and 4A schools. The girls showed very well at Islands losing narrowly to eventual silver medalist Claremont. The future definitely looks bright for our girls basketball program. On the boys side, the Junior A squad also won the Mid-Island league and qualified again for Islands. At Islands the boys lost a heartbreaker to #1 seed Claremont in the semi-final and narrowly missed a berth to provincials by finishing fifth - the top four teams qualify. While the boys were disappointed, this was an outstanding result for the team and our program. Equally exciting was the performance of our Junior B boys team this year. Not only did they win the Tier II Mid-Island league, but the majority of these boys, being in Grade 8 and 9, also helped Brentwood qualify for the Grade 9 Provincial Championship that took place in Burnaby last week. While the team did not win a game at provincials, it was the first time Brentwood has ever sent a boys team ot this event and it was a wonderful experience for the lads. Finally, the Senior Boys Basketball team surprised a lot of people by winning first the South Island Championship and then the Island Championship with a thrilling 72-70 win over our rivals from SMUS in the final. With the win, the boys have qualified for provincials (for the third year in a row) in Langley from March 6-9.  Follow our twitter account (@BCSBasketball) for updates on the boys. As we move into March, our Term 3 sports get underway. In fact, the Girls Rugby team won their season opener yesterday and the Junior boys take on Oak Bay today. We are looking forward to sundrenched fields and courts, but for now, we will patiently wait for the snow to melt! Mr Blake Gage