Skip to content

TWU Sports Saturday – Tough Day In Hoops vs UFV, Track, Rugby, Volleyball, Hockey

Track and Field

Seattle – Trinity Western’s Mowa Adeleye (Calgary) started her 2020 indoor track and field season with a strong opening performance in the 60m hurdles, finishing sixth overall in 8.81 at the University of Washington Indoor Preview Saturday at Dempsey Indoor.

After running 8.89 in qualifying and 8.88 in the preliminaries, Adeleye shaved her time down to 8.81 in the final, which will put her in or very near the top 12 in the U SPORTS individual rankings.

Jennifer Kits (Langley, B.C.) had a strong showing in the 1000m, finishing 10th in 2:57.11.

On the men’s side, David Boyd (Victoria) cleared 4.91m in pole vault to finish eighth overall and earn automatic qualification for the U SPORTS Championships. On the track Nick Colyn (Langley) ran 4:13.47 in the mile to finish 29th in his first race at the Dempsey in nearly two years, having been injured throughout almost all of the 2019 season. 

UP NEXT
The Spartans will return to Seattle Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 for the UW Invitational back at the Dempsey Indoor. 

TWU RESULTS

^U SPORTS Automatic Qualifying Standard

Women

800m

15th – Jennifer Kits – 2:18.02

1000m

10th – Jennifer Kits – 2:57.11

60m Hurdles

Qualifying

6th – Mowa Adeleye – 8.89

Preliminaries

8th – Mowa Adeleye – 8.88q

Final

6th – Mowa Adeleye – 8.81

Triple Jump

17th – Mowa Adeleye – 10.84m

Men

Mile

29th – Nick Colyn – 4:13.47

Pole Vault

8th – David Boyd – 4.91m^

9th – Giovanni Hernandez – 4.76m

Triple Jump

12th – Denzel Brown – 13.85m

Edmonton – Trinity Western had four athletes earn top two results – three of which finished first in their events – as the Spartans put together an impressive performances on the second day of the Golden Bear Open Saturday at the Universiade Pavilion.

Ethan Foster (Langley, B.C.) put Canada West and U SPORTS on notice that a new heptathlete is on the block, as the first-year won the heptathlon with 4,657 points. The performance was just 85 points off TWU’s heptathlon record (Cale Hernandez – 4,742 – Feb. 27, 2016) and his result would have been good for a fourth-place finish at last year’s U SPORTS Championships. Foster was followed by fifth-year Chris Weiss (West Vancouver, B.C.), who won a Canada West silver medal last year in heptathlon and was fifth at nationals, after he compiled a personal best 4,618 points. Foster’s 4.43m clearance in the pole vault part of the heptathlon also broke the Golden Bear Open record of 4.40m, which was set by Weiss at last year’s event.

Meanwhile, the Spartans also won both the men’s and women’s 300m events. Grace Konrad (Edmonton) won her 300m competition in 39.11, which earns her automatic qualification for the U SPORTS championships and is the third fastest time in TWU history. Praise Olatoke (Glasgow, Scotland) cruised to a personal best time of 34.61, which destroyed his previous best of 36.13.

In the 600m, first-year Cassidy Hutchison (Abbotsford, B.C.) finished sixth in the 600m with a time of 1:36.28, which puts her fourth in TWU’s all-time rankings.

In the 60m, Kenny Blackman Jr. (Surrey, B.C.), who is the defending Canada West champion, ran 6.97 in the semifinals before finishing sixth in the final in 6.98.

Joanna Williams (Campbell River, B.C.) and Christina Sevsek (Surrey, B.C.) finished eighth (4:45.24) and 14th (4:54.20) respectively in the 1500m.

Men’s Basketball

It was another impressive night from Ja’Qualyn Gilbreath (Amarillo, Tex.), but the Spartans men’s basketball team fell 107-95 on the road against Fraser Valley Saturday at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.

Gilbreath had 32 points (Amarillo, Tex.) alongside seven rebounds, six assists and three steals. It was Gilbreath’s fifth-straight 30-point game, as the most recent U SPORTS male athlete of the week has now scored at least 30 points in eight of the last nine games.

The Cascades (8-6) ran their win streak to five games, while the Spartans (2-12) have now lost six in a row in Canada West play.

Jack Nadelhoffer (Tigard, Ore.) had a season-high 13 rebounds alongside 22 points, while Riley Braich (Abbotsford) added 21 points for the visitors. 

Parm Bains (27 points, 5-of-13 from three) and Jaskarn Bajwa (24 points, 6-of-11 from three) led the way for the hosts, who shot an even 50 per cent from the field and 42.5 per cent (17-of-40) from beyond the arc.

The Cascades caught fire midway through the first quarter, reeling off a 19-3 run to seize control. Bajwa and Jordyn Sekhon ignited the surge with back-to-back triples, and Bains capped it with five straight UFV points.

The Spartans outscored the Cascades 17-7 over the first six minutes of the second quarter to cut the deficit to 38-32, but UFV responded with a 14-0 outburst to close the half, highlighted by four triples including two from Bajwa.

TWU, after shooting just 26.7 per cent from the field in the first half, found more success offensively after halftime. They shot 54.8 per cent the rest of the way,but were unable to come up with enough stops to seriously dent the deficit.

The Cascades maintained a 20-plus-point cushion for most of the third and fourth quarters, before the Spartans ended on an 11-0 run over the last three minutes of regulation with the outcome already decided.

Women’s Basketball

The Spartans women’s basketball team were rewarded a strong game from Nicole Fransson (Edmonton), but were ultimately overcome by their cross-town rival Fraser Valley falling 77-60 Saturday at Envision Financial Athletic Centre.

Fransson was determined to avenge the Spartans 72-61 home defeat last Thursday, picking up 20 points and 17 rebounds in the TWU (3-11) loss. Jolene Vlieg (Leduc, Alta.) added 14 points, while Kianna Wiens (Regina, Sask.) added 11 alongside a team-high five assists.

Fraser Valley forward Taylor Claggett added 26 points, 16 rebounds and four assists for the Cascades, while Deanna Tuchscherer and Amanda Thompson scored seven apiece.

Claggett was on fire from the opening tip. UFV’s all-time leading scorer racked up 18 points in the first half as the host -built leads of 23-10 and 43-24 at the first and second quarter breaks.

The Spartans hung tough, though. After outscoring UFV 20-15 in the third quarter, they surged early in the fourth, getting the deficit back to single digits (64-56) after a triple from Wiens and a jumper from Fransson in quick succession.

The Cascades righted themselves, though, and Victoria Jacobse and Nikki Cabuco combined to insert the dagger. After Jacobse slashed to the rim for a layup, Cabuco snuck in and stole the ensuing inbounds pass, laying it back in to make it 76-60 with less than two minutes left in regulation.

Men’s Hockey

The Spartans men’s hockey team overcame a four-goal deficit late, which included scoring two goals in the final 16 seconds, but ultimately fell 5-4 to Simon Fraser in a shootout Saturday at the Bill Copeland Arena.

TWU put up a season-high 62 shots in the game, 22 of which came in the third period, but ultimately surrendered just their second game of the season (12-1-0-1).

The win moved Simon Fraser (9-5-0-2) into sole possession of second-place in the BCIHL, five points back of first-place TWU.

Trent Vilio (Aldergrove, B.C.), Brayden Brown (Calgary), Travis Verveda (Alix, Alta.) and Jarrett Fontaine (Humboldt, Sask.) scored for the Spartans, while TWU goaltenders Isaac LaBelle (Saskatoon) and Lucas Mills (Burnaby, B.C.) sharing time in the crease.


The Clan had goals from Takato Cox, Jacob Lacasse, Arjun Badh and Mac Colasimone, while Takato Cox was the lone goal-scorer in the shootout. Simon Fraser goaltender Andrew Henderson made a career high 58 saves, to see his record improve to 4-2-0 on the season.

TWU went down 1-0 early in the first period, when Cox beat Mills at 4:02 to make it 1-0 in favour of the home team. The Spartans then went down two goals near the end of the period, when the rookie Lacasse made it 2-0 for Simon Fraser.

Midway through the second period, Badh and Colasimone scored goals 27 seconds apart to bring the Clan lead up to 4-0, of which they held until the final frame.

The Spartans then finally got on the board, when Trent Vilio took an Last feed on the powerplay at 8:33 of the third to make it 4-1. TWU then added another just over five minutes later, with Brown scoring unassisted to make it 4-2.

That led to the late game heroics, as Verveda scored with the Spartans net empty to make it 4-3 with 16 seconds left, before TWU captain Jarrett Fontaine added one more with just four seconds to play to take the game into a shootout. 

After overtime solved nothing, Cox was the only player to score in the shootout to lift the Clan to a 4-3 victory on home-ice.

Women’s Rubgy DEBUT

Trinity Western’s women’s sevens team made its debut on the Canada West Rugby 7s Series Saturday, as the Spartans played their first-ever sevens tournament in school history.

Positioned in a challenging Pool A, the Spartans dropped all three games on Day 1, falling to the two-time defending Canada West champion Victoria Vikes 21-0, before losing 36-7 against Calgary and 31-0 against the host Alberta Pandas.

Michelle Veerman Quezada (White Rock, B.C.) will go down in Spartans history as the first TWU women’s sevens player to score a try, as she dotted down after picking up a loose ball and racing more than 60 metres against the Dinos. Tausani Levale (Abbotsford, B.C.), who came to the Spartans this year from Canada’s national women’s sevens program, slotted the conversion.

TWU will now play local rival Fraser Valley in the consolation semifinal Sunday at 10:12 a.m. (MT). The winner will play in the 5th-place game at 1:52 p.m. (MT), while the loser will play in the 7th-place game at 1:30 p.m. (MT).

WATCH DAY 2 LIVE: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rugbyalberta/

Men’s Rubgy

Trinity Western’s Ethan Bernardin (Langley, B.C.) scored three tries and Daniel Clement (Edmonton) dotted down the game-winning try just before the final whistle, as the Spartans beat the University of Washington 36-31 Saturday afternoon.

With the score tied in the waning moments, a hard-charging Clement, who started at No. 8 for the first time this year, muscled his way across the line to score at the death.

Sam Wegert (Langley), who captained the TWU side, and Keegan Marengo (Edenvale, South Africa), who was playing in his first game as a Spartan, each added one try to the TWU cause. Marengo converted on three of the Spartans six tries.

The win sees the Spartans improve to 2-2 overall in what is their first season since the rugby program relaunched at TWU in 2019.

The contest was back and forth from start to finish. Bernardin opened the scoring midway through the opening half with his first of the afternoon but the Huskies equalized a few minutes later. Shortly thereafter TWU went ahead again on Bernardin’s second try only to see UW reply before halftime, putting the teams on equal terms, 12-12, at halftime.

The Huskies tallied a converted try early in the second half, but back-to-back Spartan tries from Wegert and Marengo once again put TWU ahead. However, UW tied the game soon after, making it 26-26.

Inside the final 10 minutes, TWU went ahead when Bernardin completed his hat trick, but the Huskies came right back to make it 31-31 with less than five minutes to play.

With the game hanging in the balance, the Spartans pressed forward, putting together several phases in the lead up to Clement’s game-winning try.

Men’s Volleyball

The Spartans men’s volleyball team eclipsed a program record for aces in a 3-set match and defeated visiting UBC Okanagan in straight-sets (25-11, 25-11, 25-20) Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.

Mathias Elser’s (Calgary) ace midway through the second set broke the Spartans record, as TWU (15-1) ultimately recorded 17 aces to shatter their previous program-high mark of 13. The mark was also second most in a Spartans game of any length, trailing only the 19 aces recorded in a five-set win against Winnipeg (Jan. 24, 2004).

The Spartans have now achieved 13 aces or more in a 3-set match five separate times, with their most recent coming earlier this season against MacEwan (Nov. 1, 2019). It was TWU’s (15-1) 14th consecutive victory on the season.

Derek Epp (Saskatoon, Sask.) recorded a team-high five aces for TWU, which all came in the opening set. The scoring was spread throughout the Spartans lineup, as Eric Loeppky (Steinbach, Man.), Pearson Eshenko (Banff, Alta.), Jackson Howe (Calgary), Jesse Elser (Calgary) and Henry Rempel (Swift Current, Sask.) all recorded five or more kills.

Noah Campbell had four kills while hitting .333 for the Heat (0-14), while Owen Cotito added 12 assists.

The No. 1 ranked Spartans took complete control in the first set, nabbing the first point and leading the entirety of the way to take the first 25-11. TWU was led by Epp’s five service aces in the set, with Loeppky adding five kills. Max Heppell contributed three kills for the visitors, as UBC Okanagan hit .111 (5-3-18) compared to TWU’s .550 (12-1-20).

TWU kept rolling in the second set, picking up another eight service aces as a team and winning the second by an identical 25-11 score. Mathias Elser picked up 10 assists after taking over for Epp as the Spartans second set setter, while Campbell contributed two kills and two digs for the Heat.

The third set was a different story however, as the Heat fought their way to a relatively even score throughout. There were 11 tied scores throughout the frame, before the Spartans pulled away for the 25-20 set win.

Women’s Volleyball

For the second consecutive night, the Spartans women’s volleyball team came out on top over UBC Okanagan, winning in straight sets (25-21, 25-22, 25-19) Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.

The win improves first place TWU to 16-2 atop the conference standings, while the loss drops UBC Okanagan’s record to 6-10. 

Avery Heppell (Langley) and Hilary Howe (Calgary) each had nine kills for the No. 1 ranked Spartans, with Heppell hitting .471 in the match. Howe also added a game-high 10 digs for TWU, while Dora Komlodi (Calgary) chipping in with 19 assists.

UBCO was sparked by its serving, with Hellen Lacava, Natalie Livingston and Amaya Perry each credited with four service aces in the match. Perry added eight kills for the Heat, while Lacava added seven.

Both teams were knotted up four times through the opening stages of the first set, before TWU eventually showed signs of pulling away at 17-12. UBC Okanagan however would go on a 5-0 run to tie the game up again, before an Ansah Odoom (Surrey, B.C.) kill helped sparked a 7-0 run for the home side. On set point the Heat then scored four points, before a service error from Perry gave TWU a 25-21 first set victory.

After surrendering the opening point of the second set, the Spartans went on a 6-0 run to take a 6-1 lead. The Heat then responded to take 12 of the next 20 points to sit just one point back. After both teams traded points, the Spartans then pulled ahead to take the second set 25-22. Komlodi had four digs and Howe had four kills in the set for TWU, while Lacava had a pair of service aces for the Heat.

TWU then took control in the third set, taking the first point and never looking back, winning the set 25-19 and taking the game in straight-sets. The Spartans hit an efficient .424 (17-3-33) highlighted by four kills apiece from Howe, Heppell and Mikaelyn Sych (Airdrie, Alta.).

The Spartans hit .280 (35-12-82) in the match compared to UBC Okanagan’s .054 (26-21-92).

Share This:

CFC Chilliwack FC

Valley and Canyon Dispatch

Chilliwack Jets

radiodon11@gmail.com fvn@shaw.ca 604 392 5834

abbyTV

Chill TV

Small Business BC

Community Futures

Unique Thrifting

On Key

Related Posts