Track and Field
Seattle– Trinity Western second-year sprinting star Praise Olatoke (Glasgow, Scotland) finished first in the 200m, setting the Spartans indoor record, at the University of Washington Invitational Friday at Dempsey Indoor.
Olatoke clocked an indoor personal best time of 21.35, breaking alum James Linde’s time of 21.62 (Feb. 10, 2017). The record time earns Olatoke automatic U SPORTS Championship qualification, as an equivalent event, for the 300m.
On the women’s side, Grace Konrad (Edmonton) also set TWU’s indoor 200m record, as she finished third overall in the 200m with a time of 24.97. Konrad had previously held the record at 25.45, having set it last year (Jan. 12, 2019).
Mowa Adeleye (Calgary) was impressive in the 60m hurdles, finishing fourth overall with a time of 8.72.
The Spartans are back at the Dempsey Saturday for the UW Invitational. TWU is also competing the 2020 Harry Jerome Indoor Games at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
TWU RESULTS
^U SPORTS Automatic Qualifying Standard
Women
60m Hurdles
Preliminaries
7th – Mowa Adeleye – 8.87q
Final
4th – Mowa Adeleye – 8.72
200m
3rd – Grace Konrad – 24.97
Men
60m Hurdles
Preliminaries
11th – David Boyd – 8.45
200m
1st – Praise Olatoke – 21.35
16th – Benjamin Tjernagel – 22.65
Rugby
Playing in their first home game of the season, the Trinity Western men’s rugby team beat Western Washington University 24-0 Friday at the Langley Events Centre | Northwest Field.
The Spartans, who relaunched the rugby program this fall, were playing in their first home game since 2004 and earned their third straight win, having also knocked off the University of Washington and the University of Oregon over the last two weeks.
Ethan Kelt (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) scored two tries, while Daniel Clement (Edmonton) and Caleb Gerth (Langley) tallied one try apiece amidst a torrential downpour that was coupled with a wild wind.
Keegan Marengo (Edenvale, South Africa) slotted one conversion for the Spartans, who picked up their first shutout of the year.
TWU is now 4-1 on the season against university competition.
Clement opened the scoring midway through the first set when he took a lineout and the Spartans mauled the ball across line. Marengo made the conversion.
Just over 10 minutes later, Gerth bullied his way through the Vikings defence and dove across the line to score.
Early in the second half, Kelt got his first of two tries when he took advantage of a WWU miscue on a lineout at the Vikings 5-metre line, grabbing the ball and dotting it down. The opportunity deep in WWU’s end came about after a brilliant kick to touch from Marengo.
Kelt put the game to bed when he found space out wide and beat a defender, rounding around the corner to score.
Men’s Hockey
Two goals from first-year defenceman Donat Matthys (Wollerau, Switzerland) and Joseph Sylvain (Girouxville, Alta.) pushed the Spartans men’s hockey team to a convincing 10-1 victory over Victoria Friday at the Ian Stewart Complex.
With the win, the BCIHL-leading Spartans improve to 14-1-0-1 on the season. Last place Victoria’s regular season record falls to 5-12-0-1 with the loss, as they’ve picked up just one win over their last five games.
The Spartans had contributions from eight different goal-scorers, as Evan Last (Surrey, B.C.), Tyler McMinn (Wilsall, Mont.), Josh Sylvain (Girouxville, Alta.), Jordan Bogress (Ladner, B.C.), Kenny Batke (Vernon, B.C.) and Dustin Deugau (Calgary) all factored in with goals.
Vikes forward Otis Goldman picked up Victoria’s only goal of the game.
Spartans rookie goaltender Isaac LaBelle (Saskatoon) stopped 20 of 21 shots to earn his fifth win of the season (5-1-0-0).
Matthys picked up his first career BCIHL goal with 4:26 remaining in the first period to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead. Just over two minutes later Batke added another for the Spartans, receiving a Jarrett Fontaine (Humboldt, Sask.) pass and sliding it past Rennie to make it 2-0.
TWU continued its dominance in the second period, as Last scored on the man advantage just 19 second into the period to stretch the Spartans lead to 3-0. Josh Sylvain and McMinn then added goals midway through the second, before Matthys picked up his second of the game with 6:01 remaining to make it 6-0.
The third period was much of the same, as the Spartans’ league-leading offense continued to pepper the Victoria goaltending. Despite the Vikes changing goaltenders from Tyler Rennie to Daniel Paul, TWU continued to score. Deugau scored just over three minutes into the frame, before Joseph Sylvain added his first of the game with 12:11 remaining.
After Otis Goldman got the Vikes on the board midway through the third, TWU got insurance goals from Sylvain and Bogress to close out the game with a 10-1 victory.
Paul made 14 saves on 20 shots, while Rennie stopped 22 of 26 for the Vikes.
Men’s Volleyball
The Spartans were once again the victors in a rematch of last seasons’ U SPORTS national championship game, defeating Brandon in four sets (25-19. 25-18, 18-25, 25-23) Friday at the Langley Events Centre.
TWU (18-1) has now won 17 consecutive games, with its last loss in conference play coming Oct. 19, 2019 on the road against Alberta (3-2).
The Bobcats meanwhile have lost five games in a row, as their record falls to 11-6 with the loss.
Trinity Western’s Eric Loeppky (Steinbach, Man.) had 21 kills and hit .455, while Derek Epp (Saskatoon) contributed a game-high 45 assists.
Elliott Viles led the way for Brandon offensively, recording 11 kills, seven digs and two serving aces. Mason Metcalf meanwhile had nine kills and hit .412 for the Bobcats.
After the Spartans jumped out to an early first set lead, the Bobcats fought back to lead 16-13 midway through the set. TWU then tied up the set 16-16, as the Spartans would then go on a 7-1 run before eventually taking the opening set 25-19.
TWU opened the second set with a lead and never looked back, taking it 25-18. The Spartans hit an impressive .455 as a team in the second, as Loeppky added seven more kills on the night.
Brandon then began to take form in the third set, and after a tied set at 7-7 the Bobcats went on a 9-3 run. They would then close out the third set up 25-18 to bring the game up to 2-1. After hitting .455 in the second set, the Spartans regressed to a .050 third set (9-8-20).
With the Spartans looking to close out in four sets and Bobcats looking to stay alive, the fourth set brought a tight finish. After both teams traded leads throughout the near entirety of the set, Brandon seemingly broke through to take a 22-19 lead late.
The Spartans however had different plans, picking up five of the next six points before eventually taking the fourth and final set 25-23. Loeppky added seven more kills in the final set.
Women Volleyball
The Spartans women’s volleyball team continued their winning ways at home, defeating Brandon in straight sets (25-18, 25-22, 25-15) Friday at the Langley Events Centre.
TWU (19-2) has now won five games in a row, and sit first in the Canada West standings.
Dora Komlodi (Calgary) finished with 14 assists and four service aces for TWU, while Hilary Howe (Calgary) added a game-high 10 kills. Avery Heppell (Langley) contributed four service aces and six kills for the conference-leading Spartans.
The Bobcats (4-15) were led by Ravyn Wiebe on attack, who contributed nine kills, four service aces and two digs. Caitlin Le added eight digs, while Nicole Ashauer had four kills and three service aces in the loss.
Brandon scored first to open the first set, but the Spartans countered with a 9-1 run to take a 9-3 lead. After the Bobcats got to within five points late, TWU closed out with a 25-18 first set win. Komlodi had four first set service aces for the Spartans, who finished the set hitting .280 (11-4-25) compared to Brandon’s .222 (8-4-18).
After TWU opened the second set on a 5-1 run, the Bobcats countered scoring 15 of the next 21 points to take a 15-11 lead. The No. 1 Spartans countered however, going on a 11-2 run of their own and taking a commanding 22-17 lead. TWU would once again close out the set, winning 25-22.
After an early 1-1 tie in the third set, TWU would take control. Led by three service aces from Olivia Heinen (Langley) TWU would lead the rest of the way and take the third set 25-15 for the home court victory. The Spartans hit .364 (11-3-22) in the final set, while the Bobcats hit just .053 (6-5-19).
Men’s Basketball
The Spartans had one of their best offensive quarters all season, but ultimately fell 96-93 to Brandon on the road Friday at the Healthy Living Centre.
The loss sees the Spartans record fall to 0-17 on the season, while Brandon improves to 4-13.
Five Spartans finished in double-figures, led by Jack Nadelhoffer (Tigard, Ore.) who shot 72 per cent from the floor. Nadelhoffer registered a double-double, finishing with 28 points and 13 rebounds, as did Andrew Goertzen (Langley), who contributed 15 points and 12 rebounds for TWU.
Fifth-year guard Jaleel Webb had a team-high 28 points for the Bobcats, while rookie Anthony Tsegakele put up 27 points and along with 13 boards for his 13th double-double of the season.
TWU began the game on an impressive note in the first quarter, scoring 39 points for the second most in a single quarter all season.
The Spartans then held a lead of as much as 16 all the way into the fourth quarter, before Brandon slowly inched their way back into the game.
Then late in the final minute, Bobcats forward Shun Williams took a Dominique Dennis pass to hit the game winning shot, as the Bobcats walked away with a 96-93 home court victory.
Women’s Basketball
A career night from Jolene Vlieg (Leduc, Alta.) pushed the Spartans to a 66-58 road win over the Brandon Bobcats Friday at the Healthy Living Centre.
Vleig finished with a game-high 26 points, 19 of which came in the first half, to go with 12 rebounds.
With its first win of the new year, the Spartans record improved to 4-13 on the season. The Bobcats record falls to 1-16 on the year.
Vleig’s double-double
performance was one of two for the Spartans as Lana Shypit
(Winnipeg) also had a double-double, with 12 points and 10 rebounds,
while Nicole Fransson (Edmonton) finished with 19 points and nine
boards.
Both teams shot the ball well in the opening quarter as the two sides combined to hit nine in the quarter before Brandon’s Adrianna
Proulx hit a buzzer-beater to send the game to the second tied 23-23.
Brandon went cold from downtown in the second, going 0-for-3 while Trinity went 2-for-6 to take a lead at the break.
The
Bobcats’ offence went cold again in the middle of the game going nearly
10 minutes without a basket before Trinity extended the lead to 20
mid-way through the third.
In the
fourth Brandon turned on the full court press and went on a 17-0 run
highlighted by three turnovers by Misskey, but it wasn’t enough in the
end, as the Spartans held on for the 66-58 victory.
