Track and Field
Trinity Western’s Praise Olatoke (Glasgow, Scotland) set a Spartans record in the 60m, clocking a personal best time of 6.82 to finish second in the preliminaries Friday at the Golden Bear Open at the Universiade Pavilion.
Olatoke broke the Spartans record of 6.88, which was held by both Calum Innes and James Linde. Olatoke betters his previous personal best of 6.90, which he ran at last year’s U SPORTS Championships. His time of 6.82 also automatically qualifies him for this year’s U SPORTS Championships.
The men’s 4x200m, which featured Kenny Blackman Jr. (Surrey, B.C.), Ben Tjernagel (New Westminster, B.C.), Romain Tourvieille De Labrouhe (Richmond, B.C.) and Olatoke also ran an automatic qualification time, crossing the line in 1:29.03.
In the 3000m, Josh Woolgar (Ladner, B.C.) had a personal best time of 8:37.73 to finish seventh, crushing his previous best of 8:48.96, which he ran last week.
On the women’s side of the 3000m, Joanna Williams (Campbell River, B.C.) was second in 10:10.49, while Christina Sevsek (Surrey, B.C.) had a personal best time of 10:23.00 to finish sixth.
Nikita Bradshaw (Pickering, Ont.) finished seventh in the pentathlon with 3,021 points – a result that ranks her third all-time in TWU history within the women’s pentathlon.
In the heptathlon, Chris Weiss (West Vancouver, B.C.) leads the way through the first day, with 2,597 points, while Dominic Luccock (Delta, B.C.) is fourth with 2,511 points, Ethan Foster (Langley) is fifth with 2,497 points and Evan Castellani (Mission, B.C.) is eighth with 2,340 points.
Men’s Volleyball
Langley – The Spartans men’s volleyball team picked up its 13th consecutive victory in conference play by defeating UBC Okanagan in straight sets (25-21, 25-21, 25-17) Friday at the Langley Events Centre.
TWU has now won 36 of its last 38 sets against Canada West opponents, as the victory tied for third all-time in program history for total team assists (48) and kills (52) in a 3-set match.
The win improved the Spartans conference best record to 14-1, while the loss dropped winless UBC Okanagan to 0-13.
Brodie Hofer (Langley) led the Spartans attack with 12 kills and a .474 hitting percentage, while Eric Loeppky (Steinbach, Man.) added 16 kills of his own.
Cam Vanderveen had a team-high six kills and eight digs for the Heat, while Jakob Hamilton put up 17 assists.
The No. 1 Spartans were matched up evenly with UBC Okanagan through the first set, with both teams trading leads seven times throughout the majority of the set, before TWU broke the tie at 16-15 to ultimately win 25-21. Spartans setter Derek Epp (Saskatoon) had 14 assists in the set, while Loeppky added five kills. TWU held a .270 to .120 edge in hitting percentage.
Into the second set both teams once again kept pace with each other, with 12 tie scores including a late score of 20-20. A timely kill from Jacob Kern (Edmonton) then gave the Spartans a late lead, sparking a 5-1 run as TWU took the second set 25-21. TWU hit .281 in the set (16-7-32) compared to UBC Okanagan’s .143 (7-4-21).
The Spartans continued rolling in the third set, with Mathias Elser (Calgary) leading the way by picking up 17 of his 18 assists in the match to help the Spartans win 25-17.
TWU hit .346 (52-16-104) in the match compared to UBC Okanagan’s .143 (20-10-70).
Women’s Volleyball
Langley – Trinity Western’s women’s volleyball team rebounded from last weekend in a big way, defeating visiting UBC Okanagan in straight sets (25-14, 25-14, 25-22) Friday at the Langley Events Centre.
The Spartans hit .455 (40-5-77) in the match, the fifth highest hitting percentage in a single game in program history.
Mikaelyn Sych (Airdrie, Alta.) contributed six service aces for TWU, while Hilary Howe (Calgary) added a team-high 10 kills and nine digs for the Spartans (15-2).
UBC Okanagan (6-9) were led by Hellen Lacava, who contributed 11 kills and four digs. Natalie Livingston added eight kills and eight digs for the Heat.
After surrendering the opening two points of the match the Spartans offence was simply too much for the Heat in the opening set, with the home side taking it 25-14. TWU’s first set was highlighted by four kills from Avery Heppell (Langley) and two service aces from Sych. The Saprtans hit .750 in the set compared to the Heat’s .115.
The second set was eerily similar, with the UBC Okanagan taking the first point before the Spartans responded on a 4-0 run. TWU would then hold onto the lead for the remainder of the set, winning 25-14. Howe had five kills for TWU while Sych picked up yet another pair of service aces. Spartans first-year Jayden Bontkes (Langley) added her first career kill at home in the set.
After the Spartans went up 9-4 in the third set, the Heat nabbed 11 of the next 15 points to take a 15-13 lead. TWU however would fight back with Ansah Odoom (Surrey) at the line, nabbing three consecutive points and six of the next seven to take a commanding lead. Despite a late third set push, the Spartans would hold on to win the set 25-22 for their 15th win of the season.
UBC Okanagan finished the match hitting .145 (27-15-83).
