© Sports the other press e flashGordon e dcsportseditor@yahoo.ca Aipril 7, 2004 An Awards Banquet to Remember...Or Not Flash Gordon Sports Editor More than anything, I was surprised to receive an invitation from Judy Weiss in the athletics’ office. Not that I did anything to fall out of favour with the athletics depart- ment, I just wondered where I would sit. I’m not one of the athletes and I imagined the coaches and players would sit at reserved tables. I'm not part of the administration, so I envisioned being cast off to a corner somewhere. That wasn't the case. Instead, my sweet ass was seat- ed at one of the VIP tables among the dignitaries of sorts. Right next to me was Dave Seaweed, First Nations Liaison at the college and coincidentally the master of ceremonies for the awards banquet. Lucky Flash, you might say to me. Easy to see, Seaweed was nervous about the honour of his position for the evening. He said to me at one point, “If you write nice things about me, I’ll see that you eat first.” Then he realized we were sit- ting at the same table amongst the VIPs and that we would be eating first anyway. Dinner was culminated with the keynote speaker Marni Abbott, a Canadian Wheelchair Athlete. She shared her inspirational story of her skiing accident and the recovery she endured that led to her success as a representative of her country. I saw more than a. few eyes get weepy including that of the speaker as she remembered the first gold medal she won as a member of a Canadian team. Even the hearty Flash Gordon felt a twinge of emotion during her speech. We should all ascribe to her philosophy of maintaining a positive mental attitude in life. The awards followed and were narrated by Dave Seaweed who added in a few words of wisdom and bad jokes along the way. The awards went as follows: Badminton: Sarah Davis, Most Improved Player Robyn Shevchenko, Most Determined Player Amanda Hung, Fair Play Award Jason Chen, Rookie of the Year Oky Theodorus, Most Valuable Player Baseball: Mike Pierce, Paul Daniel, Tyler Marples, and Tyler Willson Women’s Basketball: Rachel Andrews, Most Improved Player Bridget O’Brien, Rookie of the Year Anna Rowinska, Most Valuable Player Men’s Basketball: Geoff (Rudy) Lenahan, Most Inspirational Player Cody Berg, Rookie of the Year Nick Hope, Most Valuable Player Wheelchair Basketball: Marni Abbott, Arley McNeney, Jennifer Krempien, MJ Boudreault, Shira Golden, Kei Futatsugi. Kevin Hall, Ken Hall, Erik Hagreen, Brian McLennon, Ross MacDonald, and Richard Peter Golf: Ron Dorland, Most Valuable Player Women’s Rugby: Jodie Lush, Most Improved Player Michelle Monchamp, Outstanding Forward Tanya Leigh, Outstanding Back Men’s Rugby: Brian Fish, Most Improved Player Greg Doucette, Outstanding Forward Stan Ngalu, Oustanding Back Women’s Soccer: Kelsey Lyster, Most Inspirational Player Kat Tesar, Team Player Katie Nelson, Rookie of the Year Hilda Simon, Co-Most Valuable Player Bronwyn Reelie, Co- Most Valuable Player Women’s Volleyball: Jennifer Gerwing, Most Improved Player Kristy Alblas, Rookie of the Year Men's Volleyball: Richard Forbes, Most Improved Player Mike Groff, Best All Around Player Amanda Gerhart, Raj Virdi, Jesse Arnett, and Paul Sahota All of the team awards were fol- lowed by the froo froo scholarships presented by the important people of Douglas College. There were some very deserving recipients of the awards but by this point in the evening, Flash was very very bored. Dave Seaweed’s collection of bad jokes just wasn't keeping me awake so I had to come up with some spe- cial awards of my own to be award- ed ata later date...or not at all. They went something like this: Drunkest table: The men’s volleyball team Hottest table: The women’s volleyball team Guy whose feet were the most tired from going up to receive awards: Brad Davis Girl who will have the most diffi- culty bringing home all the bling- bling: Amanda Gerhart Hardest speech to understand: Joe Ormerod, Head Coach Men’s Soccer Guy who looked like he had arrived from a bachelor party: Cody Berg Pimpinest outfit: Donald Burton or Nick Hope (Either one looked like the should have been in a streetball video) Worst Joke: The badminton crew Biggest cheerleaders: The women’s soccer team Weirdest Drunk Guy: Richard Forbes of the men’s volley- ball team SFU Sings the Consolation Blues Women’s Rugby Dave Pearcey CSRW ee Douglas 36 SFU 24 How the mighty have fallen. In November these two teams were undefeated and faced each other in a league game to decide first place. Now Douglas moves on to play for fifth place in the post-season tournament for the second year in a row, while SFU is relegated to the seventh place match, Even though this was a con- solation round match-up, both teams have been long-time rivals and combined to produce a very entertaining game of rugby. Douglas struck first as Corinne Jacobsen scored near the corner flag after SFU was penalized at the five metre mark. SFU fullback Tina Carey equalized as Douglas fullback Kelly Kitamura went for an interception and missed, allow- ing Carey a clear 15 metre run to score. Tara Kay converted and a try by fleet-footed Jenny Harvey gave SFU the lead 5-12. Winger Carly Albiston made a great pass out of a tack- le to set up flanker Michelle McDonald for a score. The conversion by Kirstie Smith tied the score at the half. The second half did not start well for Douglas, as a loss of possession right from the open- ing kick-off led to an overlap and Harvey took advantage, sprinting 40 metres to give SFU the lead again. Douglas fought back and drove deep into their opponent’s end, only to lose possession again within metres of the line. SFU spun the ball out quickly and caught the Douglas backs out of align- ment. Harvey ran 90 metres for her third and easiest score of the day as nary a hand was laid on her. The conversion by Kay saw SFU up by 12-24. Douglas was now up against a wall, behind by 12 points and losing wingers Amber Cummings and Vickie Dhillon to injury in the first ten min- utes. To their credit, they didn’t quit. In fact, the team came on and totally took control of the game from the Clan. The for- wards and backs ran hard and retained possession down the field until centre Stacey Webber found a gap and dove in for the try (17-24). Solid defense kept SFU penned up in their end and after taking possession, a series of phases led to a penalty awarded at the five-metre line. Jacobsen carried three defenders backwards to score. Smith added the conversion from a difficult angle to tie the score. SFU could not stem the tide. Douglas battled for and won possession again. This time Jennifer Fletcher scored under the posts and Smith brought the score to 31-24. Tanya Leigh scored her 12th try of the sea- son on the final whistle to seal the victory. Second Division: Abbotsford 12 Douglas 5 The second division semi-final went to Abbotsford in a tightly contested affair. Douglas scored first when Laura Heer snatched up a dropped pass and out- raced several defenders on a 50 metre scoring run. Abbotsford countered just before the half off a line-out and a well execut- ed play that saw their backside winger take a pass and break through the heart of the Douglas defense. The conver- sion gave them a 7-5 lead. Abbotsford — consolidated their lead when the Douglas players allowed the second half kick-off to roll almost right to their goal-line. Now against the wind, the visitors could not make any ground and Abbotsford took over Possession. Despite some strong defense, the home side found room to score their second try and leave Douglas seven points behind. Hard work by scrumhalf Rikkilee Jones and #8 Maggie Dobbs saw Douglas make some long breaks downfield, but too many of these opportunites were lost when the ball could not be retained in contact. Douglas had their best oppor- tunity to score as the game wound down, but time ran out as the ball was taken out of bounds within 15 metres of the Abby tryline. http://www.otherpress.ca Page 21