nd

 

onathan D. Chapman

 

nce again the annual awards banquet
or your student athletes was held at the
Douglas College cafeteria with a wide
ariety of food and alcohol. As usual the
oys at the bar were very popular
ongst the athletes and were busy the
ole time they were open. The party
as long and frustrating with a noisy
ack corner. Supposedly well behaved
udents let their minor intoxication get
eir better judgement. After their
strating and annoying tactics, both
tugby coaches had a few words to say to
et them know just how immature they
ere. Such things aside, the awards night
as excellent: with tears, jeers, and
heers.
Wheelchair basketball started the
wards night off after a few jokes and
ome serious stories about drunk drivers
om master of ceremonies, Chris
phnson. The MVP award went to Kent
Hall, the leadership award went to Craig
Robson, and finally the most inspira-
ional award went to Dave Fletcher.
The next team was men’s basketball,
resented by head coach Dave Munro.
most improved player was Adrian
enahan and most inspirational player
as longtime veteran Kevin

    
   
     
  

oman Sanaie

 

rom March 20—March 21, the
anadian Junior Wrestling Champion-
ip (under 21) took place in Guelph,
Dntario. Douglas College wrestlers
aimed two gold medals.

Dwayne Magnusson won the gold in
e 60kg class, and Norm Link won the
pld in the 70kg division.

sports@op.douglas.bc.ca

he year end athletic awards

Kundarowich. The next two awards for
men’s basketball were for their two best
players of the year. The rookie of the
year went to Rob McClelland and the
MVP went to Jon Fast (who was one of
the sharpest dressed athletes at the event
as well).

‘Women’s soccer was presented by
their coach Sherri Kisser. Their most
improved player went to Jennifer
Hovannes and MVP went to an
outstanding player — Lauren Wood.
There was also an award for the most
inspirational, which was a tie between
Rebecca Brooke and Andrea Kazuta.

The next set of awards went to the
golf team; and they were presented by
Janet Williams from Labatts Canada.
The awards went to two people, Dan
Swanson and Jarad Boddy. The team was
also the Western Canadian Champions
in 1997, with thanks to Swanson,
Boddy, Gord Fisher, Kyle Beattie, Matt
Kern, Trevor van Hoof, and coach Gert
van Niekerk. So if you see someone in a
black jacket with “Western Canadian
champs” on it, they are probably one of
the members of the golf team.

The next team was wrestling, with the
awards being presented by coach Dave
McKay. The wrestling team struggled a
bit this year, but McKay was proud of

Other Douglas College wrestlers did
well individually. Jesse Saunders placed
third in the 60kg class, Neal Ewers
placed fourth in the 65kg class, and
Raymond Kooner placed fifth in the
115kg class.

On the women’s side, Samara Bassett
finished second in the 50kg class.

The Burnaby Mountain Wrestling
Club (which all Douglas College

his team and the accomplishments they
made. The most outstanding male and
female wrestlers, respectively, went to
Dwanye Magnusson and Lyndsay
Belisle. Belisle also earned at spot on the
national team and wrestled in the Pan
Am Games.

Sue Sharp was the next to come up to
give her emotional words and awards to
the women’s volleyball team. The rookie
of the year award went to the hard
working Christine Bonish. The stellar
defense awards went to Kirsten
Homeniuk and the sprawler, Sabrina
Kaltenbach. The MVP award is possibly
the hardest award to pick when you have
two national ranked players on the same
team. So there was only one choice to
make. Vesna Rukavina and Becki
Kosinski were both recipients of the
MVP award.

Badminton is always a promising
sport for Douglas College and for coach
Chantal Jobin. The team commitment
award went to Lisa Yeling and the team
dedication award went to Yayoi
Koshimura. The most improved—unsung
hero award went to M. Imtiaz
Chaudhry; the most dedicated player
was Raymond Tsoi; and the most
outstanding player was Jennifer Wong.

Women’s Rugby was presented by

wrestlers belong to) won the team title
for both male and female divisions.
Magnusson and Link will represent
Canada at the USA International
Tournament in June, the Canada Cup
Tournament in July, and the World
Junior Wrestling Championships in
August. e
yndsay Belisle
brings back Pan-Am

minus two months

   
   
   
  
  
   
  
 
   
 
    
  
   
 
  
 
   
  
 
 
  

immihada

 

anohana must be able to rest easy at
ght, knowing that if his health takes a
ve, the rest of the family can still

deem the Hanada name. Wakanohana
oved this, in the March Osaka
burnament, after his younger, bigger
other dropped out of the tournament
rly because of “hepatic insufficiency”
ver problems). Wakanohana posted a
par perfect record of 14-1, winning his
urth career basho and renewing talk of
s becoming yokozuna one day.
specially in light of Takanonami’s and
usashimaru’s mediocre March records
barely majority wins for both ozeki.)
For most fans, the one-yokozuna

sho was probably a nice change of

ce; the Futagoyama stable had its back
b against the tawara and, besides, it was
e Osaka basho. Anything could

ppen. Word on the street was that
ebono was feeling better, and, as well,
er-ranked guys like Tosanoumi were
oking strong. Who would fill the space
by Takanohana? Somebody new?

tho would break the usual Futagoyama
anglehold on the sport?

Well, the winner turned out to be
mebody else from the Futagoyama-
ya. Wakanohana rolled through the

er wrestlers with a startling momen-

tum, using every trick in the book, using
thinking sumo, rather than power sumo.
It was like watching Taka, when Taka
was still frenetic and young. It was like
watching Waka; again, watching a
younger, not yet decimated by injury
Wakanohanaa. It was like in 1993, when
the few top wrestlers that now rule the
sport were giving fans and pundits clues
as to how strong (and charismatic) they
really were, when they helped win fans
back from Japanese baseball.

Waka’s best match he saved for
Musashimaru on Day 11. The olive-
skinned Hawaiian was still cocky from
his championship in January, but had
been having a bad basho for an ozeki.
Especially for an ozeki who had
apparently been months away from
becoming promoted to yokozuna. There
was a lot of energy at the tachi-ai, but
both jumped back from the initial
headbutt and both seemed prepared to
take a bull-like run at each other. After a
few minutes of jitterbugging, Waka
charged at Musashi, who, with his
newly-acquired defensive abilities,
feinted out of the way. Waka went too
far and too hard, and ended up one half-
step from the rim of the ring, with his
back and side fully exposed to Musashi.
He was in trouble. But Musashi’s
momentum from his evasion was still

One more tournament till sumo comes to Vancouver

carrying him in the opposite direction.
Still, the temptation was too sweet. Like
a guided missle, he set his sights on
Waka’s vulnerable position, and charged
at his rival, only to be out-

manoevered by the smaller,

quicker wrestler. Waka
mimicked Musashi’s
duck. This caught
Musashi by surprise

(The audacity!), and he
tried to stop from
escorting his own self
out of the ring, but it was
too late. Waka gave him a
respectful nudge for
luck’s sake and
another one had

bit the dust.

Waka’s
one loss
came
at the
giant
conch-
sized hands
of the other big
Hawaiian, Akebono
(13-2), who
seemed to be up
to his old
form again.
Takanonami

  

C

 

coach Dave Dando. The service award
was for Bernice Ko; the most improved
award was for Aggie Dyndul; and rookie
of the year was for Courtney Kellock.
The best forward and best back in the
first division went to Laura Harmse and
Jennifer “Cliffy” Fletcher, respectively.
The best forward and best back in the
second division were Michelle Crass and
Vanessa Andrascik, respectively. The
MVP and possibly most inebriated
person on the evening was undoubtedly
Lisa McLeod.

Anne-Marie Fearn and her field
hockey team have been very prosperous
this year. The rookie of the year awards
went to Neeru Chawla and Andrea
Jacobsen. The most improved player was
Valerie Chung and the MVP award went
to Kristina Paech.

Richard Williams was up next to
present the women’s basketball awards to
the most improved player, Tammy
Neufeld, and the best defensive player,
Darcy Savage. The rookie of the year was
Carrie Rogers. The MVP went to the
indisputable Stacy Reykdal.

Men’s Rugby was presented by coach
Mike Collins. The most improved player
of the year was Dave McCallum and the
rookie of the year award went to Chris
Schjelderup. The best back and best

DC wrestlers bring home the gold

Iwo from nationals, one from Pan-Am

gold

On March 27, Lyndsay Belisle won a
gold medal for Canada at the Pan
American Wrestling Championships
held in Winnipeg.

Belisle, who wrestled in the 46kg
class, defeated former world silver
medalist Afsoon Roshanzir, from the
USA, in the first round.

In the gold medal match, she defeated

found that out, too, when he was
virtually chased around the rim of the
ring by Akebono in their one anticlimac-
tic match. Just like old times.

yy

  
    
 
   
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

forward went to Richard Kozak and
Kieth Cowie respectively. The MVP for
the year on the men’s rugby team went
to Brian Britton.

Brian Newman and his men’s
volleyball team went to the national
championships for the second consecu-
tive year. The rookie of the year was
Ryan Hendley, the most improved player
was Darren Gross, and the best blocker
was Ken Kilpatrick.

The Douglas College awards were
presented to top off the evening. The
female athlete of the year was presented
by Al Atkinson. The award went to
Chantal Jobin, the coach/player of the
badminton team. The male athlete of
the year award went to volleyball player
Ken Kleindienst, presented by Neal
Nicholson. The last award of the evening
was given to the coach of the year. Brain
Newman of the men’s volleyball team
was provincial champ for the second
straight year.

The year was a huge success for
Douglas College, and they would like to
thank every student, staff member, and
anyone else who was missed, for their
excellent contributions to the school’s
athletic program.

previous Pan American champion
Angeles Barraza, from Mexico,10-0.

Lyndsay was named the tournament’s
Outstanding Female Wrestler.

Her next competitions will be the
1998 Canadian Senior Championships
and the World team trials between April
30 and May 1, in Winnipeg.

It wasn’t just the big guys who did
well, though. Aogiyama, who readers
may recognize as one of the two
wrestlers who visited Vancouver in
February, ended up with an 11-4 record,
good enough for a big promotion and
the Fighting Spirit prize. Congrats, Ao,
maybe it was the Vancouver air that did
you good, the same Vancouver air you'll
be breathing in about eight weeks. Yes,
we're one tournament away from the

Canada Basho. Let’s hope that the
Haru basho is a gentle one; I do not

want to see any injuries before
Vancouver!

 

 

The Other Press April 1998 11