Nina Schultz and the New Westminster senior Salmonbellies joined the senior Hyacks football team as top-of-the-charts news makers in the Royal City in 2017 – and their stories are listed elsewhere in Thursday’s paper.
But you wouldn’t get much of an argument from anyone in the know of community sports if ‘Athlete of the Year’ and ‘Grace Fetherstonhaugh’ were mentioned in the same sentence.
The New Westminster Secondary student/athlete crammed a lot of accomplishments into the past 12 months, hauling home a lot of medals in the process.
The 16-year-old delivered medals both home and away, including a silver at the Oregon Relays in April. There, the Grade 11 athlete capturing silver and a personal best in the 3,000m race. In that event, she broke the 10-minute barrier for the first time, finishing in 9:52.07.
“I really wanted to get under 10 for such a long time. It was like, ‘Really? I’m under 10? OK, that’s good.’ Now I want to work on getting a better run and a faster time,” she said
At the high school provincials, the track star collected three medals, winning the senior girls 1500m steeplechase, and placing third in both the 1500m and 3000m distances. She continued her impressive summer at the B.C. Jamboree by topping the 16-17 division’s 2000m steeplechase, with a PB, then placed second in both the 1500- and 3000m races.
Fetherstonhaugh scored a pair of medals at the Canadian track and field championships in July, with third place marks in both the 3,000m and 3000m steeplechase. A month later she wrapped up the summer in Manitoba, first by capturing gold in the 3,000m steeplechase for B.C. at the Canada Summer Games, then a week later powering to wins at the Legion National Youth championships in both the 3,000m and 2,000m steeplechase races. Her time in the 3,000m was 9:37.91, while the New West teen topped the 2,000m steeple in 6:41.46 – loping seven seconds off her previous best in both events.
To cap the year off, the now-Grade 12 Fetherstonhaugh shook off chilly conditions to finish second at the provincial cross country championships.
She set a furious pace and is on everyone’s radar for 2018.
Here are more New Westminster sports stories we covered during the past 12 months:
It was a New Year’s day victory for Royal City Curling Club’s Team Tardi in 2017.
The foursome, who call both Royal City and Langley curling clubs home, defended their B.C. junior men’s curling title with an 11-5 win over Team Habkirk. A key step in their win was rallying to edge fellow Royal City squad Team McCrady 7-5 in the qualifier. For skip Tyler Tardi and his crew, it was a second straight title.
“We were ready to go and fired up,” remarked third Sterling Middleton, a Douglas College student. “There was a lot of pressure but we were excited to play (in the final), especially for our lead (Nicholas Meister), who’s in his last year of junior (eligibility).”
Both the New Westminster senior boys and girls basketball teams fell short of a provincial tournament last winter, but not without a spirited fight. The senior boys Hyacks took it to the Lower Mainland consolation semifinal before getting squeezed out by No. 4-ranked Kitsilano, while the senior girls Hyacks pushed it to a must-win wildcard, before falling 77-69 to Yale. In that game, Grade 11 guard Sarah Forgie counted 42 points.
“The boys got a taste of what (provincial) atmosphere is like and I think they really felt it,” noted senior boys coach Arno Richter said. “We lost but we ended it for us on a great note, if we look back a day earlier in the win over (Sir Winston) Churchill.”
In Brief: Royal City Youth Soccer had its victories, including under-14 boys teams the gold Impact and Lions, who captured their respective District finals. The Impact edged Squamish 2-1 in penalty kicks for the Pioneer Cup, while the Lions 3-1 to claim the Commonwealth Cup. Capping it was the u17 silver Royals, who prevailed 2-0 over North Vancouver for its district title… Connor Pattison and Sammy Sidhu got a hold on a B.C. wrestling title, leading the New West Secondary program to a provincial boys crown. Pattison won the 90kg division, besting St. Thomas More’s Tyler Eckert 13-3. Sidhu blanked STM’s Sam Steele 11-0 for the 74kg title. Yanni Angelopolous earned a silver in 110kg category… The Douglas College Royals women’s basketball team ended a 23-year-long drought, knocking off Capilano University 70-63 for the PacWest (provincial) title. Tourney MVP Rachel Beauchamp tallied 15 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to pace the squad to the school’s first championship since 1993. They would go on to finish fifth at the nationals, with Beauchamp earning first all-star honours and an All-Canadian selection…. Teenager Milena Kalisch carted off a couple of medals in her debut at the U.S. Athletic Amateur Union national indoor track and field championships in March. The 14-year-old scored silver in the 3,000m and bronze in 1,500m girls races…. The New Westminster Rush were in no hurry to see the celebration end, after capturing the Metro Women’s Soccer League’s Classic Div. 3 Cup. It came in their first season after three years in Div. 3, with an undefeated record and a season-capping 2-1 triumph over Richmond… There were a couple more medals in Connor Pattison’s duffel bag after he returned from the Canadian cadet and juvenile wrestling championships in Mississauga. The Grade 12 grappler placed second in the juvenile men’s 85kg division, and took bronze in the Greco division as well. Daniel Dordevic placed second in the 130kg cadet division, and Yanni Angelopolous picked up silver in the 115kg Greco category… New West native Dave Sidoo and one-time Douglas College instructor Tim Frick were ushered into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame for their contributions on the football field and as a coach and innovator. Sidoo received the W.A.C. Bennett Achievement Award, for contributions to sport, while Frick was inducted for his work as a pioneer coach in wheelchair sports… Jordan Beatty and Nicholas Susanto proved hot on the badminton court, picking up medals at the 2017 B.C. Junior provincial championships. Beatty teamed with Mandinu de Silva to win the u17 boys doubles title, while Susanto placed second in the u13 final… Josh Byrne was honoured in his final season at Hofstra University with the Howard Myers Award, presented to the program’s top male student-athlete. Byrne ripped up the Colonial Athletic Association scoring charts with a team-leading 36 goals and 24 assists over 13 games, earning a spot on the Tewaaraton Award watch list during the season… The Canada Soccer Hall of Fame dipped back into the archives and voted to induct Westminster Royals scoring leader Jack Coulter into its hall as part of the Connaught Series Legends. Coulter, who passed away in 1960, was a national scoring leader during the Royals’ reign in 1928, 1930 and 1936… Ben Tjernagel went out with a bang. The graduating NWSS track star finished his high school career by winning the provincial senior boys 200m race with a time of 21.86 seconds. He also placed second in the 100m event. Also picking up medals for the Hyacks were Jeremy Belcher, a silver in junior boys triple jump, Lauryn Savela, a bronze in junior girls javelin, and Max Jones, a bronze in junior boys pole vault… Members of the 1967 New West peewee Salmonbellies marked 50 years after their amazing trek across Canada, one of the first cross-country boxla ventures that saw the locals beat the Oshawa peewee Gaels and finish second at a Peterborough tournament, while also putting on a display of skills at Expo ’67… The city hosted the inaugural New West Grand Prix, a $15,000 prize cycling event for women and men’s teams. The course, which covered a circuit including Eighth, Carnarvon and Sixth streets and finished on Columbia Street, proved a grueling but well-attended test, with German Florenz Knauer and Canadian Olympic bronze medallist Kirstie Lay winning their respective divisions. “It’s definitely the nicest thing in the world to look back and not see anyone,” Lay said after claiming her prize. Knauer turned his victory lap into a personal moment, taking out a ring after the medal presentation and proposing to his Canadian girlfriend. “You never know, maybe tomorrow I might crash or have a flat, and now I’m the winner on the top and I should ask her now or never,” he said… Krista Woodward collected bronze at the Canadian track and field championships in July. Woodward finished third in the senior women’s javelin… The New Westminster major All Stars marched right to the provincials with a slugger’s arsenal. They swamped rival Hastings 18-7 in the district playoffs with nine long bombs to clinch the berth. It all came together despite starting the playoffs 1-3, with another loss ending the season… Michelle Dadson added three gold medals to her collection at the B.C. Track and Field Jamboree, punching her ticket to the Legion National Youth championships in the process. The New West teen won the hammer throw, the discus and shotput. Also picking up first-place honours at the jamboree was Kate Stewart-Barnett, in the 14-15 girls 1500m steeplechase. She also earned silver in the 1200- and 2000m events… Tamara O’Brien reaped the rewards of all her training with a silver medal at the World Games in Poland. The Shasta Trampoline athlete captured the second-best score in women’s double-mini trampoline. “I’m just happy that I competed well; the medal is the cherry on top.”… Former New Westminster Salmonbellies netminder Rick Mang was ushered into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in November… For the first time ever, both Douglas College soccer teams posted championship seasons. Both the men’s and women’s teams collected a provincial title, with Tetsuya Yoshinaga earning the men’s MVP award, while Mikayla Hamilton carted off both the MVP and PacWest Player of the Year prize. At the nationals, the Douglas College men charged right to the final before falling 1-0 to the host Vancouver Island University. Picking up Canadian all-star honours were goalie Ryo Mizuno, Quinn Dawson and Race Williams.
