BB - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 11, 1998 DAVE TAYLOR Cal boys battle top teams : Waa Provincials will push Kermodes to the limit ‘DI DEFENCE: Caledonia’s Dave Gardner and Rob Barcelos of Mount Elizabeth mix “it up at the Zone Championships held two weekends ago in Kitimat. Caledonia - beat MESS two straight in the best-of-three series. (photo: Derrick Penner) | Swimmers score | medals in Richmond NORTHWEST swimmers stormed their way through the Age Group Provincials two weekends ago to finish fourth in the province. The Terrace Blucbacks merged with Prince Rupert and Kitimat swim clubs to compete as’ Points North Swimming As- sociation. at the event which took place Feb. 27 to Mar I. a big step considering last year all they wanted to do was crack the top 10. - -‘*We were really pleased,’’ says coach Mike Carlyle. ‘‘There were some ex- cellent performances,” One of those great performances was from Jenine Barton, 12, who made it to finals in eight of her nine swims. Barton picked up a bronze medal in the 800 free and a silver in the 100 fy. But the gold medal eluded her until the [ast day of the event in ber last swim —- the 200 fly, And she really turned on the jects, Barton took the gold and finished in a best-time of 2:39.48. *Jenine’s 200 fiy is really strong,’’ Car- lyle says. ‘‘Her stroke doesn’t change over distance. She’s taught herself con- sistency and that’s really hard to do.’” Barton’s time will likely rank her among the top 25 swimmers her age in the country. And her 400 IM time will put And they finished an impressive fourth, her in the top 30. Thomas Demetzer, 12, also had a great meet, Carlyle says his original goal was just to make finals, but he ended up with some completely unexpected times. “Going into the meet, he bad one swim ‘that put him in the top 50,” Carlyle says. **Now he has seven.’” Demetzer’s 100 fly time could even put him in the country’s top 20 for his age, and a couple could be in the top 25, His times are even more impressive considering he swam four events one day in less than one hour, made finals in all of them and picked up bronze medals in two. ‘He was one pretty exhausted kid after that,” Carlyle says. Demetzer also picked up a silver in the 50 free, Terrace’s other finalist was Kyle Narzt, 14, who finished eighth in the 100 back, taking a full two seconds off his time, He’s now less than a second away from eracking the top 50 in Canada. Narzt also picked up a bronze medal in the relay, He and teammate Dylan Evans joined with a swimmer from Prince Rupert and one from Kitimat to finish third, The Blucbacks are now starting to train for the coming long course season. oony * WILLY SCHNEIDER'S got * his golfing shoes on. ‘ Sure it’s still carly in ‘March, but as Willy says, : this is God's country. The air has a nip to it, but , the sun’s warm on the face sand today there isn’t a cloud ‘in the cool blue sky. - aee ener ec eanenee ‘ * GROUND WAS broken last + week al the Skeena Valley + Golf Club, in more ways «, than one. * The driving range was ‘ opened Saturday, in prepa- ‘ ration for what could be the « Club’s earliest season start 1 ever. : And ground was literally ‘broken around the club- ‘ house as workers began a * major renovation that will + double the building’s size. ; ©The new clubliouse is part “of an overall] expansion at # the course .that will = » eventually see it grow from «nine to 18 holes. « Three of those new holes ‘should be playable soine- And Willy wouldn't miss it for the world. This morn- ing he was skiing at Shames. This afternoon he’s at the driving range, practic- ing short chip shots on light brown grass. Behind him, Thornhill Mountain is a_ blinding time this summer, and six of them will be seeded by the end of the seasou. In fact the whole club is a flurry of activity this spring, white wall in the bright sun, Charlie, Willy’s little black poodle, rns in ex- cited circles, barking madly. “He’s all bark,’? Willy says, but that’s easy to see. Charlie’s tail wags constant- ly and his barks are more for fun than fear or anger. “This is going to make a huge difference,’” he says. “It'll be a really nice build- ing. I think the golfers will appreciate it.”’ “This is going to make a huge difference. I think the golfers will appreciate it.’” —Kevin Jeffries with work being done ail over the course. Kevin Jeffries of the golf club says the clubhouse ex- pansion is due to be pretty much.completed by June 1, and he’s really looking for- ward to it, The renovations will in- clude an expanded pro-shop, a large new lounge, sun- room and locker rooms for golfers. The driving range is al- ready open, and the club is looking at April 1 as the ADRIAN! ADRIAN! Right now, Caledonia’s senior boys basketball team is at the Provincial Championships in Van- couver. And the adds of them pulling off a Recky thing and becoming a giant-killer overnight are slim, especial- ly against teams like top- ranked Richmond, But making it into the top nine, out of 20 teams, is certainly possible. Coach Cam Mackay gives his team a 50-50 chance, pointing out that anything can happen, especially in this year of up- sets. The sixth-ranked Cowichan Thunderbirds, for on what they’re good at, they have a chance. “T's a crapshoot,’’ Mack- ay says. “‘Weird things hap- pen.” Cal won the Zones two weekends ago by beating Kitimat two straight in a best of three series. The first game was a roller coaster. Mount Elizabeth ac- tually had Cal back on their hecls and was leading at the end of the first quarter. Cal fought back, and by the third they were up by 12. But MESS came within four points in the fourth be- fore fouling up and sending Cal to the line for six shots, which Fraser de Walle sunk with ease. “t's a crapshoot. Weird things hap- pen.” —coach Cam Mackay on the Provincial Championships instance, and the ninth- ranked Vanier Towhees both failed to make it through the Vancouver Is- land playoffs. They were expected to do well at the Frovincials, so now some- one else will have to fill their shoes. And Mackay hopes Caledonia will fit in them nicely, He says if the team can Stay healthy and focus Analysis The final score was 76-68 for Cal. Chesley Neufeld led the way with 18 pts. DeWalle and Tyson Hull each chipped in 16. The second game, Cal pushed MESS into playing the Terrace style — with a quick offence and ‘plenty of fast breaks. They quickly rolled out to a 25 point lead and rarely looked back. The final score was 88-67, 638-7283 GOING FOR IT: Caledonia and Mount Elizabeth players leap for the ball at the Zone Championships two weekends ago. Cal won and now they're in Van- couver at the Provincials. (photo: Derrick Penner) with Neufeld hitting an im- pressive 28 points and de Walle 22, But it was Tyson Hull’s presence in the key that really impressed Mackay. “The boards he was get- ling was just unbelievable.”’ Others noticed Hull’s work too. He was voted series MVP. Now if Hull and the rest of the team can keep their in- tensity up and their fingers crossed, Cal could come home with a top-10 finish. Few teams have much. = chance at provincial title THEY’RE dealing with a slacked deck. The Caledonia boys bas- ketball team doesn’t really have a chance to take first place at the Provincial Championships. And neither do most other teams, even some of the best in the province, Barring a miracle, top spot is been all but guaranteed to go to Richmond, a team consisting not of players from a single school, but of the best players taken from each of Richmond’s three large high schools. The situation’s caused quite an uproar down south this year, as Richmond is the only district that allows the “‘stacking” of a team in This is what it’s all about Willy lofts the balls in high, short arcs as I take pictures. He’s pretty goad. “Enjoy the weather,’’ | call out, leaving. Oh, I will,” he calls back, ‘This is what it’s all aboul, son. This is God's country.’’ Golf course prepares for early season opening possible first tee-off day of the year. That’s more than two weeks. ahead of the usual season start. But Jeffries says if the weather stays mild, the club . might open even earlier. The earliest opening day ever for the golf course is March 28, and that could be broken by a day or two if all goes well, “Of course you never know,” Jeffries © warns. “This is Terrace. It could snow.” To celebrate the new sea- son, the club is having a wine and cheese social, Sat. March 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the clubhouse. this manner. All the tallest, fastest players in the district have to do is wander over to Richmond Senior Secondary, where coaches there are more than happy to take them. In fact, they really can’t not take them. Players from all aver the district have the right to try out for the team. And what are they supposed to do, cut players for being good? The result is a high school “Dream Team’ that will be difficult to challenge. In fact, other high school teams in Richmond simply refused to play the Dream Team throughout the regular season because they didn’t think the system was fair and they didn’t want to be humiliated. Cal coach Cam Mackay says the stacking issue is bound to be a contentious one at the next AGM for the High School Basketball As- sociation, and it ought to be. Stacking teams runs against everything high school sports is supposed to be about. Another issue that’s bound to come up is why the Provincials are held every year in Vancouver. Every year players from the lower mainland get to go to school while the tourna- ment is on — missing classes only when they have a game. The cost to these players is the price of a bus. ticket to the gym, and every. hight they get to go home’ and sleep in their own beds. Meanwhile, players from Caledonia miss a week of school, stay in a hotel and need to raise close to $9,000 to make the trip. Who do you think has a better chance of being rested and focussed for the games? No, Caledonia wouldn’t have had a great chance of winning the Provincials this year, even if Richmond wasn’t stacked, But there's a difference between a slim hope and no hope. Let’s just hope next sea- son will start from a more even playing field. “WILLY SCHNEIDER practices a few chip shots under last week's cloudless blue skies. The Skeena Valley Golf Club's driving range opened Saturday. } } ( :