Mark those calendars for provincial action
Kudos to Alberta Schools Athletic Association South Zone high school president Angie Seaman (Vulcan County Central athletic director) and Medicine Hat-based secretary/treasurer Marg Derbyshire on planning and conducting a very efficient zone meeting Monday. I don’t have the exact number, but I’d estimate about 35 high schools (Nanton south, from B.C. to Saskatchewan borders) were represented.
The get-together gave me the idea to start this week’s jottings with ASAA zone and provincial championship dates and sites for the rest of this school year.
Rural provincial wrestling is heading this way Feb. 22-23 at LCI. The big-city reps are part of the ASAA mat wars finale March 8-9 in Edmonton.
Provincial curling championships are headed for St. Paul, March 8-9.
All zone basketball championships will be contested the week of March 4-9. As per usual the last three days of 4A action will be contested at the University of Lethbridge 1st Choice Savings Centre. W.R. Myers is hosting the 3A tourneys, but with construction ongoing at Myers, is using the very highly regarded, quite new Barnwell School gym. 1A/2A returns, as per usual, to fill two courts at the Lethbridge College Val Matteotti gym.
Provincials go March 14-16. Stirling is the lone local site, using their new gym as the focal point for 1A Boys. Additional sites are Paradise Valley (1A Girls), La Crete (2A Girls), High Level (2A Boys), Athabasca (3A Girls), Brooks (3A Boys) and Edmonton (4A Girls and Boys.)
When you think about the cost of venturing to some of those locales you can see one major motivation for many schools in our zone to host provincials if possible.
Cheerleading provincials are set for Airdrie, April 12-13. No zone event is required, since, at this point at least, there are no local entries.
An ASAA South Zone archery event is slated for Cardston April 12. Archery is not an ASAA sport provincially.
Team handball provincials are up April 27-28 in Red Deer. Despite my constant nagging, no local school has indicated they were up for the challenge, at least as of Monday.
Badminton zones are set for Medicine Hat April 17, with provincials served in Calgary May 3-4.
Track and field zones are scheduled for the U of L May 30. Provincials are headed to Calgary June 7-8.
Rugby zones are completed June 4 in Lethbridge. Then, ever-ambitious rugby institution Winston Churchill hosts provincials June 7-8.
Of course, there are non-ASAA popular high school sports played in the area every spring, with baseball and softball coming immediately to mind. More dates on them as time goes on. ••• ASAA actually determines provincial sites up to about 18 months in advance, if possible. 201920 already shapes up as extremely busy in terms of local-based events. I know next fall Medicine Hat is the site of cross country, the Southern Alberta High School Football League hosts the gridiron finals, Immanuel Christian presents 2A Boys volleyball and Bow Island Senator Gershaw is the site of both 1A volleyball spikefests. I’m not sure of all provincials slated for this region come winter/spring 2020, but am aware the Southern Alberta Interscholastic Administrative Council, who govern the Southern Alberta High School Girls and 4A Boys Basketball Leagues (www.SouthHoops.ca), are the 4A basketball hosts, while track provincials go to the blocks in the Gas City. ••• There’s a reduced number of high school basketball league games over the next 10 days, with the upcoming longweekend and teachers’ convention. Some important games in the standings I do see slated include Medicine Hat at LCI boys this Friday and Medicine Hat lads in Cardston Saturday. ••• Thanks to the organizers of the Magrath Panda Classic Basketball Tournament for supplying me with information regarding their event this weekend. Looks like a very interesting show in an impressively expanded and refurbished venue, including the Tom Karren Gym. Tom was an outstanding basketball player at BYU and toiled for national champion Lethbridge senior men’s teams, before coaching at Lethbridge College. Son Brad Karren,a Magrath 4A provincial champion back in the day (OK, 1977-78), conducts the No. 4 provincially ranked Magrath varsity girls currently. They’ve attracted a strong and eclectic field including Cardston (honourable mention in the last 4A list), Cranbrook Mt. Baker, LCI (No. 9, 4A), Catholic Central, Stirling (No. 1, 1A) and Medicine Hat McCoy (No. 4, 3A).
WELLSIE’S WORLD — Amazingly, this is the last weekend of home post-secondary gym game action in 2018-19, with the Lethbridge College basketball teams hosting Briercrest Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Looking through the LC rosters I see diminutive, crafty and exciting El Paso-product point guard Michael Clemons as the lone player in their fifth-and-final year of eligibility, although it is rather common for performers to depart the college ranks before their eligibility expires. In terms of area high school grads, I see six women’s and eight men’s players on the LC rosters, which I know makes the institution and team backers proud. Men’s bench boss Ryan Heggie was a 4A provincial high school champion player for Raymond, oh, just a few years ago (although I’m sure he’d point out it was four seasons after Brad Karren’s 4A title.) Hopefully, there will be a strong spectator sendoff for the LC hoop teams. Certainly that was the case with U of L basketball and LC volleyball last weekend.