The Sutherland secondary senior ultimate team is hoping to repeat as high school provincial champions this year, but on their way they've already taken an interesting detour, winning the Canadian High School Ultimate Championships.
"It's kind of a strange thing," said head coach Carla Keffer with a laugh. "We won nationals before we went to districts or provincials."
The competition, however, was no joke. The Canadian High School Ultimate Championships have been held for several years featuring top teams from across the country but Sutherland, emerging as a powerhouse program, has never gone because the tournament was always held in Eastern Canada. This year the tournament was held at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex West and Sutherland went in as the No. 1 seed after beating B.C.'s best squads at a tournament held at Vancouver's St. George's School last month.
The national tournament, held last weekend, featured 10 of British Columbia's top co-ed senior high school teams along with three from Manitoba, two from Ontario and one from Newfoundland and Labrador. Sutherland carried their strong play through round robin and playoff action right to the championship final where they faced their stiffest test from a familiar foe, the combined team from Vancouver private schools St. George's and York House. It was that team that Sutherland beat by one point to win last year's provincial championship tournament. Last weekend the scoreline wasn't quite so tight - Sutherland won the national final 15-10 - but the battle was just as intense.
"The final was crazy," says Keffer. "We know them so well. They always give us a good game. The teams are well matched. We have a big guy, they have a big guy. We have a bunch of handlers, they have a bunch of handlers. The girls are all really strong on both teams. But our styles are very different. They play a very structured, horizontal offensive structure and we're sort of more free-wheeling, like our tie-dyed shirts suggest. And they have a hard time with our free-wheeling style."
All in all Keffer was thrilled with the way her team performed in the championships.
"We played really well," she said. "Our senior team is scary - very experienced and very solid." The team is led by the aforementioned big guy, Aidan Wiebe, a six-foot-two skywalker who reached extreme heights to score the winning point in the final.
"He was up there - he thinks it's the highest he's ever jumped in his life," said Keffer. "He's probably one of the best kids in Canada for his age. He really is amazing. He will go on to play professional, most likely." Other standout performances came from male leaders Ty Barbieri, Adam Logan and Drew Hudson along with female team captain Catherine Skeath and Danika Hewins.
"The girls all had a really strong tournament, and girls often make the difference," said Keffer. "A lot of teams don't use their girls. In that final, both teams the girls were strong. Athletically the (York House) girls are super fast and can pose a problem for us but our girls kept up and kept us in the game."
Despite already claiming a national title Sutherland still has business to handle. They'll play in the North Shore championship tournament all day Wednesday with the final
scheduled Thursday at 4 p.m. at Loutet field No. 1. If they grab one of the two provincial championship berths up for grabs, Sutherland will aim to defend their B.C. title and will likely encounter some of their favourite foes once more. "We had the same semis and final at the St. George's tournament that we had at nationals," Keffer said. "It'll probably be the same semis and finals at provincials. It's a battle of the top four for sure. St. George's will be watching that video and trying to get our number and we'll be watching that video and trying to get their number."
