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After winning back-to-back B.C. Rugby Union Division 3A championships, the Kelowna Crows continue to struggle in BCRU Div. 1 play this season.
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Coming off a 45-12 victory over winless Brit Lions a week earlier, the Crows were clipped 45-15 by the visiting Surrey Beavers at Parkinson Sportsfields on Saturday. With the loss, the Crows sit at 1-4 in 2017 while the Beavers improve to 3-2 in the eight-team Mainland Division.
The Crows looked as though they might continue their winning ways early on against the Beavers when Aaron Sangster capped an impressive offensive thrust that resulted in Kelowna’s first try four minutes into the match.
But the Surrey side responded less than three minutes later and gained momentum to take a 31-5 by the break.
Rick Schouten scored a second Crow try early in the second frame while Wes Black rounded out the Kelowna scoring late in the contest played in extremely windy conditions.
The Crows are back in action April 15 when they take on Bayside (2-3) at South Surrey Athletic Park.
Meanwhile, in BCRU Div. 2 play on Saturday at Parkinson, the host Crows came out on the short end of a 36-29 decision to Surrey and dropped to 1-5 on the season.
In Div. 2 women’s action, the Kelowna Crows dominated as hosts, defeating Ridge Meadows 39-0 to improve to 3-0 in Group B. Ridge Meadows fell to 3-3 on the season.
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Kelowna's Wurtele and Elmore among top Ironman finishers
A pair of Kelowna triathletes finished among the top 10 in the women’s Ironman 70.3 California at Oceanside race on the weekend.
Reigning champion Heather Wurtele of Kelowna, covering the 1.9-kilometre swim, 90 km bike and 21.1 km run in 4:25:22, slipped to third place behind 2016 world champion Holly Lawrence of Great Britain (4:14:18) and Australia’s Ellie Salthouse (4:23:21.
Meanwhile, Kelowna’s Malindi Elmore, matched her finish of a year ago, placing ninth overall with a clocking of 4:35:16
Wurtele, coming off a victory in Mexico at Ironman 70.3 Campeche on March 19, got off to a solid start in the swim with a clocking of 26:15 and posted a second-best-on-the-day time of 2:26:31 on the bike. But on the run, trying to hang on to second place overall, the 37-year-old “fully strained/pulled something”.
“I've never been in so much pain trying to run before, but you definitely learn something about yourself in these moments,” said Wurtele, beginning her 10th season as a pro. “After winning most of my races last year (five), I was really bummed with third, but, seriously, get over it already, right!?”
Elmore, also 37 and starting only her third season of 70.3 competition, said Saturday’s race ended up being a bit of a “rust-buster” and that she had hoped to better her placing in 2016.
“My swim was slower (31:30 - 18th in a pro field of 21) than expected — I’m still having trouble translating my improvement in the pool to swimming in open water,” said Elmore, whose split times overall were similar to last year.
The 2004 Olympian (1,500 metres) posted the second-best run time among the pros with a clocking of 1:21:35. Only Jackie Hering of the United States had a better time (1:20:03).
Elmore noted that her training has improved over the off-season and that she’s worked hard on her swimming and cycling strength.
“Hopefully that hard work will come to fruition in future races,” she said.
The next race for Elmore is April 22 at Ironman 70.3 Texas while Wurtele will compete May 7 at the 70.3 St. George, Utah, which doubles as the North American pro championships. Wurtele is the defending champion.
Meanwhile, in the men’s race at Oceanside, Kelowna’s Trevor Wurtele placed sixth among the pros with a time of 3:59:15 while 29-year-old Canadian, Lionel Sanders of Harrow, Ont., won the event with a clocking of 3:50:04.
Wurtele, 38, who posted a third-place finish at Ironman 70.3 Campeche last month, finished in seventh place last year at Oceanside in a time of 3:57:01.
OC Coyotes drop all four in Nanaimo
An arduous journey on the weekend proved even more difficult when the Okanagan College Coyotes arrived in Nanaimo for four games with the host Vancouver Island University Mariners.
Not only did the Kelowna-based Canadian College Baseball Conference team drop an 11-1 decision to the M’s in their opener, they went on to lose the next three by one run (8-7, 1-0 and 4-3) during a VIU sweep.
Coyotes’ head coach, Geoff White, summed up his team’s performance in two quick sentences:
“It was horrible weekend. We handed them wins with inconsistent pitching, missed opportunities on offence and a couple untimely errors.”
After opening the CCBC season with three wins in four starts at home against the University of Calgary Dinos, OC’s record sits at 3-5.
Game 1 was a sign of things to come for the Coyotes as they managed just four hits off starter Austin Gurr, who went the distance, striking out nine OC batters on the way to evening his season record at 1-1.
The lone Coyotes run came on a solo homer by Liam Wyatt of Montreal in the second inning, while Brandon Graham contributed two hits, including a double. Zach Yandeau, a winner in his first game of the season against U of C, took the loss in the past weekend’s opener, allowing eight VIU hits and six earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out eight.
OC held the upper hand in the hitting department in the second game, collecting 10 to the Mariners’ six, but gave up the tying and winning runs in the bottom of the eighth inning in the 8-7 loss.
Cather Jake Fischer smacked his second homer of the season and drove in four runs with two hits to lead the Coyotes’ offence. David Todosichuk of Kelowna set the pace offensively with three singles, two runs and a solen base while Graham came through with his second consecutive two-hit performance
A superb outing by OC rookie Noah Wood-Jolivet went for naught in the third game, as the Toronto product limited the Mariners to just two hits over nine innings, but the hosts scored the winning run in the 11th inning off the Coyotes’ bullpen.
Okanagan College committed four costly errors in their 4-3 loss in the final set-to.
The Coyotes will attempt to right the ship this weekend when they play a home-and-home series with the Thompson Rivers WolfPack (1-3). The first two games will be played on Saturday at Kelowna’s Elks Stadium beginning at 3 and 6 p.m. while the final pair is set for Norbrock Stadium in Kamloops on Sunday.
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