Written by: Sophie Karigiannis
As the coloured leaves fall from the tree, and snow starts sparkling down, it can only mean one thing for KCI's Athletes. The arrival of winter sports! However, before winter sports take the spotlight, here's a recap of all of our amazing fall sports.
QUICK LOOK:
Junior Girls Basketball - 1st place in WCSSAA
Senior Girls Basketball - 3rd place in WCSSAA
Cross Country Running - The Junior Girls team made it to OFSAA!
Varsity Girls Field Hockey - 4th place in WCSSAA
Junior Football - 4th place in WCSSAA
Senior Football - 3rd place in WCSSAA
Golf - players made CWOSSA finishes!
Junior Boys Soccer - 8th place in WCSSAA
Senior Tennis - Podium finishes in WCSSAA
Junior Boys Volleyball - 4th place in WCSSAA
Senior Boys Volleyball - tied for 1st place in WCSSAA
DETAILED LOOK:
Junior Girls Basketball:
"It was a history-making season for the Junior Girls Basketball team. They were undefeated in their WCSSAA season with all team members contributing to these amazing results!" shared Ms. Armatage, the Junior Girls Basketball coach. The Junior Girls Basketball team scored a total of 651 points this season, and did not lose one WCSSAA game. Ms. Armatage thanked the Jr. Girls Basketball team for "a season that will go down in the KCI record books as one of the best for Jr. Girls Basketball." She thoroughly enjoyed coaching the "young athletic talent" with Mr. D'hondt, and is very proud of the players!
Senior Girls Basketball
The Senior Girls Basketball team "had an awesome season this year," shared Mr. Stewart, who coached the team alongside Ms. Pavan this year. KCI's Senior Girls Basketball team scored the second-most points this season (KCI - 672), topped only by Cameron Heights, who scored 690. They ended with a WCSSAA podium finish of an altogether 3rd place at the end of the season. Mr. Stewart recalls exciting, nail-biting games that ended in either a well-earned victory for KCI, or a near victory in which they gave their all and really proved how much hustle the team had. Mr. Stewart gave a shout-out to a couple of players on the team that scored a tremendous amount of points in these games, such as Emma Gray, Ava Baghdadi, and Olivia Jackson. However, he commends the entire team for a season well-played and a third place WCSSAA finish well-deserved!
Cross Country Running
This year, the Cross Country Running team gave the other schools a "run for their money." Six KCI Junior Girls made it all the way to OFSAA, where all six of them showed up and showed off their stamina, speed, agility, and mindsets that helped them all finish at the front of the herd. A special shout-out goes to Sophie Herr for finishing in 58th place out of 264 runners. Erin Manning, a grade nine runner, encourages runners of all ages to come out to cross country and give it a try because "it is totally worth it to join." She also shared that "[she] really [likes] running whether it’s short or long distances." She feels like it helps with not only your physical strength, but also your mental capacities as you really need to challenge yourself and stay in the right mental space while you run long distances: "It’s also a team sport and an individual sport all at once and at the same time you can run to race but you’re also just running against yourself and doing the best that you can do." Erin commends the KCI Cross Country team for an awesome season, with many feats, and definitely recommends Cross Country to athletes all over KCI, and the Grade eights that will be joining us next year!
Junior Football
The KCI Junior Football Team scored a grand total of 95 points in five games this season!!! They played fiercely, beating Galt Collegiate Institute (GCI) in the quarter finals for Tier 2, and beat Preston High School (PHS) in the semi-finals, in a "thriller of a game," as stated by Mr. Roberts, one of the Junior Football coaches this year. Mr. Roberts would like to specially shout-out the team's "new grade nine quarterback Seth Montgomery.” He shared, "Seth was new to football and the only one willing to try this tough and pivotal position on offense. He scored 14 touchdowns and threw for six, an unreal stat line!" Mr. Roberts encourages new players to come out to Junior Football next year. It is a welcoming family of athletes, and hard work definitely pays off in this sport. After all, there was only one grade nine that had played tackle football before on the team this year, and about ten new grade ten students that joined Junior Football for the first time as well. "Go for it! Be flexible. We will sometimes rotate players to different positions to see where they can best help the team be successful. Trying out a new sport can sometimes be intimidating but you'll soon find that you've made 30 new friends while playing a fun sport and getting exercise - what could be better?" Mr. Roberts encourages. He summarized the season by saying that the rookie-filled team definitely supported each other brilliantly, and made an incredibly impressive debut to the sport! Congratulations to the KCI Jr. Football team, who finished 4th in the WCSSAA Tier 2 division!
Senior Football
"Playing any sport, but especially a physical sport, can be intimidating. There are so many things that being part of a team can offer you, so many connections and friendships that can be made. You also get the opportunity to challenge yourself, to find out what you can do and to see how much you can grow. Football will push you, and reward you, more than you can imagine," Mr. Horn, one of the Senior Football coaches this year said in favour of the sport. He also shared the following statement: "In sports, you practice overcoming adversity and challenges. Those are an unavoidable part of life. When you play sports you build up the abilities to handle stressful situations and trust in yourself. I use those skills on a daily basis. Sometimes the problem isn’t one you can fix by blocking or tackling, but being able to come up with a plan and execute that plan can be helpful." All in all, Mr. Horn is proud of the Senior Boys Football team this year, as he exclaimed, "Our season has had some ups and downs but our process is starting to create the results we want and I’m excited to see where else we can go." The team finished with a positive winning streak, and scored 44 well thought-out and well-played points this season. Not only did the team rock October's KLASH game, but they also showed great strength both in the game and as a team. KCI is so proud of you!
Golf
The KCI Golf Team certainly made waves this season. Some noteworthy accomplishments that the team made include: Carson De Vries, our WCSSAA champion, "shot 2 under par over the 2 day competition," as recalled by their coach, Mr. Thompson. Hanna Court finished WCSSAA in second place, and the boys team finished WCSSAA in 4th place. Ben Schofield finished in 5th place at CWOSSA. The team placed second in Day 1 of WCSSAA, finishing with a total of 230 points, upstaged only by Elmira District Secondary School (EDSS), and by very little, as they racked up a total of 224 points. Golf is a unique sport that differentiates dramatically from the other, more mainstream high school sports. "The season/competition is unique because it is only 2 days (WCSSAA) or 1 day (CWOSSA), so players have to be at their best on that day, rather than other sports where it's okay if you lose once in a while, you will get another chance. In these golf competitions, it is very much dependent on who is having a good day vs. a bad day." Mr. Thompson explained. Golf is such a cool sport, and it is very interesting, because it is a change of pace in athletics, allowing people to explore their athletic talent and potential in different ways. Golf is definitely recommended that you give it a try next year if you love to golf, or are just willing to take a risk! "Congrats to the whole team on a fun and successful season," Mr. Thompson smiles!
Junior Boys Soccer
"The Junior Boys Soccer team consisted of a delightful group of twelve grade tens and nine grade nines who were all eager to learn and work hard. They competed in the Viking Cup to start the season, competing against many schools from around the region. While the regular WCSSAA season did not end in the result they had hoped for, the boys ended with a high, defeating one of the top four teams in WCSSAA," Ms. Salmon, their coach, summarized. A shout-out goes to Abdoulie Bah, Irvine Murdoch, Mal Aliu, Beckett Zavitz-Hayes, Owen Barber, Fega Omonigho, Lyndon McDonald, and Jacob Smeall, who all scored goals during the season, contributing to their overall total count of 14 goals scored by the KCI Junior Boys Soccer team this season! Ms. Salmon congratulated the team for their hard work, amazing efforts, and thrilling season! "We look forward to having all of our returning players next year to build off this season. Congratulations boys!" she concluded.
Junior Boys Volleyball
The Junior Boys Volleyball team ended WCSSAA with an impressive 4th place standing, out of 16 competing schools. The team played fabulously, and won many games. They even set an awe-ensuing stat; they defeated nine different high schools in a 3-0 set win (WODSS, GPSS, SSS, WCI, EDSS, JHSS, PHSS, GCI, and GRCI), many of those while being a visitor in the opponent's gym! All in all, during the season, the Junior Boys scored 943 points, and won 31 whole sets! The Junior Boys Volleyball team was really able to shut down their opponents every single time, effectively and continuously. This can be seen in the fact that they only lost nine sets during the entire season. KCI's Junior Boys Volleyball team maintained the same calm and collected, but victorious attitude for every game, leading to a respected 9-3 wins to losses end-of-the-season game score.
Senior Boys Volleyball
During the Senior Boys Volleyball season, KCI ended up in a three-way tie for total amount of points in WCSSAA with GRCI and GCI. All three high schools (KCI, GRCI, and GCI) earned 22 total points during the season. The team played with strength and determination, as they finished off the season only having lost one game, and having won all the other 11 games. They scored an impressive 1016 points during the entire season! Way to go, Raiders! They also won a total of 34 whole sets, the second highest number of sets won in the entire bracket (out of 16 schools)! They only let all of the other teams combined score 9 against them. That's something to brag about! They definitely have the agility, determination, strength, and power as a team to dominate volleyball. The KCI Senior Boys Volleyball team finished the season on a whopping eight win streak, and definitely demonstrated that they were ready to win — congratulations on a great season!
Senior Tennis
"The KCI Senior Tennis team had an awesome season this year." Ms. Boegel, one of the coaches, exclaimed. "From practices, to exhibition matches, to WCSSAA, all team members had a great time!" Some special shout-outs go to Spencer Gray, who finished in 3rd place in the boys singles competition at WCSSAA, and to Paige Barsness, who finished in 4th place in the girls singles competition at WCSSAA! Congratulations to the whole team, for finishing in "6th place overall out of 12 teams," Ms. Boegel recalls. And last, but certainly not least, a "special shoutout to all of our graduating athletes - we will miss you!" Congratulations to the KCI Senior Tennis team!
Girls Varsity Field Hockey
The KCI Girls Varsity Field Hockey team played six games this season. Altogether, they won three, lost two, and tied one. Some shout-outs go to Keira Bell, who was credited with a shutout during a game against Forest Heights, where she didn't let any goals in, all while KCI was able to score five goals! During that incredible game, shout-outs also went to Lyla Naughton, who scored a hat trick, and Sophia Stilo, Mackenzie Cooper, and Mabel Schellenberg, who also scored goals during the 5-0 game against FHCI. Last but not least, some shout-outs go to Ella Butler, Kennedy Decker, and Addi Uhrig, who all scored goals during their Varsity Field Hockey season, and Chloe Chan, for a shutout during another game. The girls played extremely well, and ended in 4th place in their WCSSAA division for total amount of points earned. Congratulations!
As you can see, all of our athletes' dutiful efforts towards the victory of KCI should be recognized and commemorated, as these athletes are filled with talent, and we are so proud of each and every one of them! And now, onto the Winter Sports season!