Cougars rugby ranked third in province

May 15, 2008

NewS.37.20080514184627.SourisKylaChloeKayla_20080515.jpg

Columneetza Cougars Kyla Wejr tries to outrun her opponent from Souris, Manitoba during exhibition rugby at Ottoman fields Friday. Cougars downed their prairie opponents 17-0 to remain undefeated.

Andy Reigl photo

It’s not often a high school sports team from Williams Lake finds itself ranked in the top ten in the province — let alone the top three.

However, that is the position the undefeated Columneetza Cougars senior girls rugby team is in.

They were ranked third in the B.C. High School AA rugby rankings which came out May 1.

Cougars are a perfect 13-0 win-loss record and have only surrendered one try against them all season.

Cougars trail only second ranked Robert Bateman secondary of Abbotsford and top seeded Hugh McRoberts secondary of Richmond.

“I think number three is a fair ranking for us; we did beat the number two ranked team Robert Bateman at a tournament in California earlier this year, but apparently they were short a couple players,” Columneetza head coach Mauro Calabrese said.

Calabrese is now in his fourth season coaching the Columneetza girls and is beginning to reap the rewards.

“I’m now in my fourth year with the team and I’ve coached a lot of this same group since they were in Grade 9,” Calabrese said.

“We have a core group of about seven or eight of the players that have been able to stay with the program and we’ve steadily improved over the years.”

In Calabrese’s first season in 2005 the Cougars finished ninth at provincials and in 2006 they improved to a seventh place finish.

Last season Columneetza finally reached the podium, capturing the bronze medal at the championships.

The Cougars hope that upward trend continues and they will earn a place in the championship final.

This will be Calabrese’s final season coaching the Cougars as he plans to spend more time with his family.

His goal is for the girls to reach the provincial final later this month.

“We finished third last year but I would really like to be in the final game this year.

This will be my final year of coaching the girls and it would be a great way to go out,” Calabrese said.

His wife gave birth to twin boys last July and he now has four boys under the age of six.

If Calabrese ever feels the need to get back into the coaching realm, he has over half a sevens team at his disposal when he gets home.

Cougars are led by their core group of Grade 12 players.

They have a pair of standout backs in captain Sidney Pritchard and Kayla Moleschi.

Moleschi was a member of the B.C. U17 team and also is on Canada’s U19 women’s side.

The AA provincial rugby championship are scheduled for May 22-24 in North Vancouver.

Cougars latest action saw them shutout a touring team from Souris, Manitoba 17-0 at the Ottoman fields in Williams Lake Friday to remain undefeated.

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Cougars rugby ranked third in province

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