The Abbotsford Sports Hall of Fame is set to honour 10 individuals and seven teams with spots on its annual Wall of Fame.
The Wall of Famers are young athletes between the ages of 14 and 25 who had outstanding performances in 2014. They’ll be featured on a plaque which will be displayed at the Abby Sports Hall of Fame facility at the Legacy Centre at Exhibition Park for one year. They will be celebrated at the annual Hall of Fame banquet on April 25. Tickets for that event are available through Hub Fire Engines (3175 McCallum Rd., phone 604-859-3124, email info@hubfire.com).
The Wall of Fame honourees are:
• The UFV women’s basketball team had the most successful season in program history in 2013-14, winning the Canada West silver medal and the CIS bronze medal.
• The UFV women’s and men’s golf teams swept the PacWest conference championships for the second straight year, and won silver and bronze, respectively, at the CCAA national championships.
• The Abbotsford Rugby Football Club U18 girls squad won their fourth straight B.C. title, scoring over 1,000 points during the season and beating the Castaway Wanderers 73-0 in the final.
• The senior girls rugby side from Abbotsford Senior secondary won both the B.C. high school sevens title and the provincial AA 15s championship. It was their third straight 15s crown, and their second sevens title in three years.
• The U16 boys team from Yale Secondary’s hockey academy won the Canadian Sport Schools Hockey League regular season and playoff titles, and had a string of strong tournament results highlighted by a gold medal at the prestigious Bauer World Hockey Invitational in Chicago.
• The Mennonite Educational Institute senior boys volleyball team posted a 37-1 record last season en route to winning every tournament they entered, including the Fraser Valleys and the B.C. AA championship.
• The Abbotsford Christian senior boys volleyball team held the No. 1 spot in the B.C. Single A rankings all season, and capped their outstanding campaign by winning the provincial championship.
• Lauren Kerr was selected for Canada’s women’s rugby sevens squad for the Youth Olympics in China, and came home with a silver medal. She also captained the B.C. AA silver medal-winning Bateman Timberwolves senior girls squad.
• Field hockey player Amrit Sidhu was the leading scorer for Canada’s U18 men’s team that won silver at the Youth Olympics in China.
• Yale senior boys rugby captain Jason Hignell had a busy year representing Canada (U18 15s tour to Romania, U19 Rugby League Commonwealth Championships in Scotland) and B.C. (U18 15s gold at nationals, sevens tourneys in Victoria, Las Vegas and Hong Kong).
• Vikramjit Gondara won B.C. Games gold medals in the hammer and discus, and set a new U16 national record in the hammer at the Canadian Legion Youth Championships.
• Defenceman Devon Toews was picked in the fourth round of the NHL draft by the New York Islanders after an stellar season with the NCAA’s Quinnipiac Bobcats.
• Zach Choboter of St. John Brebeuf Regional Secondary won the B.C. high school decathlon title and added a silver medal in the long jump.
• Tanner Rempel was a B.C. Premier Baseball League all-star with the Abbotsford Cardinals, and was selected by the Canadian junior national team for a fall instructional camp.
• Jordan Koslowsky and Jordan Loewen joined forces to win the B.C. U17 and national U18 beach volleyball titles last summer. On the indoor scene, they helped the MEI senior boys to B.C. gold, earning MVP and first team all-star honours, respectively.
• Amrit Benning capped his wrestling career with W.J. Mouat by winning the 70 kg boys title at the B.C. high school championships. He went on to win Greco-Roman gold and freestyle silver at juvenile nationals.