The St. Thomas More Knights won their first-ever AAA high school banner in basketball in March.The No. 2-ranked Knights defeated honourable mention Charles Hayes Rainmakers 53-38 in the B.C. boys’ championship final in Langley – STM’s first provincial title in 38 years.
STM was led by tournament MVP Reese Morris, who had a game-high 16 points and 12 rebounds.
“It’s the best moment of my life. The best basketball moment I’ve ever had,” said Morris.
Ice dance bronze
ZhaoKai Pang of Burnaby and ice dance partner Madeline Edwards won the bronze medal at the world junior figure skating championships in Sofia, Bulgaria in March.
Pang and Edwards recorded personal-best scores in both the short and free programs to finish with a career-high 139.65 points.
“It was a really emotional free dance. We didn’t leave anything out,” said Pang.
Three banners
St. Thomas More swept the B.C. high school wrestling championships, winning three separate provincial banners in March.
The Knights won its first-ever aggregate title with 142 total points, almost doubling overall runner-up W.J. Mouat at the meet.
STM also won its first boys’ aggregate, while the girls’ took top spot after finishing the year before in second place.
“The beauty of it all was even though we had a lot of great performances, we could have had more,” said STM wrestling coach Doug Corbett.
Tops in college
Burnaby badminton player RuiLin Huang was named the collegiate athlete of the year at the Sport B.C. athlete of the year banquet in March.
Huang, who posted a career record of 207-1 while at Douglas College, won the award after a first collegiate nomination in 2012.
“I was so surprised. Last time, I had so many doubts,” said Huang.
Seventh title
The Northwest Giants won a seventh consecutive B.C. major midget hockey league title in March.
The Giants edged the runner-up Okanagan Rockets by a single point after the second-place club tied a game in its final season series against a fifth-place club.
“We had a little help. It was pretty shocking when we heard the news,” said head coach Clint Thornton.
