Innisfail High School athletes have set the bar high for the rest of the 2014-15 school year.
With the football team starting off with a perfect record of five wins and no losses, and the golf team coming back from Bragg Creek with a bronze medal, the school's other teams are showing clear signs they can be just as successful.
“Since the high school athletic season has started, we have been successful on court, on field and on course,” said Jeff Anderson, athletic director and vice-principal of Innisfail High School. “The cross-country team ran in Red Deer and Emily Lucas, Amy Severtson, and Josh and Faith Gette all qualified in zones for provincials on October 18, and every member will go to the Central Western Alberta Junior High Athletic Association championship, which will run October 17.”
Anderson, coach of the Senior Girls Cyclones Volleyball team, has been pleased with the performance of his team since their first tournament in early September when they placed 10th out of 24 teams.
“My team is very athletic and they want to learn and get better,” said Anderson. “As we only have one Grade 12 member on the team, this is a year on which we can really build a solid core for next year and build on this year's success. We do play well every match, and have not yet played consistently enough yet to come out with more game wins. I am blessed to be able to coach such a great team.”
Anderson added the junior varsity team coached by Deen Lockhart and Nicole Dent is in a similar situation with skill development and they are doing good things on the court.
“We want to start a new tradition at the high school,” said Anderson. “Every month we will name our academic-athletic all-stars recognizing that academic and athletic excellence can go hand in hand.”
The athletic director noted the September winners are: Bradie Pillman-Ouellette and Jace Ouellette for golf; Brittany Byneshewski, Elizabeth Maciborsky, Courtney Charlton, Kendall Janssen and Nolan Pochapsky for volleyball; and Ward Marshall for football. Cross-country runners Brittany Byneshewski, Chloe Lucas, Pacen Vandemeer, and Faith and Josh Gette were also named to the inaugural list.
