Horns rugby team will play for bronze, swim team begins season
By Lethbridge Herald on October 29, 2021.
The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns women’s rugby team fell short of a spot in the U SPORTS Championship and will instead play for Canada West bronze Sunday.
The Horns were downed 36-7 by the Victoria Vikes in the Canada West semifinals Thursday afternoon in Calgary.
Looking to avenge a 29-0 setback to the Vikes two weeks ago in Victoria, it wasn’t meant to be as Victoria scored the first four tries of the match to secure a lead that was never in jeopardy.
The win earns the Vikes a spot in the U SPORTS Women’s Rugby Championships in Kingston, Ont.
They will be joined by the Canada West top-ranked UBC Thunderbirds, who deafened the host Calgary Dinos 22-12 in the other semifinal Thursday.
The Vikes and Thunderbirds will play for gold Sunday at 1 p.m., while the Horns and Dinos duel for bronze at 11 a.m.
Faith Tilley, Shalaya Velaenzuela and Summer Blackmore scored first half tries for the Vikes, who opened up a 17-0 lead at the half.
Victoria went up 22-0 on a try from Brittany Gardiner, but the Pronghorns got on the board in the 57th minute when Sara Cline scored Lethbridge’s lone try. Abby Neudorf kicked the convert to make it 22-7.
The Vikes added a pair of tries late from Soleil Brooks and Larah Wright to seal the victory.
In swimming, the Pronghorns jump into their Canada West season this weekend.
The Horns head to Calgary for the Dino Invitational hosted by the University of Calgary today and Saturday, officially kicking off their university swim season.
The Dino Invitational features timed finals both today and Saturday afternoon.
The Pronghorns got a season warmup last weekend at the LASC Fall Challenge in their home pool.
That produced full team qualifications for the Canada West Championships in November, hosted by the University of Alberta.
First-year Pronghorn Apollo Hess shined at the Olympic Trials in Toronto last summer, qualifying for two finals and finishing fourth in the 200m breaststroke.
At the LASC Fall Challenge he broke two school records and tied another in his first meet of the fall.
Both Parker Brown and Casara Holm had strong performances as well last weekend.
Brown, another swimmer in his first year of eligibility, swam to a Pronghorn top-ten time in the 100m freestyle.
Holm, from Camrose, also posted Pronghorn all-time top ten times in the 50m and 100m butterfly.
The Pronghorns will be in action again the first weekend of November as they travel to Vancouver to compete in Colleges Cup Ð Pacific.
The Canada West Championships is Nov. 26-28 at the University of Alberta.
Follow @@DWoodardHerald on Twitter
23-22
