• Barriere Junior Girls basketball lost a nail bitter in the Tier 2 West Zone final to Brock Middle School, but they were still able to advance to the Tier 1 Championship finals. The girls battled hard against Valleyview in their semi-final and lost in the dying second by 2 points after Ivanna Villenuve’s 3 point attempt circled around the rim eventually falling out. In their last game they dominated Merritt right from the opening tip off.
A special thank you goes out to Mr. Ian Mitchell for doing such an incredible job with our junior female basketball players this season.
• Barriere Junior Boys basketball for the second season in a row captured the West Zone Championship title also battling Brock Middle School in the Tier 2 championship. It was a hard fought game with the lead changing hands quite a few times throughout the duration of the game. After some big plays down the stretch by the hometown, Barriere squad eventually saw them stretch out their lead putting the game out of reach of their competition.
The boys also advanced to the Tier 1 Championship finals. After battling hard against South Kamloops and losing a close one to Westsyde, they finished off the championship in similar style to the Junior Girls, easily beating Merritt.
With the leadership and strong coaching direction from Mr. Cory Carmicheal this Junior Boys basketball program is starting to make a name for themselves, not only in the West Zone but in the entire Okanagan Valley.
• Our Senior Girls Basketball team had one of their best showings at the Okanagan Valley championship in years. The girls were one win away from qualifying for the “A” BC High School Provincial Championships.
The girls had to travel to Hope to play their last game of the season against Credo Christian for the last remaining birth to the Provincial Championships. With only one grade 12 graduating athlete (Talyse Lyons) and some talented grade 10s moving up to play Senior basketball next year, the Senior Girls basketball team will be striving to qualify for the provincials.
From the dedication of coach, Ms. Seana Trimble and our athletes, our Senior Girls basketball team is not only becoming an Okanagan Valley caliber team, but now is also making waves Provincially as a program on the rise.
Our Senior Boys basketball team had a season for the record books. After having an extremely busy and competitive season, the boys had an impressive showing at the Okanagan Valley championship surviving to the final day of competition.
The boys didn’t give up after going down by 16 points to host school Charles Bloom. They banded together and battled their way back into the game to end up on top in one of the most exciting games of the entire Okanagan Championship.
The boys saw their season come to a close against a very strong Osoyoos team that has been ranked Provincially in the top 10 all season long.
Next years squad will have difficulties filling the void left behind by graduating athletes; Keaton Noble, Shawn Gill, Tyler Ewert, Kurt Allen Brandon Proppe and Jordan LeFeuvre.
Barriere athletics owes a debt of gratitude for their commitment and passion in representing our school athletically. Barriere athletics also owes a debt of gratitude to coach Dean Cruzelle who has dedicated a countless number of hours, time, and money into our Barriere athletic program to allow these young gentleman a chance to compete.
• Springing into the Spring season
This Spring is an exciting one for Barriere athletics. We will again be running Golf and Track and Field teams, but we will also be running a girls soccer team, and Mr. Bryn Leary has agreed to coach these young ladies.
Also, we will be offering our senior boys the opportunity to play rugby this year with Clearwater Secondary School.