British Columbia’s next generation of rugby stars are gearing up for the Las Vegas Invitational and several Island players will be sporting provincial colours.
B.C. Rugby named its NextGen sevens teams for the annual Vegas tournament, for which B.C. is the two-time defending champs on the women’s side. Hoping to make it three straight gold medals will be Island players Nicole Shaver (Castaway Wanderers) and Courtney Sims (Westshore).
The men’s squad will be looking to improve upon their fourth-place finish a year ago and representing the Island will be Anton Ngongo (Castaway Wanderers), Mitchell Sora (James Bay), Nathan Tough (James Bay), Peyton Eager (Nanaimo Hornets) and Justin Logan (Castaway Wanderers).
The Las Vegas Invitational is slated for March 1-3.
Midgley, Carlson get revved up
The winter break is over for Victoria race car drivers Darrell Midgley and Brandon Carlson.
The pair lead their Northern Provincial Pipelines team into Tucson, Arizona, this weekend for the annual Chilly Willy Super Late Model Series race at Tucson Speedway.
Midgley and Carlson will both be behind the wheels of Dodge Chargers as they try to improve on a team-best 10th-place finish in last season’s Chilly Willy race.
Drope runs away with Cobble Hill 10K
Shelby Drope was hoping to finish in “around 33 minutes” at last weekend’s Cobble Hill 10K, the second stop in the 2018 Island Race Series.
That’s exactly what the runner from Nanaimo did. Drope finished the race in an even 33 minutes to win top prize, 13 seconds ahead of runner-up Ian Searle from the Prairie Inn Harriers. Kyle Irvine was third in 33:34.
The top finisher among the women was UVic Vikes runner Alison Hooper, who finished with a time of 35:38. Hooper’s Vikes teammate Chloe Hegland was second in 36:03.
Next up for the Island Race Series is the Cedar 12K on Feb. 4.
Victoria resident to manage cricket team
Alphonso Franco is hitting the ground — or turf — running when it comes to his new job.
Franco, current vice-president of Cricket B.C. and former president of the Victoria District Cricket Association, has been named manager of Canada’s national men’s team as it begins its quest to qualify for the next Cricket World Cup.
Franco and the national team leave today for South Africa where they will prepare for the Six Nations qualifying tournament in Namibia. The top two teams at the Six Nations event, which runs through Feb. 16, will move on to World Cup qualifying.
Franco is a former member of the Incogs Cricket Club in Victoria and for the past five years has managed the Colts Cricket Club. Franco also helped the St. Michaels University Blue Jags win a high school provincial championship.
