The Football Canada national junior team roster for the 2014 International Bowl includes a pair of St. Albert players.
Defensive lineman Garret Meek, a St. Albert minor football product with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, and running back Jackson Ryan of the Bellerose Bulldogs were named to the 60-player roster for the Feb. 7 and 8 series at Maverick Stadium at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Canada will huddle up against USA Football’s U19 squad as players compete to make the 45-man roster for the 2014 U19 World Championship in Kuwait.
The International Bowl roster was selected from close to 500 players who participated in regional identification camps across Canada.
The six-foot-three, 290-pound Meek completed his first Canada West season with the Huskies after a stellar high school career with the Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds.
The bantam graduate of the 2009 Tier II provincial finalist St. Albert Fury played three seasons with St. Albert Storm midget team in the Capital District Minor Football Association.
The six-foot, 250-pound Ryan is considered the first Bellerose player to compete internationally. He joined the Bulldogs in his Grade 12 season after playing for the Sexsmith Sabres in the Mighty Peace League.
The co-recipient of the team’s outstanding offensive player award rushed for 278 yards on 46 carries and scored three touchdowns while battling injuries with the Carr conference division one semifinalists in the metro Edmonton league.
The Thomas Scoffin rink, with St. Albert’s Jaques Bellamy at second, lost the junior men’s provincial curling final to Carter Lautner in an extra end Monday in Leduc.
Scoffin, the defending champion from the Saville Community Sports Centre, stole points in the third and sixth ends before Lautner pulled even with a deuce in seven, then stole the next two ends to lead 4-2.
Scoffin tied it with a deuce in 10 and Lautner iced it in the extra end with a three-spot to win 7-4.
The Glencoe Curling Club foursome finished 7-1 overall and Scoffin was 6-3.
This is Bellamy’s first season with Scoffin, the A-event winner at the Northern Alberta Curling Association playdowns in early December in Wetaskiwin.
Bellamy competed at provincials last year with the NACA C rink.
His brother, Ben, was the third for the Kenton Maschmeyer rink of the Saville Centre that fell in the second tiebreaker, 8-2 to Daylan Vavrek of the Dawson Creek Curling Club to go 5-4 at provincials.
Ben finished third at provincials two years representing NACA B.
In Monday’s semifinal Scoffin knocked off Vavrek 8-7 in an extra end.
The Paul Kane Blues medalled in the pool at the metro Edmonton high school swimming championships last month at the Kinsmen Aquatic Centre.
The first-place finishers in the short-course competition included Kayla Bruce in the female 50-metre butterfly (36.79 seconds) and 100m IM (1:23.34), Hayley Basterash in the female 50m backstroke (33.06) and Jason Krutz in the male 50m freestyle (26.61).
Placing second was Krutz in the 100m freestyle (57.97), Nicole Bell in the female 100m freestyle (1:26.09) and Annika Kamminga in the female 100m breaststroke (1:21.43).
Basterash was also timed third in the 200m IM (2:41.78).
In the overall team results, Paul Kane was 11th among females at 271, 17th among males at 103 and 15th out of 24 teams in combined scores at 374.
The Strathcona Lords swept the meet with 1,108 for females, 1,321 for males and 2,429 in combined scores.
