Simon Fraser Clan head coach Mike Renney, 1,000 games into his collegiate career, announced Monday that he would retire his position at season's end following 24 years at the helm. (Photo -- Simon Fraser University athletics)
Feature University Softball

Mike Renney: After precisely 1,000 games at the helm, Simon Fraser Clan softball coach announces retirement

BURNABY — It was back in the fall of 1995 when Simon Fraser’s sophomore head softball coach Mike Renney found a quiet moment to chat with a departing member of the Clan’s athletic staff.

New Westminster fullback Lucas Sabau in the seconds after he scored the two-point convert that gave the Hyacks their first Subway Bowl B.C. senior varsity AAA championship title this past December. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)
Feature High School Football University Football

The Diesel: Hyacks’ heroic fullback Lucas Sabau brings the power package to Simon Fraser Clan football

NEW WESTMINSTER — Lucas Sabau admits that for a number of seasons, he struggled to find who he truly was on the football field.

New Westminster's Grace Fetherstonhaugh bettered her former meet-record time of a year ago this past Saturday in the 2,000m steeplechase at SFU's Emilie Mondor Invite. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)
Feature High School Track & Field University Track and Field

A steep chase for Grace? Hyacks’ Oregon State-bound Fetherstonhaugh sets a sky-high steeplechase bar

BURNABY — Grace Fetherstonhaugh has got the first one out of the way. Now she hopes the path just keeps getting smoother as she attempts to round into the kind of form which will help carry her to the No. 1 goal of her senior season.

Carson Graham's Tanis Metcalfe (centre) drives to the basket despite the active defence of Holy Cross' Shaelynn Tolereton (left) and Abbotsford's Sienna Lenz during the Fraser Valley-Lower Mainland girls high school seniors all-star game Tuesday in Burnaby. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

SENIOR SERVICE: Abby’s Sienna Lenz, Carson’s Tanis Metcalfe finish high school careers on a high at All-Star finale

BURNABY — The best thing about following Sienna Lenz and Tanis Matcalfe over their past few high school basketball seasons has been the way in which their respective careers just kept getting better and better.

Former Canadian Under-17 goalkeeper Luciano Trasolini of Burnaby is now headed from Kansas to Simon Fraser. (Photo courtesy Canada Soccer via Simon Fraser athletics)
Feature University Men's Soccer

Hello, Yellow Brick Road: SFU Clan soccer recruit Trasolini finds his path up Burnaby Mountain paved by trip to Kansas outback

BURNABY — For a goalkeeper who has already played for his country and spent time in residency with Whitecaps FC, the so-called yellow brick road to a collegiate soccer career seemed pre-paved for Luciano Trasolini.

The Whitecaps FC Showcase, which opens a three-day run Friday in Surrey, makes Newton Athletic Park the centre of the collegiate soccer world this weekend. (Photo courtesy of Vancouver Whitecaps)
Abbotsford Panthers' senior guard Sienna Lenz (right) helped her team drive past Surrey's Sullivan Heights Stars and into Friday's Final 4 at the BC AAA girls basketball championships. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Sienna Lenz: Her comeback trail complete, Abby’s star senior guard helps lead her Panthers into Final Four Friday

LANGLEY — Ask Sienna Lenz for an interview, and the Abbotsford Panthers senior star politely asks for a few seconds. After all, unstrapping the brace which she still wears to protect her formerly injured right knee is a little more involved than pulling off a pair of socks.

Gonzaga Prep grad Tayler Drynan, still just a sophomore, was among the GNAC's leaders in minutes played this season for the SFU Clan. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)
University Women's Basketball

SFU’s young & restless Clan: How adversity became prosperity on the road to playoffs for the GNAC’s resident toddlers

BURNABY — They finished the regular season with just seven players, three of whom were freshmen and two of whom were sophomores. From the opening tip, they knew they weren’t going to be holding a Seniors Night because they didn’t have any.

Kedar Salam has been the centre of attention for opposing defences this season. The senior plays his final home game Saturday atop Burnaby Mountain. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Kedar Salam: Simon Fraser’s GNAC scoring leader, a student of the game, has his home finale Saturday

BURNABY — Kedar Salam isn’t going to get a taste of the post-season over his final year of college basketball, yet Simon Fraser’s senior guard is proving to everyone around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference that over the 2017-18 campaign, he has been its single greatest offensive threat.

Simon Fraser's Tayla Jackson, over the last decade, has gone from watching in the bleachers to starring on centre court with her hometown Clan. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature University Women's Basketball

SFU’s Tayla Jackson: On coming home, on coming full circle and understanding the influence of Clan student-athletes

BURNABY — Hang around in the stands at Simon Fraser’s West Gym after a women’s basketball game, and the first thing you’ll notice are the scores of elementary school-aged girls, all lined up with team posters and felt-tipped pens, waiting to collect the autographs of their favourite Clan players.