North Vancouver's Handsworth Royals held on to the No. 3 spot in the most recent B.C. senior girls AAAA volleyball rankings. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of UBC athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball

B.C. Girls Top 10 Volleyball Rankings 09.25.19: Pacific Academy’s Breakers a new No. 1 while Notre Dame Jugglers the big climbers

LANGLEY — While change was slight this week at the largest tier of B.C. girls high school volleyball, substantial jockeying took place below.A look at all four tiers:*At Quad A, the first nine spots remained unchanged with South Delta swapping spots with fellow Deltans, the Seaquam Seahawks at No. 10.*At Triple A, the Vernon Panthers […]

Surrey's Earl Marriott Mariners open the season at No. 1 in the first B.C. senior boys Triple A Top 10 rankings.The defending B.C. champion Mariners will play Friday and Saturday at the UBC Invitational. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Volleyball

B.C. Boys Top 10 Volleyball Rankings: AAA No. 1 Earl Marriott & AA No. 1 MEI each on stage this weekend at 32-team UBC Invitational

LANGLEY — The Earl Marriott Mariners, who open the new B.C. Triple A senior boys campaign as the preseason No. 1 team, would love to see history repeat itself.Last season, Surrey’s Mariners topped the Van Tech Talismen 3-0 in the B.C. AAA final at the Langley Events Centre.A victory this season would not only give […]

Fraser Valley Cascades' rookie Bryana Buttar (centre) has played like a veteran over the first six matches of the 2019 Canada West season. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Soccer University Women's Soccer

Cascades are better with Bryana Buttar in the batter! Rookie a rare ingredient as UFV hunkers for huge weekend homestand vs. UBC, UVic

ABBOTSFORD — With the same clockwork precision she has shown at every key stage of her soccer career, Bryana Buttar has once again arrived ahead of her time.“I definitely feel that my whole youth career has set me up for this,” the Fraser Valley Cascades’ dynamic midfielder remarked Wednesday of the opportunity she has seized […]

Feature Podcast

Varsity Letters PODCAST visits with Laurier Primeau of UBC track, Ray Moon of Sun Devils football & Tom Lowndes of UFV men’s soccer

Welcome back, loyal listeners, to another episode of Varsity Letters — The Podcast, Canada’s only weekly podcast dedicated solely to the coverage of provincial and university high school sports. This week, our three guests are: *UBC’s Laurier Primeau, the head coach of Thunderbirds’ cross-country, and track and field, reflecting on last spring’s dual national championships, […]

Last season, Abbotsford running back Jalem Catlin was one of only four Grade 11's named to the B.C. AAA provincial all-star team. This season, whichever AA and AAA provincial all-star selections happen not to make it to the Subway Bowl title game will be able to suit up in the first-ever BCSSFA all-star game at B.C. Place Stadium on Nov. 30 (Photo by Becky Szmutko used through permission of Abbotsford Secondary athletics)
Feature High School Football

Subway Bowl’s Super Saturday gets star-studded addition! BCSSFA adds high school all-star game for Nov. 30 at BC Place Stadium

LANGLEY — It’s an idea whose time has come, and the timing couldn’t be any better for B.C. high school football to add even more entertainment value to its heralded championship finals weekend.The BCSSFA has confirmed plans to hold a B.C. all-star game as part of its season-ending Subway Bowl Saturday championship menu this coming […]

Vancouver College's Fighting Irish celebrated a B.C. Triple A title last November. This season, they open the new campaign at No. 5. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Soccer

B.C. boys high school soccer AAA preseason Top 10 rankings: Dr. Charles Best, Argyle tabbed as the teams to beat!

SOCCERSENIOR BOYSTRIPLE APRESEASON1 Dr. Charles Best Blue Devils (Coquitlam)2 Argyle Pipers (North Vancouver)3 Panorama Ridge Thunder (Surrey) 4 Burnaby South Rebels5 Vancouver College Fighting Irish6 Reynolds Roadrunners (Victoria)7 Kitsilano Blue Demons (Vancouver)8 St. George’s Saints (Vancouver)9 Centennial Centaurs (Coquitlam)10 Sullivan Heights Stars (Surrey)Honourable mention — Fleetwood Park Dragons (Surrey), Sardis Falcons (Chilliwack), Oak Bay Bays (Victoria), […]

Surrey's Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers, like great Tweedy teams of past seasons, will greet their home crowd during its ceremonial run onto the field Friday as they host the Kelowna Owls. This week, however, LT will do it as B.C.'s No. 1-ranked AAA team. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

Varsity Letters 09.23.19 B.C. high school football rankings: Tweedy takes over AAA No. 1! Hyacks, Sun Devils complete the top three

LANGLEY — Welcome to Week 4 of the 2019 B.C. high school football season. The coveted No. 1 spot in the Triple A rankings has changed for the first time this season.The latest rankings:TRIPLE A1 Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers (Surrey) (2-0, 1-0) (2)LW — Def. Terry Fox 27-0.TW — Friday host Kelowna. 2 New Westminster Hyacks (2-1, […]

For Trinity Western's Joanna Williams, a courageous decision to speak about her mental health struggles has put her in a joyful place, one where she has left her worries behind her. (Photo by Bailey Broadbent property of Trinity Western athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Cross Country

A Sunday Read: TWU’s Joanna Williams confronts her mental health struggles and says “I think there is something so beautiful about feeling strong”

LANGLEY — She’d never had this feeling before.For the first seven seasons of her competitive running life, Joanna Williams had tried to justify the myriad reasons that she trained and she raced, yet in her deepest place, they had all rung hollow.But this new feeling? What was it? She’d never had this feeling before.Two Saturday mornings […]

Carson Graham's Trent Skill breaks the plane of the goal line Saturday to score one of the Eagles' eight TDs on the day in a Buchanan Bowl win over Handsworth. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

VL’s Saturday BCHSF Report: No. 5 South Delta takes down No. 1 Van College, Carson Graham a big Buchanan Bowl victor

Welcome to the Saturday edition of the Varsity Letters’ B.C. High school football report.We’ve got the first major upset of the season, and a decisive result in the annual Buchanan Bowl.Our thanks to Blair Shier for the generosity and excellence of his photographic contributions.TRIPLE AWESTERN CONFERENCENo. 1 VANCOUVER COLLEGE 23 at No. 5 SOUTH DELTA […]

The SFU defence, led by the likes of defensive back Matt Duda (left) mades things tough for South Dakota Mines' receiver Anthony Ullrich on Saturday at Swangard. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Simon Fraser Clan athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

Football growing pains! Two pick-six majors against, two disallowed TDs are Clan’s undoing in home-opening loss to SD Hardrockers

BURNABY — The Simon Fraser Clan may be young, but they are starting to show enough signs of forward progress that head coach Thomas Ford, after the team’s 2019 home opener, refused to use their overall inexperience as a crutch.That was the story as the Clan (0-3) allowed the offence of the visiting South Dakota […]