Durham Lords celebrate successful start to varsity sports season

The men’s baseball teams poses with Durham College President Don Lovisa as it celebrates another great season. The team won the provincial championships and finished as one of the top four teams in Canada.

December 14, 2010

With the new year approaching, the Durham Lords varsity sports program is hoping to pick up where it left off in 2010 after an extremely successful first half of the varsity season.

Leading the way were the women’s and men’s golf teams, which took home provincial gold and silver medals respectively. The women’s team experienced an exceptionally rewarding season as it also won the national title at the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association (CCAA) tournament with Kayleigh Kraemer (provincial gold and national bronze) and Tiffany Albath (provincial and national silver) also picking up individual honours.

The men’s baseball team wound up its season as the top team in Ontario, winning gold at the Canadian Intercollegiate Baseball Association (CIBA) Ontario championship after finishing with a 16-0 conference record. At the CIBA National Championship, the team fell just short of its ultimate goal and finished in the final four.

Back on the women’s side, the fastball team picked up its 15th Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) title and then won the national bronze medal at the Canadian Intercollegiate Women’s Fastpitch National Championship.

Erin Dewey earned her third straight OCAA Player of the Year Award and, along with her twin sister and teammate Erica, appeared in a Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd article in the November 8 issue.

From the baseball diamond to the soccer pitch, although the women’s soccer team fell in the OCAA quarterfinals and the men’s team failed to qualify for the playoffs, both teams were honoured with two players from each squad receiving all-star OCAA recognition.

Now that outdoor sports have wrapped up for the season, the focus shifts to the indoors and the men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball teams.

Both the men’s basketball and volleyball teams got off to particularly good starts with both nationally ranked and the volleyball team currently undefeated. The men’s basketball team also hosted and won the annual Dave Stewart Tip-Off Championship and is looking forward to hosting the CCAA National Championship in March.

The ladies are experiencing their own success, with the provincially ranked women’s volleyball team tying an OCAA single-game record with 23 blocks in a match. The women’s basketball team is also off to a strong start and is currently ranked sixth in Ontario.

The Durham Lords varsity program hopes to carry its early successes on to the second half of the varsity season and would love to have the support of fans. Make a new year’s resolution to take in a basketball or volleyball game and cheer on your Durham Lords!