Moscrop Secondary is making quite a racket in Burnaby high school sports this week.
Shortly after the West Burnaby secondary school posted a best-ever fourth-place finish at the B.C. high school AAA tennis championships, Moscrop made more school history, placing fifth following a three-day competition in Kamloops at the B.C. high school senior badminton championships. It was also the best finish for any Burnaby school badminton team at the provincials.
The Moscrop Panthers finished second in pool play to Killarney but came back to knock off the Vancouver champion 6-5 in the final placement match.
Grade 11 twins Grace and Megan Wang won the crucial game-winning girls’ doubles match in the team format, where each team goes head-to-head in four girls and four boys’ doubles matches, two singles and a game of mixed doubles.
In pool play, Moscrop lost to Killarney by a similar 6-5 score after scoring one-point wins over Vancouver Island runner-up Mt. Douglas and Fraser Valley No. 3 Maple Ridge.
“Winning against Killarney was a huge plus for the kids,” said coach Cindy Wu, a former coach and instructor at Moscrop but now teaching at Burnaby Central Secondary.
Moscrop finished first in the BurWest district in regular season play and then defeated Sentinel in zone play to advance to the provincial championships for ninth time in the past 10 years.
Moscrop’s best ever finish was a seventh place. The Panthers placed ninth at last year’s provincials.
On Day 2 of the provincials, Moscrop lost to Fraser Valley No. 2 and eventual third-place-finishing Pinetree 7-4, with many of the games stretched to a third set, in championship play.
The Panthers set themselves up for a best-ever finish with a narrow 6-5 win over Vancouver Island champion St. Michael’s University School.
Grade 8 Julianna Liao won her first-ever singles match in provincials in the win over Killarney.
Grade 11 player Harmony Ky was voted the team’s MVP for her strong work in girls’ doubles throughout the tournament.
Grade 9 Moscrop boy Dannison Liao and Ky both represented B.C. at the Canadian junior badminton nationals.
Kris Zhao, Nelson Ng, Mike Yue, Hanqi Wang, Stanley Ho, Ho Jin Chang, Leo Qiu, Ray Chou, Chris Sung, Eric Ling, Keyi Ma, Jasmine Shi, Chelsea Ma and Shirley Guo also contributed to the Moscrop milestone.
“Cracking the top 8 was a huge achievement for us,” said Wu. “It was also the team’s goal.”
Fraser Heights defeated a combined St. George’s/Crofton House to win the B.C. high school banner.
