www.pgcitizen.ca | Saturday, March 28, 2009 9 sports Citizen staff Sarah Beaudry, Canadian champion. Beaudry, a member of Prince George's Caledonia Nordic Ski Club, can now use those opening words on her biathlon resumé. On Thursday in Val Cartier, Que., Beaudry claimed the senior girls 7.5-kilometre individual title at the North American and Canadian biathlon championships. She finished the course in a time of 35 minutes nine seconds, 17 seconds faster than runner-up Rose-Marie Coté of Quebec. M. NEUMANN Biathlon combines the disciplines of cross-country skiing and target shooting. In the shooting portion of her race, Beaudry missed a total of only three targets, and, as per the rules, that added three minutes onto her overall clocking. B.C.'s Julia Ransom (38:58) finished a distant third. A total of 30 athletes competed in the race. Beaudry wasn't the lone Prince George product who put the wraps on a Canadian title Thursday in Quebec. At the same championships, Matt Neumann was the top Canuck in the junior men's 15km individual race. He stopped the clock at 51:30. JIM SWANSON, Sports Editor 250.562.2441 Ext. 400 DIRECT SPORTS LINE: 250.960.2764 E-MAIL: sports@pgcitizen.ca Biathletes Beaudry, Neumann tops in country Neumann's time would have been significantly faster, but he was penalized eight minutes for his eight misses during the target shooting. Neumann finished behind two Americans -- Wynn Roberts (46:57) and Leif Nordgren (43:51). Fifteen biathletes started the race and 14 finished it. In the youth men's 12.5km individual event, P.G.'s Aaron Neumann finished 10th in a field of 25. His time was 49:14. As well, Sylvain Beaudry of the Caledonia club took 17th spot out of 44 entrants in the senior boys 7.5km individual race. He completed the course in a time of 37:39. Alex Douglas of Prince George was 16th in the youth men's individual race. Megan Tandy of Prince George was injured and did not compete Thursday. The event continues today with the sprint races. Relays are set for Sunday. Kennedy comes home to UNBC Jason Peters Citizen staff At times, Christine Kennedy wanted to hop out of the bleachers and throw herself into the middle of the action. That's how tough it was for her to watch UNBC women's basketball games this past season. She won't have to endure the same torture next season. After three years of Canadian Interuniversity Sport basketball with the McGill Martlets, Kennedy will run the floor with her hometown Northern Timberwolves in 2009-10. Kennedy is a point guard who doesn't quite reach five-foot-three on a growth chart. She may be small in stature, but she plays a big, aggressive game and will be a key addition to a team that has designs on re-claiming the playoff championship banner in the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association. "I can't wait to play with these girls," said Kennedy, who arrived back home last September and started taking courses at UNBC in January. "Hopefully we can actually get a national championship for UNBC. "I'm definitely a baller and I think that's what they really need," Kennedy added. "I think (UNBC forward) Kady Dandeneau is quite a baller too. She's so passionate. For me, coming back after a year off, I'm going to want to put my whole heart into it so I think that should add a little bit of a spark." The Timberwolves claimed their first-ever BCCAA playoff title in 2008 and placed second this year to the Camosun College Chargers of Victoria. Kennedy graduated from College Heights secondary school in 2005 and had originally planned to join the Timberwolves for the 2005-06 BCCAA season. But then she went to a recruiting camp at Montreal's McGill and impressed head coach Ryan Thorne so much, he offered her a spot on the team. Kennedy quickly evolved into a starter, and, during her career at McGill, was one of the top scorers and playmakers in the Quebec Division of the CIS. Defensively, few players matched her intensity and tenacity. As much as Kennedy loved life at McGill, part of her was hungry to come home. So she did. "I just felt like it was time to be back with family," said the 21-year-old. "I wanted to be back in P.G. for my last few years (of school) and then I get to play two years here, which is great." When Kennedy does step onto the court next season, she'll be reunited in game situations with post player Erin Beckett. During their high school days with the College Heights Cougars, the two of them formed a potent, point-producing duo. Kennedy, understandably, can't wait to team up with Beckett again. "That's the biggest thing," Kennedy said. "Even practicing with her now, it's just like we're back in high school. We didn't lose any of it. We still know exactly where we're going to be at the right moment, right time. It's amazing." Loralyn Murdoch, head coach of the Timberwolves, has seen Kennedy and Beckett working their old magic during scrimmages and is anticipating more of the same when it's time to tip off for real. "They have a lot of fun together," said Murdoch, who is holding an identification camp today at the Northern Sport Centre. "They had a great high school career together and they have a bit of a bond there. I think they're going to be fun to watch." Kennedy will help fill the massive hole left by All-Canadian guard Jaclyn Nazareno, who has now finished her five years of eligibility. Another guard, the injury-plagued Jessica Wallace, is planning to take next season off to get herself completely healthy. As well, veteran guard Erika Johnson -- unless she enters a Masters program at UNBC -- is not likely to return to the T-wolves. Another player who won't be back next season is forward Kristi Kenyon, who is leaving UNBC as she changes her field of study. Two of the players who will attend today's ID camp are local star forwards Mercedes Van Koughnett and Emily Kaehn. Out-oftown prospects include guard Alysha Ifill of Scarborough, Ont., guard Jennifer Marsh of North Vancouver and forward Rebeckah Gaukel of Mission. VIGOUR OUS VOC ALIZ ATION -- Skip Rob Prideaux hollers out instructions to his sweepers while opposing skip Tim Tompson watches the action on the ice Friday at the 83rd annual Kelly Cup men's curling championship at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club. Draws in the 36-team tournament continue this morning, leading up to the A-final at 1 p.m. and the B-final at 3:30. The championship game is set for Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Citizen photo by David Mah Timberwolves grad passes with flying colours Jason Peters Citizen staff Court and classroom -- Laurel Wallace was brilliant in both settings. For her efforts, she was named an Academic All-Canadian earlier this week. Wallace recently completed her fifth and final season with the UNBC Northern Timberwolves women's basketball team. She finished the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association regular schedule third in league scoring with 248 points in 18 games and was picked as a first-team league all-star. Then there was the academic side of her life. As a psychology major, Wallace posted a grade point average of 4.13 this past semester. That number represents letter grades that hovered in the `A' to `A+' range. To achieve Academic All-Canadian status within the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association, an athlete/student must be a league all-star and have a GPA of 3.5 to 4.0, so Wallace actually exceeded the criteria. "It's a nice way to finish off my career here," said the 23-year-old Wallace, who has been accepted into graduate school at the University of Calgary for 2009-10. "Coming into UNBC, I knew that (head coach) Loralyn (Murdoch) and the rest of the program always stressed academics as well as athletics so it's a nice goal to have achieved." Only 24 BCCAA athletes made the cut to be Academic All-Canadians. Wallace also earned the award in 2006-07. Murdoch, the UNBC coach, is justifiably proud of Wallace for this latest accomplishment. And Murdoch will certainly miss her star forward next season. "I don't think you'll ever replace a player like her," Murdoch said. "You try your best to fill the gap and it might take two players with some pretty awesome assets in a lot of different areas to do the job." Wallace, with 1,073 career points, is second to graduating teammate Jaclyn Nazareno (1,078) on UNBC's all-time scoring list. Wallace will attend a UNBC graduation ceremony in May and is looking toward a career in research or clinical psychology. High school players tackle Senior Bowl assignments Ted Clarke Citizen staff His high school football career officially ended last November. Much too soon for Devon Tibbetts. If he had it his way, he'd be playing right now, in the months leading up to his graduation from Prince George secondary school. So when he got the call to play in last week's B.C. Senior Bowl in Surrey, he jumped at the chance. As one of six Prince George high schoolers who played in the Blue versus White game, Tibbetts used the four-day camp to showcase his football skills for the junior and university scouts in attendance. The top 100 ranked players in the province were there. "It was an awesome opportunity, lots of coaches from junior and university helping us out," said Tibbetts. "We had some B.C. Lions (Tyson Craiggs, Angus Reid, Jason Jimenez and Paris Jackson) come out one day and we got to meet the head coach (Wally Buono) too. They taught us things I never knew. Tibbetts shared a soggy field with his PGSS teammates, safety Sean Doyle and quarterback/wide receiver Andy Bolen. Also on the Senior Bowl rosters were linebacker Jeff Keeping and defensive lineman Trevor Selig of College Heights; cornerback Mathusan Kandasany of Duchess Park; and cornerback Mitchell Cox of Kelly Road. Keeping was injured in the camp and did not play in the game. Rather than being separated geographically, the teams were picked in a draft after a week of evaluation in the camp, which was plagued by steady rainfall. "It was just gross weather, and then when we'd finish practice the sun would come out," said Tibbetts, a six-foot-one, 217-pounder who started playing football three years ago. Tibbetts and Doyle played for Team Blue, while the rest of the Prince George players played for Team White, which ended up winning the game 21-18. "It was a close game, it came down to the last 50 seconds," said Tibbetts, who plays linebacker or defensive lineman. "We all got lots of offers from junior teams too. "I'm hoping to play junior for a couple of years and try to make a name for myself and hopefully get a scholarship. Junior teams don't want you to hang around, they want you to move on (to university). Tibbetts plans to attend tryout camps in April for the Victoria Rebels and Okanagan Sun, and is also considering an offer from the Vancouver Trojans. The timing of the Senior Bowl was perfect for the Prince George players, coming two weeks after the Prince George players went through a grueling three-day Prince George Minor Football Association Northern Football Combine at the Northern Sport Centre. They were ready for some high-intensity drills by the time they got to Surrey. "That helped a lot, we hadn't done anything for about two months and that got us back into it," said Tibbetts. Seven Prince George high school football players made the trip to Surrey last week for the Senior Bowl game and training camp. From left are Andy Bolen, PGSS; Mitchell Cox, Kelly Road; Devon Tibbetts, PGSS; Sean Doyle, PGSS; and Mathusan Kandasany, Duchess Park. Missing from photo, Jeff Keeping and Trevor Selig, College Heights. Photo submitted "The players were the best in B.C. and I think I did pretty good, just average in there. There were some pretty amazing players, guys who have been playing since they were kids."