By Josh Bell
One run at a national championship this year just isn’t enough for Jesa Rada.
The second-year Algonquin Thunder standout recently closed her soccer campaign with an undefeated run through the Ontario ranks and an appearance at the Canadian college championships.
Now Rada is following that up with a perfect record thus far on the basketball court, as her 8-0 squad seeks a return trip to the CCAA nationals this season.
Add in her firefighting classes, and it makes for one busy schedule. There is some overlap between her two sports, but she and her coaches make it work.
“We make an effort to really sort it out before the season,” notes Rada, who missed the first few basketball league games. “The coaches talk and kind of figure out what works best for them. When soccer started, it was mostly preseason for basketball, so I went to basketball whenever the times matched up. Normally I would go to soccer and basketball would be after.”
Along with a physically-demanding program like firefighting, Rada’s schedule demands a high level of fitness.
“It is tough,” highlights the St. Peter Catholic High School grad. “It’s really hard on the body because I get two fitness classes a week. But I’m having fun with it.
“I’m just used to being really busy. It helps that I have a schedule, so every minute of every day I’m doing something. Other than that, it’s just getting good sleep.”
In early November, Rada and the Algonquin soccer team made their first nationals appearance in 10 years, finishing fourth at the CCAA tournament in B.C.
“It was exciting because we had fifth-year players on the team that really wanted to go and we were all playing for them and trying to represent the college well,” recounts the player who scored three times in seven regular season contests. “It was a great experience.”
Now she hopes the experience from soccer nationals will prove valuable on the court.
“I know what it takes to get there and how hard you have to compete there,” signals the midfielder/point guard who credits great teammates and coaching staffs for both squads’ success.
“We have great potential on the (basketball) team,” she adds. “We have people coming in who are going to be great additions. Hopefully we get to go to provincials, and get to go to nationals.”
Water polo & rugby medals
Carleton Ravens water polo teams brought home gold and silver medals from their provincial championships in Toronto, as did the Thunder rugby squads.
Dusan Boskovic scored the game-winning-goal and was named championships MVP as the Ravens men downed the host University of Toronto Varsity Blues 7-6 in the OUA men’s water polo final. Boskovich and Rodrigo Rojas both scored two goals in the final, while Benjamin Bouwer and Zoltan Csepregi earned top goalie and top coach honours respectively. The Ravens women took silver behind Toronto, while the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees claimed bronze on both sides.
For Algonquin, it was the women who came out on top of the Ontario college rugby world. Chanelle Fortin scored two second-half tries to lift the Thunder to a 35-21 triumph over Humber, who’d been co-champions with Algonquin last year after an overtime procedures controversy. The Thunder men fell to Humber 24-16 in their championship game.
Soccer champs & all-stars
The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees’ goalkeeper, Cynthia Leblanc, was named a first-team all-Canadian, as were Gee-Gees midfielder Julia Francki and Ottawa native Kristy MacGregor-Bales, a Dalhousie defender, while Dalhousie’s Joanna Blodgett of Ottawa was a second-team all-Canadian along with Dalhousie striker Bezick Evraire of Ottawa on the men’s side.
Former Ottawa Fury Cameron Davis was part of the UBC Thunderbirds’ men’s soccer CIS-champion team. The second-year forward appeared in five regular season games this season.
Former Carleton Ravens goalkeeper Rachel Bedek, who appeared for Canada’s FISU Universiade team with Carleton, earned the shutout in her Trinity Western Spartans’ 1-0 CIS championship game victory over the Université de Montréal. The Carleton law grad is now taking her MBA at Trinity Western.
Former Fury Lauren Hughes was a Conference USA first-team all-star for Rice University in Houston, TX, while University of Central Florida’s Kayla Adamek made her conference all-rookie team.
Acadia fly Emilie Chiasson of Ottawa and Gee-Gee Natasha Watcham-Roy were rugby all-Canadians, while Gee-Gee defensive tackle Ettore Lattanzio was named the OUA’s best lineman. Lattanzio was also a first-team All-Canadian, while runningback Brendan Gillanders was a second-team All-Canadian.