2022-2023: Smashing Records & Setting New Heights of Success

The 2022-2023 school year was a an outstanding success for the LCS community. Not only did we pack our gyms and fill up venues like the Langley Events Centre, we also had a lot of fun together cheering one another one to be the best we can be. As a result of the outstanding commitment of coaches, athletes and administrators, our teams and individual students enjoyed success that surpasses anything in recent memory.

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As school sports were slowly returning in the spring of 2022, we wanted to be prepared to make a big comeback with the arts and athletics. We wanted to maximize participation and hospitality on our campus, and build community, have fun, use sport to build character and encourage our values, and we aspired to dream big and accomplish this by building the most impactful athletics program anywhere in our region.

PLANNING FOR AN IMPACTFUL PROGRAM

WE BELIEVE…

Our teams won regional and provincial championships in almost every sport, and several LCS graduates are moving on to pursue post-secondary athletics careers. For a growing high school that barely reaches 400 students, we packed an impactful punch way bigger than our weight class and size! Of particular note this season was the large participation of student-athletes who competed and had success in track and field at the provincial level. What was the most impressive was the sheer number of parents, volunteers, coaches and partners who make our program possible.

Many of the Lightning Athletics volunteer coaches and staff coaches – like junior girls volleyball coaching duo Julianna Howe and Taylor Howe – have expertise, certification and high performance experience as USport, college or national team level athletes. Because of the community’s investment of time we have well over 50% of our students at grades 4-10 participating in some form of athletics or intramurals. Last year several LCS athletes represented BC at the Canada Summer Games or went on to play USport or college level teams in the fall. This year’s graduates also include student-athletes moving on to play beyond high school, but because of the contributions of our coaches and program coordinators, many dozens more will maintain healthy lifestyles for many years because of their sport experience at LCS.

Student-Athletes Moving On…

BASKETBALL

Our senior girls came close to back-to-back trips to the Provincial Finals, but lost a heartbreaking game to Pacific Christian in the semi-final match. They bounced back to win the bronze medal, but are expected to come back strong next year. The senior boys improved on last year’s top 16 provincial finish to finish 7th at the Provincial Championships this year. The grade 9 boys, coached by former TWU basketball coach/now principal Mr. Ditson, qualified for provincials for the first time ever, so next year’s teams all look promising. On top of all this, our alumni/student pickup games on Monday nights this spring were very fun and competitive.

SOCCER

We are certain that Mark Jones broke some kind of record in BC School Sports this year. He was the first coach in recent memory of anyone in Langley to coach two teams to a EVAA banner and top 4 finish at the Provincial Championships. Mark coached both the senior boys and girls soccers teams this season. He is excited to run it back again next year and take another run with a talented group of returning athletes.

VOLLEYBALL

The Lightning volleyball teams were the class of British Columbia all season. The junior boys won 4 tournament titles and finished second at the Provincial Championships losing in five sets to rivals Elgin Park. The senior boys won the Best of the West tournament in Edmonton, and continued their success, winning Provincials and breaking the LCS streak of silver medal finishes. The senior girls and junior girls all had strong top 8 provincial finishes. The grade 8 boys won the Eastern Valley banner and look strong for the grade 9 season.

GOLF

The LCS golf team is in its second year and narrowly missed out on qualifying for provincials this year.

TRACK & FIELD / CROSS-COUNTRY

Thanks to the heroic efforts and encouragement of Melissa Friesen and David Jackson, LCS had record numbers of student-athletes competing in cross-country and track and field this year. What was most impressive about these teachers is that they had to get up to the school for 7:00am cross-country runs in the fall. Our grade 8 team won multiple banners, and many of our athletes had top-10 provincial finishes competing against the very best in B.C.

BADMINTON

Yes! We have a badminton team. They had a lot of fun! Way to go team!

Lightning Athletics Results 2022-2023