Ramblers athletes recruited by college teams

The graduating class at Maple Ridge secondary has no less than 10 athletes who will be moving on to compete at the collegiate level next year.

• Jade Lenton will be going on to the University of Toronto for track and field. The middle distance runner won provincial bronze in the 400m the last year there was a competitive track season in 2019, as a Grade 10. The year before, she was a Grade 9 running with Rambler senior girls relay teams that both won 4×400 and 4×100 gold medals at the 2018 B.C. Championships, and said that was a career highlight. She will major in business at the Rotman School of Management, and minor in creative writing.

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• Kaelyn Van Garderen will run for the Trinity Western University track team, in the middle distance events, and she will major in business administration. Her highlight so far was competing at the provincial championships as a Grade 10 in 2019.

• Ivy Threatful will join the Simon Fraser University wrestling team next season. Her highlights include winning provincial gold in 2020, and competing at an international meet in Mongolia. She also won provincial silver in 2019, and that same year won a national gold medal. In June, she will compete at the Pan American Games in Mexico. Threatful will major in archeology.

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• Neve Hayes will go on to the University of the Fraser Valley to play soccer. She has been a forward with Coquitlam Metro Ford, and said some of the highlights were the team being league champions in 2018 and 2019, and winning a showcase tournament in Seattle. She was the top scorer for her school teams from Grades 8-10. Hayes is pursuing a bachelor of arts in Peace and Conflict Studies, and hopes to become a firefighter.

• Grace Hamilton is going to the California State University Monterey Bay to play water polo. She plays for the Pacific Storm, and was part of a the under-16 team that won a national championship. Hamilton will study music, and hopes to become a music teacher.

• Gabby Di Girolamo will be wrestling with Simon Fraser University next season. Although she is a comparative newcomer to the sport, she placed fifth in the province last year, in her first year, and has continued to improve with the Coast Wrestling club. She will study criminology and psychology.

• Soleil Brooks will attend the University of Victoria to play rugby. One of the best in the province, she was captain of the under-16 Team BC when they took a Western Canadian championship in 2019. Brooks said one of her most exciting high school sporting experiences was taking a wrestling team championship with the Ramblers. Brooks will study social work.

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• Adrian Truong will be wrestling for Simon Fraser University, and study in the faculty of science. Truong has competed at the high school provincials with the Ramblers numerous times, placing fourth each of the last two years, and also been to nationals.

• Jack Emley Graham will be attending Trinity Western University, and competing with the Spartans track and field team as a pole vaulter. He started pole vaulting in Grade 10, finishing in the top 10 at both the high school provincial championships, and the club provincials. Although competition has been interrupted by COVID-19, he continues to hit greater heights. He will study human kinetics, and hopes to later study physiotherapy.

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• Cassidy MacPherson will continue competing at the highest levels of kayak racing. She trains with the Ridge Canoe and Kayak Club, and has already raced for the junior national team. In 2019, she won two gold medals at the Canoe Kayak Canada National Championships, and competed for the country at the Olympic Hopes International Regatta in Slovakia. MacPherson has her sights set on the Paris 2024 Olympics.