NEWS RELEASES

03/05/10 - GRADES ARE IN !!
The 09/10 season has come to an end, all the final exams have been written and the grades are posted. Congratulations to the Women's soccer team on achieving the highest GPA of all teams with a 6.8, almost a B+ average. The women basketball team and the badminton team placed second and third with GPA's over a B.
Andrea Strebel (photo on left) of the women's soccer team takes the top overall student GPA title. Making the Mariner Academic Excellence list are 35 student-athletes!! Complete list (pdf) From this list several names will go forward for a national scholar award announced in June ...

12/04/10 - GOLF FUNDRAISER A HUGE SUCCESS !!
The first VIU Mariner Golf Fundraiser Tournament ran last Friday with almost 100 participants. With some help from Bruce Williams the A-News weatherman and also a member of the tournament organizing committee, the snow avoided the Nanaimo Golf Club and the sun was shining for most of the day. The event raised approx. $21,000 for Mariner Athletics !!
A big thanks to the organizing committee of Ed McDonald, Wahid Ali, George Hyrabowych, Bruce Williams, Dave Hammond, Mike Stefan and Bruce Hunter. PHOTOS
Winning team was from Harris Mazda with a score of 10 under!!
PHOTOS
More details will be posted soon.

12/04/10 - MEN'S VOLLEYBALL COACHES HIRED
Rob Barcelos and Dr. Abe Avender will be the new coaches of the VIU men's volleyball team.
Both Rob and Abe are former Mariners and have been assistant coaches with the program, they will take on this new role as Co-Coaches .
Former head coach Chris Densmore has taken on an assistant coach postion with the UBC Thunderbirds. Read more on the ISN

08/04/10 - MARINERS CELEBRATE !!
The VIU Mariners celebrated another aggregate title, wednesday night at the Coast Bastion Inn.
Major individual
award winners included Andrew Kaban and Aileen Holder winning athletes of the year, with freshman athletes of the year going to Shenise Power and Robbie Cochrane.
Read more in the NNB
Bob DeBuyssher was inducted into the Wall of Fame. Bob was instrumental in developing mariner athletics and physical education programs at Malaspina, he also coached the golf team to three provincial titles.
Three Academic All-Canadians were announced Jacqueline Doleman, Rafal Korkowski and Andrew Kaban. Achieving this award requires excellence in the classroom and being named a league all-star. PHOTO GALLERY
Receiving the VIU Mariner Academic Excellence award for top academics over the past three term went o Patrick McCarthy and Andrea Strebel.Three $500 scholarships were presented by Bruce Condie of the International Education Department, they went to International student-athletes Mike Wohlers (USA), Kryzsztof Orman(Poland) and Aki Ishimine (Japan).
Once again Mira Laurence from A News emceed, adding her sparkle to the event as she has for the past four years.
More details on all the winners posted later today !!
Read more in the NDN
.

17/03/10 - ONCE AGAIN VIU IS THE TOP ATHLETIC PROGRAM !!
For the fourth consecutive year the VIU Mariners have won the Provincial BCCAA Aggregate title.
The Aggregate Champion is the institution with the most accumulated points by each of the teams they field over the course of the competitive season.
VIU won silver medals in women's volleyball, men's basketball, badminton and men's soccer. A bronze medal went to women's basketball and for the first time in many years all Mariner teams qualified for provincials.
It was extremely close between VIU and UBC-Okanagan, just a few points made the difference.
Congratulations to all the athletes and coaches !!

19/01/10 - VIU MARINERS NOMINATED!!
The Nanaimo Sports Achievement Awards will be held at the Coast Bastion Inn on February 6th and VIU Mariners will be well represented. Jacob Thom, Brittany Knievel, Aileen Holder, Bill Merriman, Tony Bryce, Men's Basketball team and the Men's Soccer team have all been nominated !! Read more in the NNB

08/02/10 - VIU TAKES RIVALRY
A clean sweep for the volleyball teams with the men winning 3-1 and the women going 3-0 over the Camosun Chargers. Kevin Basinger had a solid match with 13 kills (67% kill efficiency and 3.25 kills/game), 2 blocks, and 2 digs. For the women Jacqueline Doleman had 12 kills while Lindsay McLoughlin had 10 to lead the M's . The Men's Basketball team cruised to a 91-57 win while the Women's team battled to the buzzer .. losing 64-62.
Head Coach Bill McWhinnie of the women's basketball team comments "We lost a hard fought game vs Camosun friday night. We didn't come out with the intensity we needed in the first half and trailed by 9 at the half. We played much better after the half leading by 5 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Down the stretch, Camosun made plays while we were unable to and that was the difference".
A good crowd turned out on friday night including high school basket teams from Dover Bay and Ballenas, cheering on the Mariners and clinching the 2010 Island Rivalry Title for the 3rd consecutive year !!
This weekend is the final regular season home games and they should be great ones!!

19/05/10 - CONGRATS VI BASEBALL INSTITUTE !!
Sunday, 16 May 2010 21:06 The Vancouver Island Baseball Institute Mariners went undefeated in the 2010 CCBC Championship tournament to take the title.
Complete tournament info visit www.bcpbl.com
In the final, they defeated the defending champion TRU WolfPack 7-4 with winning pitcher Myles Ethier throwing 6 strong innings allowing three runs, just one earned. Myles threw 15 innings in the tournament picking up two wins. The Mariners had a 7 run lead after four innings. In the semi-final game, the WolfPack defeated the Okanagan College Coyotes 12-8. Read more in the NDN or In the NNB

21/04/10 - Jr MARINER BASKETBALL PROGRAM
This year will be the inaugural year for the VIU Junior Mariners Development Program.  The program is intended to further develop the local talent in the Central Vancouver Island area.  The players will train at Vancouver Island University with Mariners coaches and players. Read More

19/04/10 - STEVE NASH YOUTH BASKETBALL
The Steve Nash Youth basketball program is underway Thursdays and Sundays at Oliver Woods Gym for children 8-12yrs old.
Out in full force coaching are current and former VIU Mariners ...Catriona Smith, Mike Seredick, Graham Giske and Mike James. Good Job !!

19/04/10 - TOP TEN CRACKED BY FIVE ATHLETES
It is getting more difficult to crack each year but five Mariners managed to add their names to the top ten all-time Mariner stats leaders. In women's basketball Brittany Knievel now owns the 5th and 6th position in the rebounding category while Katie Pearson is 6th in scoring. Men's volleyball added two new names with Krzysztof Orman in #3 for kills and #4 in aces, Rafal Korkowski took over the #10 spot in kills. The only men's basketball player to move into the top ten was Andrew Kaban with 19.2 average points a game earning him 5th place in the scoring category.
There were no changes to the all-time women's volleyball statistical leaderboard.
See all the statistical leaders dating back to the 1980's on each team page under records.

08/03/10 - VIU MEN SETTLE FOR SILVER AND DENIED THE WILDCARD!!
The VIU had a solid lead in the 3rd quarter, but UNBC got hot and VIU got cold and a 30-8 run for UNBC ended the season for the Mariners. To add further disappointment the M's did not receive a wildcard berth despite being ranked nationally #1 most of the season .... Read more in the NDN

28/01/10 -THE VIU EVENT STAFF ARE THE BEST !!

Last weekend the VIU Mariner event staff enjoyed an evening out together at the Splitsville bowling alley.
Thanks to our events staff and their leader Mike Stefan each weekend the Mariner games run smoothly . All the work the minor officials, announcers, mascots, videographers, cyberstats/dakstats technicians, gate people ....needs to be applauded !!

05/01/10 - 39 MAKE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE LIST
The badminton team had an impressive semester with an average GPA of 7.0, taking the title of Top Academic Team, placing 8 of its 13 players on the Mariner Academic Excellence list.
Women's soccer and both basketball teams were a close second and third!!
Men's Basketball player Patrick McCarthy achieved the Top GPA of all Mariner Athletes. Complete list (pdf) Congratulations to all those that made the list. Keep up the good work.

17/12/09 - HIGH SCHOOL ISLAND ALL-STARS SELECTED!!
The 2009 VIU High School All-Star games are set for Saturday, Jan 9th with the Men's game at about 2:30pm and the Women's at 3:30pm. A selection committee, consisting of various college and high school coaches have selected the outstanding high school volleyball players from Vanouver Island. The All-Stars will participate in a camp run by Mariner coaches and athletes from 11am-1:30pm then compete in the feature games.
List of players

12/01/10 - MICHAEL RHODE
"Rhodesie" Will Always be Remembered
VIU Mariner Athletics offers our sincere condolences to the family, friends and co-workers of Michael Rhode. Michael was a dedicated reporter who did innumerable things to promote amateur sport in Nanaimo. He was a great supporter of the Mariner program faithfully following and writing stories on all the various sports at VIU.  I can't remember how many conversations I had with Michael, many of them late at night or on the weekends. Rhodsie was always eager for information and he faithfully reported on all amateur sport in Nanaimo said Bruce Hunter, VIU Athletic Director.   He will be missed by everyone in the Mariner family. complete NDN story
Prior to the start of the men's basketball game this friday night Michael will be recognized by a moment of silence in his honour .
Proceeds from this weekends games will be donated to the Rhode Family Trust
Celebration of Life on Saturday ..Read more

12/01/10 - MEN'S BASKETBALL #1 IN CANADA !!
The VIU Men's Basketball has taken over the #1 national ranking in the CCAA.
All VIU teams are ranked in the top ten ... women's basketball #4 , men's volleyball #5, women's volleyball #7 and badminton #9.
This is an incredible accomplishment, making VIU probably the top athletic program in the CCAA !!

12/01/10 - MARINERS featured in NEW Island Sports Net!!
For all the local Vancouver Island sports you can handle go to the Island Sports Network at www.islandsportsnews.net.
Currently featuring several stories on VIU Athletics !!

04/01/10 - WOMEN'S BASKETBALL WINS TOURNAMENT
Three consecutive wins for the women's basketball team at the 09 Xmas Camosun tournament looked like this ... VIU 70 Kwantlen 62, VIU 74 Capilano 63, VIU 110 NWIC 47.
Brittany Knievel was named tournaments most outstanding player and a new team record of 73 team rebounds in a game was set in the NWIC game!!
The team departs this week for a tournament in Alberta hosted at Mount Royal.
Good Luck M's ! Read more in the NDN

02/12/09 - PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLAR ATHLETES!!


The VIU Athletic Department is extremely proud of its 9 Presidential Scolar Athletes. Each Athlete received a tuition scholarship for achieving high standards in their academics and as an elite athlete.
Video
From left to right in photo above .. Jan Engel - Men's Volleyball, Heather McCarthy - Women's Basketball, Pat Thompson - Badminton, Emily Nicholson - Women's Soccer, Luke Couture - Badminton, Sarah Fraser - Women's Basketball, Patrick McCarthy - Men's Basketball, Danni Smith - Women's Volleyball , VIU President Ralph Nilson. Missing Robin Ellis - Men's Soccer. Soon all VIU Athletes will be writing their Xmas exams and we will see who makes the Mariner Academic Excellence list ?? Last year VIU student-athletes had more than twice as many National scholars than any other BCCAA school... 26 in total !!

01/12/09 - M's REIGN OVER ROYALS!!
Read it in the NNB

01/12/09 - 3 M's Named BCCAA Athletes of the Week!!
Lindsay McLoughlin of the women's volleyball team, Mike Wohlers of the men's basketball team and Katie Pearson of the women's basketball team have been recognized by the provincial association for having outstanding performances this past weekend.
Lindsay was a dominant force this past weekend verses a strong Douglas College team. On Friday Lindsay tallied 19 kills, 3 aces for a total of 22 offensive points. Defensively she also contributed 16 digs. On Saturday she continued her strong play with 15 kills, 1 block and 8 digs. Her weekend totals in only 6 sets were 34 kills, 1 block, 3 aces for a total of 38 offensive points. Defensively she had 24 digs in 6sets.
Katie had a very good overall weekend this weekend in leading VIU in two victories at Douglas College. On Friday, Katie scored 16 points, had 5 rebounds and 4 assists in only 21 minutes in a 70-42 victory. On Saturday, Katie had 11 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in a 71-30 victory. Along with her stats Katie, as she has been all year, was terrific defensively..
Mike Wohlers is in his third year, but first with Mariners basketball.  Mike has been a huge reason for our early success this season.  This past weekend was no exception. Douglas played very well this past weekend and shot the ball exceptionally well.  It was a battle to get out of there with 2 wins, and in large part it was due to the play of Wohlers.  He gives us an outside presence that extend defenses and allow our big men up front to go to work inside.
In Friday nights victory, Wohlers led the VIU attack with 20 points, incuding 12 in the second half.  Saturday he bounced back with another solid performance with 26 points on 9/17 shooting, including 5/8 from beyond the arc and 3/4 from the line.

29/11/09 - MEN'S BBALL & VBALL UNDEFEATED
Both Men's teams remain undefeated at 7-0 after two more wins on the weekend.
Men's volleyball took on the Douglas Royals at home and won 3-1 stats link on Friday and Saturday, men's basketball defeated Douglas on the road 75-69 and 92-83. Coach Bryce comments .The women's teams also have impressive records of 6-1 with women's volleyball sweeping Douglas 3-0 both days and women's basketball crushing Douglas on their home court 70-42 and 70-30.
Coach Densmore Comments also read more in the NDN

23/11/09 - MARINERS WIN RIVALRY - phase 1
Phase one of the Island Rivalry goes to VIU with three solid performances by the M's and their fans !! Friday and Saturday night the VIU gym was packed with crazy fans wearing all the finest VIU Nation gear. Several fans went home with great prizes and some even had some cash from the roll in the dough event, thanks to sponsor Steve Johnston at Galaxy Motors.
PHOTOS!!
Phase 2 of the the Rivalry will take place in Victoria next semester.
The teams didn't let the fans down with Volleyball taking both matches, the women won 3-1 and the men shut out Camosun 3-0. Read more in the NDN. The basketball evening began with a surprise loss to the Camosun women 60-49, but the men made up for it with by crushing the Chargers 90-52.Read more in the NNB
All the stats are posted on cybersports and dakstats below.
Coach Bryce comments on men's basketball game

19/10/09 - CALLING ALL VIU RUNNERS !!
Are you a VIU Student and enjoy running?? Would you be interested in representing VIU in a variety of runs ?? Then ... VIU Athletics would like to hear from you.
Contact Athletic Director Bruce Hunter Bruce.Hunter@viu.ca or Call 250-740-6402

26/08/09 - COMMUNITY SAVINGS CARD
The VIU Community Savings Card has arrived!! The card is only $15 with all proceeds supporting Mariner Athletes. This card will pay for itself many times over with a variety of useful discounts. Cards are available at the Athletics Office upstairs in the VIU Gymnasium or by contacting Claudette Dodd @ 250-740-6413.
A limited ## of cards are available, so get yours soon. . More details

01/12/09 - MEN'S BASKETBALL #2 NATIONALLY!!
The Mariner men's basketball team moved from 4 up to 2 today in the CCAA ranking. Also moving up in the rankings women's basketball 9 to 8, the volleyball teams remained the same with women's volleyball at 7 and men's volleyball at 6.

17/11/09 - ISLAND RIVALRY 2009
This weekend the VIU fans and VIU Mariners will look to complete the threepeat and defend the 3rd Annual Island Rivalry Title. Join us in the VIU gym for two great nights of excitement.
Great prizes both night !! Unable to make it to the game ...follow all the action on a
LIVE VIDEO Webcast.
Links to Volleyball scoring
Women's Volleyball game
Men's Volleyball game
Links to Basketball scoring
Women's Basketball game
Men's Basketball game

30/09/09 - LIFE IS GOOD ...!!
Read more in the NDN

22/09/09 - VIU MARINER CAPTAINS SET SAIL!!
The VIU Mariners have set sail on another winning season. All captains are onboard and ready to guide the VIU Mariner ship to a 4th consecutive BCCAA aggregate award.
The 09-10 VIU Mariner captains are:
Aileen Holder, Jacqueline Doleman (women’s volleyball), Mike Clark (badminton), Patrick McCarthy, Joel Bron (men’s basketball), Chris Arnett, Brant Losch (men’s soccer), Aileen Holder (women’s soccer), Josh Logan (golf), Nigel Proch, Carson Kauenhowen (men's volleyball), Katie Pearson, Catriona Smith (women’s basketball).

13/11/09 - BASKETBALL CYBERSTATS
This weekend we will be webcasting the live stats of the Mariner Basketball games.
Links below. Next week we will be broadcasting LIVE video of the Island Rivalry Volleyball and Basketball games Nov 20-21.
Congrats to the Basketball teams that are now nationally ranked #4 men and #5 women !!
Webcast link to Saturday's men's game

Webcast link to Saturday's women's game

Webcast link to Fridays women's game

Webcast link to Fridays men's game

09/11/09 - BASKETBALL HOME OPENERS !!
After a successful first weekend of league games on the road, its time for league play to begin on home court.
Friday night there will be a
$$$$ Shootout for CASH $$$
at the half time of the men's game.
The VIU Mariner men's and women's basketball team went 4-0 on the weekend against Quest -U. 83-52 on Friday and 88-75 on Saturday wins for the men and 55-44 and 69-67 for the gals.
Read more in the NNB
Coach Bryce's comments
The Langara Falcons are in town this weekend and their women went 0-2 and the guys split this past weekend versus UNBC.

09/11/09 - GOOD FIRST WEEKEND FOR VOLLEYBALL !!
The Men's team went 3-1 (20-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-22) in Fridays game followed by Saturdays 3-2 STATS (21-25, 18-25, 25-21, 25-16, 17-15) nail biter, battling back for the win after dropping the first two games.Coaches Comments
The women struggled with a depleted line-up due to the flu lost 3-1 (STATS) in Friday's match, but managed to find the magic on Saturday to win 3-1(STATS).
All stats posted are unofficial. Coaches Comments
Read more in the NDN

09/11/09 - ALL MARINERS NATIONALLY RANKED
Mariners crack the top ten national rankings in the first posting of the CCAA rankings on Nov 3rd!!
Women's volleyball has the highest ranking at #4 followed by women's basketball at #5, then men's volleyball #6 and men's basketball at #7.
What will this weeks rankings be ?? Check the CCAA site at CCAA Rankings

09/11/09 - MARINER MEN'S VOLLEYBALL OUTLOOK
Read it in the NNB
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23/10/09 - VIU MARINER SPECIAL EVENTS
Over 300 VIU students enjoyed a free BBQ last week. Blue Thunder was in fine form dazzling the crowd with his moves and DJ Matt Carter informed everyone on upcoming VIU events like the ISLAND RIVALRY, PROVINCIAL BASKETBALL and BADMINTON CHAMPIONSHIPS ....plus playing all the right tunes.
Join the Nation !! Home openers for Volleyball only two weeks away !!
Read more in the NNB

03/10/09 - NATIONAL SCHOLARS
Read it on "A Point of VIU"

21/09/09 - SOCCER ENJOYING BEST SEASON EVER!!
Still both soccer teams are undefeated after each team has played 4 league games. The teams made the long journey to Prince George, with the women settling for a 2-2 tie, while the men recorded a 1-0 win, thanks to a first minute goal by Jared Stephens. Currently the women have 3 wins and a tie while the men have 2 wins and 2 ties This week they face the Capilano Blues and Langara Falcons on the road. Read More ...

16/09/09 - VIU SOCCER AWARDED BOTH
BCCAA ATHLETES OF THE WEEK !!
Robbie Cochrane and Aileen Holder have been named BCCAA athletes of the week. Robbie recorded two shutouts, leading the league in lowest GA and Aileen scored the winning goal versus UBCO and scored again in the TRU game, both goals coming off headers from corner kicks. CONGRATS !! Read more (pdf)
The VIU Women's Soccer team is ranked #10 in CANADA !! CCAA Rankings

24/08/09 - SUMMER CAMPS - building champions!!
The 2009 VIU summer camps have been training the champions of tomorrow in the VIU gym and the Mariner field. Basketball and soccer camps have completed but volleyball camps are yet to go. Here are a few photos of whats been happening !!
Click Here

18/08/09 - NEW GYM LIGHTING !!
Read it in the NDN