Red Deer Polytechnic Athletics has announced its RDP Athletes of the Week:
1. Sandra Garcia-Bernal
Hometown: Valencia, Spain
Educational Assistant (4th year)
What a week it was for Sandra Garcia-Bernal and the Queens Basketball program. It all started on Thursday afternoon at 1 pm when they took on the Keyano College Huskies, who defeated them earlier in the season. But the Queens managed to get some revenge as they were able to come out victorious over the Huskies when it mattered most. Garcia-Bernal led her team in points with 19 and contributed seven steals and four assists.
Next up was the Briercrest College Clippers, whom the Queens defeated in back-to-back games in January. It was quite the match. But the Queens stayed strong and ran out the clock to move on to the championship final with a 66-63 win. The Spanish guard contributed just five points, five rebounds and six assists but was a workhorse on both sides of the court as she played 31 minutes.
Sandra was a huge piece to the puzzle in the win on Saturday night to claim the program’s sixth championship gold medal. She played all 40 minutes of the game and put up 18 points, seven steals, eight assists and 12 rebounds. She not only won a gold medal for the first time in her career but was also awarded the Tournament MVP, which was well-deserved.
Congratulations Sandra and we look forward to cheering you and the Queens next week as you head off to nationals in Hamilton, ON.
2. Jared Reay
Hometown: Delburne, AB
Educational Assistant (1st year)
First off, welcome to the team, Jared. We are glad you could join the Mixed Curling Club at the Polytechnic this semester.
The Delburne native has been competing with RDP since the start of the winter semester. He made his debut at the Winter Regional hosted by Concordia University in Edmonton where he and his team posted a 3-2 record which was good enough for first place after both bonspiels had concluded. The Polytechnic went into last weekend’s championship as the number one seed but after a rough start, the Mixed team found themselves in a hole which is when Jared’s leadership and composure were evident.
With his calm and level demeanour, Jared helped settle down the mixed team after a nervous start which resulted in some of their best curling of the year. After losing to the Lakeland College Rustlers on the last rock to get to the gold medal game, they were quite disappointed but did an incredible job bouncing back to win bronze which is a huge accomplishment for this all-rookie team.
Congratulations to Jared and the Mixed Curling Team on a job well done this past weekend. We look forward to the next curling season!
