St. James Jimmies return to WIT after 20 years

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/01/2014 (4513 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Invitational Tournament (WIT) is a familiar event to many athletes across the city, but the St. James Collegiate Jimmies haven’t been in attendance since the late 1980s.

The 39th annual Winnipeg Invitational Tournament (WIT) is currently underway at Technical Vocational High School (1555 Wall St.) having started Jan. 15 and running until Jan. 18. The four-day-long basketball  tournament invited 10 teams to participate.

On Jan. 15, the St. James Jimmies played against St. Paul’s Crusaders, and lost with a score of 59-94. The next day, the Jimmies played against the Dakota Lancers, and lost again with a score of 35-70.

Ryan Kangas, St. James Collegiate phys-ed teacher, department head, and varsity boys basketball coach was excited to bring his team to the WIT after a long break.

“This is (St. James Collegiate’s) first time in the WIT in over 20 years,” Kangas said when The Metro spoke to him on the first day of the tournament.

Kangas said his team is ranked in the AAA top 10, meaning they had a lot to prove, since most of the teams in the WIT are AAAA.

“It’d be an interesting test for the guys to see how they stack up against the best teams in the province,” Kangas said.

Going into the tournament, Jimmies shooting guard Jordan Murdock was looking forward to showing the other athletes that his team is a force to be reckoned with.

“It feels very exciting knowing we can play against quad-A teams, because they usually underestimate triple-A teams,” Murdock, a Grade 12 student, said.

Murdock said his team’s strengths include overall athleticism and their ability to run up and down the court, but also added they needed to work on their defence.

This year’s 10 teams are the Tec Voc Hornets, St. James Jimmies, Sisler Spartans, Kelvin Clippers, St. Paul’s Crusaders, the MBCI (Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute) Hawks, Glenlawn Collegiate Lions, Dakota Collegiate Lancers, Sir Winston Churchill Trojans, and Garden City Fighting Gophers.

Garth McAlpine, Tec Voc teacher librarian and chairperson of the WIT organizing committee, said Tec Voc is always in the tournament, as the school has been hosting WIT for the past 30-plus years.

“We have the facilities to host a tournament of that magnitude, and it was a good opportunity for a lot of our vocational programs to get involved and showcase some of the other things it offers,” McAlpine said.

For example, the school’s media arts department is broadcasting the tournament live on the Internet at www.tecvoc.ca/wit/2014

The Jimmies are expected to play again today at 3 p.m. against the Tec Voc Hornets.

Money raised from ticket sales go back towards the WIT so that the tournament can keep going year after year.

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