Bison briefs
Romer Bautista, Staff
Bison swim team restructures their program
The Manitoba Bison swimming program will undergo changes that will allow them to provide avenues for provincial swimmers to develop into high-level swimmers by starting at a young age and at the same time keep them from leaving the province.
The change will see Bison Sports become the primary funder of the program. Over the past 20 years, the program has been funded by Sport Manitoba and only administered by the University of Manitoba.
The new program will have three components. The first level starts with the Bison children’s program, which is expected to have a pool of 7,000 participants. From this program, 800 swimmers will move on to the Learn To Swim stream, while other swimmers will move on to the Mini Bison program. The second level will be more competitive, and will consist of the Youth Bisons program, the Junior Bisons program, and university level swimming. Swimmers who excel at this second level will then be funneled into the third level, which will strive to develop swimmers into Olympic-level performers.
The program is similar to the ones employed by top university teams at the University of British Columbia, the University of Calgary and Université Laval.
The changes are expected to take effect in September.
In addition to announcing the new structure of the program, the Bison swim team also announced that Vlastik Cerney will continue as head coach of the team for his 16th season.
Kristjan Hunter to represent Team Canada
Bison cross-country runner Kristjan Hunter was one of 11 runners to be selected to represent Team Canada at the 2008 World University Cross Country Championships in France. He will be joined by five other men and women, all of whom were chosen by the CIS.
Hunter had a terrific cross-country season this year. He won three races during the season, finished second at the CIS national championships, was named a first-team Canada West and CIS all-star and was awarded the Canada West men’s cross-country athlete of the year award.
The World University Cross-Country Championships brings together top university athletes from around the world every two years. A total of 168 athletes from 15 different countries participated in 2006 when the event was held in Morocco.
Three Bison football players selected to participate in 2008 East-West Bowl
Receiver Simon Blaszczak, kicker Scott Dixon and defensive lineman Don Oramasionwu from the Bison football team were selected to represent the West team in the 2008 East-West Bowl to be held at McMaster University on May 10.
The three will also have a familiar voice barking out commands to them from the sidelines, as Bison football head coach Brian Dobie will be patrolling the West sidelines as the team’s head coach.
The objective of the East-West Bowl is to showcase future CFL stars to scouts, coaches and fans. Players, who are eligible for the 2009 CFL draft, are selected to the team by a committee of CIS and CFL coaches and scouts. All 27 CIS teams are represented at the game.