UNews - Apollo Hess

Olympic dreams realized for Bosch and Crozon

trevor.kenney — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 14:50:42 +0000

Basketball players part of large ULethbridge contingent headed to Paris Olympics

Could it really happen any other way? Kacie Bosch (BA ’20) and Paige Crozon punched their ticket to the Paris Olympics in the most dramatic of ways, winning the bronze medal match in the final 3x3 women’s basketball Olympic qualifying tournament. After years of crossing the globe, jumping through qualifying hoops and racking up win after win as the world’s top-rated 3x3 team, they are Paris bound.

“It doesn’t really feel real yet,” says Crozon, who along with Bosch is an assistant coach for the Pronghorns women’s basketball team. “We’ve been preparing the last five years for this, just hoping and wishing we’d get this opportunity. I’m so proud of our team and the resilience we showed to even get to this point, and we are honoured to play amongst these women in Paris.”

Kacie Bosch, left, and Paige Crozon, middle, celebrate with teammates Michelle and Katherine Plouffe after they clinched their spot in the Paris Olympics.

The duo, who will compete alongside Olympic veterans Michelle and Katherine Plouffe, earned their spot in Paris the hard way. They fell one win short at an Olympic qualifying event in Japan, then needed a top-three finish in Hungary to secure their Olympic berth, only to lose a semifinal game to Spain on a fluke shot in the last second. It set up a winner-take-all match against the home Hungary side, and while they easily dispatched the hosts, the adversity they faced is seen as welcome experience.

“That loss to Australia in Japan was devastating for our group and we were really disheartened. We wanted to come home, come back to our families and have more time to train for Paris and instead we had four days at home and it was back on the road for another qualifier,” says Crozon.

Bosch says the experience of the Plouffe twins guided their emotions through the nerve-wracking final qualifying tournament. They also refocused their sights on what truly guides their success — having fun.

“The pressure was on, and we started to focus on the outside noise, like who was refereeing and what might happen if we lost and that’s not good for us,” says Bosch. “That’s not how we play our best ball. When we have joy, when we’re laughing and joking before we run on the court, that’s what makes us play well.”

With their spot now secure, the focus is on gearing up for Paris. The Olympics begin July 24, with the 3x3 basketball tourney running July 30 through Aug. 5. While Bosch rehabilitates a litany of knee injuries, Crozon is playing with Canada on the FIBA professional circuit. The group will reconvene in Toronto for a short training camp and head to Paris a week before their Olympic opener.

“I’m a very emotional person, so I’m already picturing us wearing our Canada jerseys and competing for our country,” says Bosch. “It’s such a huge tournament and to have friends and family there who have been supporting me since the start of my career is going to be amazing. It’s a full-circle moment — everybody has worked so hard to get to this point, and I’m so thankful for all the people behind the scenes who have supported and pushed and been practice players for us and sacrificed their time. Putting that jersey on is just an amalgamation of everybody’s efforts.”

Crozon eyes the opportunity with gratitude and joy.

“To share this with all the individuals who have helped us get to this point is something I’m really looking forward to,” she says. “It will be a big stage, but it doesn’t change why I play basketball because I just love to play. I feel free and so much joy playing basketball, so I don’t think the stage matters, I’m just excited to have another opportunity to play the game I love with everybody I care about.”

As far as who they will meet in Paris, there are no surprises. All the world’s best teams will be there, and they have faced each other many times on the professional circuit. They fear nobody.

“We’ve faced every team multiple times in games that have come down to the last few seconds, overtime games, we’ve gone through the gauntlet,” says Bosch. “All the things we’ve had to overcome, that’s our advantage going into Paris.”

Pronghorns in Paris

Pronghorns track coach Larry Steinke (BA ’94) has been running the most prominent throws program in U SPORTS for years and has been consistently involved with Canada's elite athletes at the international level. He is excited to make his sixth Olympic appearance and says this may prove to be the most memorable yet.

“It’s always an honour to represent Canada at the international level. This one will be unique, as each one is, but we go in with the best Team Canada we have ever had in track and field, including six world champions. Without a doubt it will be a special Olympics in that regard,” says Steinke, who will serve as Team Coach.

Another team member serving as mission staff is Ryan Sommer (BA '16) who competed for Steinke as a shot put specialist for the Horns from 2011-2016. After leaving ULethbridge, he turned his sights to bobsled and represented Canada at the 2022 Beijing Olympics where he won bronze in the four-man bobsled. Meanwhile, Mike Tamura (BA), who competed for the Horns in judo in the 1980s, will serve as Judo sport director in Paris.

As well, former Pronghorns swimmer Apollo Hess and cyclist Sarah Orban (BA ’18) will compete for Canada in Paris.

Hess swam for the Horns for two seasons, winning gold in the 200-metre and 50-metre breaststroke at the 2022 U SPORTS Championships where he was named U SPORTS Rookie of the Year. After another outstanding 2023 season, he moved to Toronto to join the High Performance Centre. Hess is a member of the Kainai Nation, and the first Blood Tribe member and swimmer of Indigenous descent to participate in the Olympics.

Orban played Horns women’s soccer and ran track while at ULethbridge. In 2017, she participated in the RBC Training Ground program and won the Alberta Regional Final, sparking interest from the national skeleton and cycling teams. She chose to focus on cycling and was named to the national team 18 months later. She won team sprint gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and bronze at the 2023 Pan American Games. Orban graduated with a double major in kinesiology and psychology.

See this story to learn about Kacie Bosch's journey as a student in the Faculty of Education

Olympic Competition Schedule (All times MDT)

Kacie Bosch & Paige Crozon (Women's 3X3 Basketball)

Tuesday, July 30 — 10 a.m. vs. Australia
Wednesday, July 31 — 10 a.m. vs. China
Thursday, Aug. 1 — 1:30 a.m. vs. Germany
Thursday, Aug. 1 — 2 p.m. vs. France
Friday, Aug. 2 — 10 a.m. vs. USA
Friday, Aug. 2 — 1 p.m. vs. Spain
Saturday, Aug. 3 — 9:30 a.m. vs. Azerbaijan
Monday, Aug. 5 — Playoffs (TBD)

Apollo Hess (Men's Swimming, 4x100-metre medley relay)

Friday, Aug. 2 — 3 a.m. (Heats)
Saturday, Aug. 3 — 3 a.m. (Heats)
Sunday, Aug. 4 — Finals (TBD)

Sarah Orban (Women's Team Sprint Track Cycling)

Monday, Aug. 5 — 9 a.m. (Qualifying)
Monday, Aug. 5 — 10:55 a.m. (First Round)
Monday, Aug. 5 — Finals (TBD)

Horns take advantage of home pool at historic Canada West championships

trevor.kenney — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 23:35:45 +0000

The Pronghorns swim teams put on a show for their home crowd as the 2022 Canada West Swimming Championships took over the Max Bell Regional Aquatic Centre this weekend. For the first time in program history, the Horns came away with a medal haul in the double digits, hitting the conference podium 10 times over the three-day event.

Pronghorns Apollo Hess was named the top swimmer of the meet in sweeping gold in the men's breaststroke events.

The Pronghorns also captured some major awards, as head coach Peter Schori was named the Canada West Men’s Coach of the Year, while second-year swimmer Apollo Hess was named the Men’s Swimmer of the Meet and Canada West Swimmer of the Year.

Schori says while the weekend was really about showcasing the Pronghorns program, he was honoured by the recognition.

“I’m super, super proud. Coach of the Year usually goes to the winning men’s or women’s team, and it’s voted on by the coaches, so for all my peers to recognize me, that’s great,” says Schori.

The meet began with a bang on Friday, as Hess swam a blazing 26.63 in both the qualifier and the final of the 50-metre breaststroke to break his own Canadian record and capture his first gold of the weekend. Hess swept the breaststroke golds for the men, also topping the podium in the 100-metre and 200-metre events.

Schori says the weekend from Hess was yet another step in the impressive progression he’s seen over the swimmer’s time with the Horns.

“He’s been our leader, really since he got here, certainly in terms of his performances and more and more now in terms of his character and leadership,” says Schori.

Pronghorns rookie Tristan Bennett got in on the breaststroke hardware action too, taking bronze in Friday’s 50-metre final with a time of 27.74 seconds, a provincial record for 18-year-old male swimmers.

Veteran Chris Alexander collected a trio of individual medals, grabbing a silver in Friday’s 50-metre backstroke final, followed by a bronze in Saturday’s 50-metre freestyle and a second silver in Sunday’s 100-metre backstroke.

In one of the upsets of the weekend, Raine Arden captured gold in Saturday’s 200-metre freestyle final. Arden was seeded fourth heading into the race, but got out to a blazing start off the block and held off a pair of Calgary Dinos racers with a 1:48.42 finish.

Arden joined Hess, Alexander and Parker Brown as a formidable relay front on both Saturday and Sunday night, as the group raced to bronze in the 400-metre freestyle relay and silver in the 400-metre medley relay.

Schori says the extra boost from the home crowd was felt all weekend by his swimmers.

“We have a super strong program right now, especially on the men’s side, and we wanted to show that off at home. You could see it on the swimmers’ faces, what it felt like when they were marching out and how uplifting that was,” he says.

The men would complete the weekend third overall, while the women placed sixth, both good for the highest finish in program history. The Calgary Dinos topped the team podium on the men’s side, with the UBC Thunderbirds finishing first for the women.

The Horns currently have 11 swimmers qualified for USPORTS championships in February, hosted by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Victoria.

Pronghorns sprint way into national swimming spotlight

trevor.kenney — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 18:59:50 +0000

The common sports cliché says a typical season isn’t a sprint but a marathon — not so for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns swim program where every day is about the sprint. This niche focus on sprint distances has propelled the Horns to the top of the podium at the national level and served notice that the path to gold now winds through Lethbridge.

Pronghorns' swimmer Apollo Hess is one of the marquee attractions heading into the Canada West meet.

This weekend, the Horns will put their well-earned reputation as a new sprint power to the test when they serve as hosts for the Canada West Swim Championships at the Max Bell Regional Aquatic Centre.

“It’s exciting, and very different; we’re normally used to being the ones who have to chase people down and now we’re the team they’re all trying to chase down,” says fourth-year backstroker Chris Alexander, who won bronze in the 50-metre backstroke at last year’s USPORTS nationals. “The success we had last year, we were quite shocked with what happened. We showed up to the USPORTS meet with just four guys and there were other teams that had 18 guys and we were able to come out on top.”

Alexander, along with Apollo Hess, Raine Arden and Parker Brown, blistered their way to a national championship in the 4x100-metre medley relay and followed that performance with a silver medal win in the 4x100-metre freestyle relay, despite the fact only two of the four are freestyle specialists.

The Horns’ fate has them swimming in the Canada West deep end with perennial USPORTS powers ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia and ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary. These are big programs in big cities that boast national team ties and complete rosters that compete across all swim disciplines. The Horns know they can’t match that quantity of swimmers, so they focus on the sprint distances — and they do it well.

“From a team ranking standpoint, we’re never going to be able to compete across the board because we simply can’t cover all those bases. If our team were to get to third or fourth in terms of points, that would be pretty significant,” says head coach Peter Schori. “What we tell swimmers when we’re recruiting is that ULethbridge is the right place academically and then we focus on what we can give them in terms of an athletic experience, whether that’s an opportunity to find success as part of a relay or in specific sprint areas. I think our reputation has grown in recent years and we’ve given kids in Western Canada another option beyond the big schools to think about.”

Sprinkle in the country’s fastest breaststroke specialist, lightning bolt Apollo Hess, and the Horns are garnering attention. Rookie swimmer Ryenne Katterhagen, who specializes in breaststroke, chose ULethbridge for many reasons. The Calgary product wanted to get away from home for her post-secondary experience and in addition to the smaller school, smaller city lifestyle she sought, the personal, individualized support environment appealed to her.

After winning national gold in the medley relay last season, the Horns are now the team to beat.

“It’s all about support and sharing here and the atmosphere around the team and the school is just a very supportive and fun environment,” she says. “I’ve learned a lot just from watching what Apollo does, how he trains, what he does in practice and then I try and incorporate that into my own work. To see the success he has had is really motivating.”

And now the bar has been set, both in terms of aspiring for excellence and the dedication, accountability and commitment it takes to get there. The Horns men’s team enters the Canada West meet ranked 5th in the country, while the women’s team is 10th nationally and has been consistently among the top 10 all season.

“In the past I think we’d had some issues with some people not buying into the goals we were setting as a team. Last year really set the standard and we’re seeing that picked up by everyone this year,” says Alexander, a Lethbridge Amateur Swim Club product who chose to stay home to swim for the Horns. “It’s not something that just happens, we have to stay on top of it but watching the rookies and how they’ve adapted, it’s exciting to see what they’re capable of and what’s coming.”

The Canada West meet begins Friday afternoon with sessions at 4 and 5:30 p.m. On Saturday, the sessions run at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., while Sunday’s closing session go at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Schori says the action for local fans begins Friday night with Hess as the marquee attraction.

“Apollo was the Canada West male swimmer of the year and rookie of the year last season and is the Canadian record holder in the men’s 50-metre breaststroke and he’ll be racing that on Friday night,” says Schori. “So, there’s a chance to see the fastest man in Canadian history swim that event, which is pretty cool.”

Alexander holds all the Horns backstroke records and he’ll also swim for gold Friday night, while Katterhagen and teammate Hunter Stewardson lead the women’s team as top-10 ranked swimmers in the 50 and 100-metre breaststroke. Saturday and Sunday late sessions present the thrilling relay events.

“Those events are when you literally need the earplugs because it gets crazy in here,” says Schori. “This place isn’t built to quiet the sound, it bounces off the walls and really raises the energy level of everyone. If we have a big home crowd here making some noise for our Horns athletes, that’ll be really awesome.”

UNews - Apollo Hess

Olympic dreams realized for Bosch and Crozon

Related Topics

Horns take advantage of home pool at historic Canada West championships

Related Topics

Pronghorns sprint way into national swimming spotlight

Related Topics