The VIU Mariners fourth consecutive CCAA women's volleyball national championship headlines an impressive year of sports accomplishments in Nanaimo and the central Island. (VIU Mariners)

By Dan Marshall

Best of 2022

Top Stories of 2022: Championships and records, Nanaimo athletes take centre stage

Dec 26, 2022 | 9:25 AM

NANAIMO — Every sport in the Harbour City was modified or shutdown for parts of 2020 and 2021, b ut competition made a triumphant return this year.

The VIU women’s volleyball team continued to add to it’s legacy winning a fourth straight national title in March. In the summer the Mariners were also announced as the host team for the 2023 CCAA national tournament.

As the year came to a close VIU was ranked number one in Canada as they prepare to go after an unprecedented fifth straight national championship.

Aside from the national championship in volleyball, VIU also hosted the CCAA women’s basketball nationals in March. The Mariners lost out 76-71 in overtime to NAIT in the gold medal game.

VIU’s men also had an excellent season winning a PACWEST provincial title.

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There were more provincial championships for the institution in the fall with the men’s and women’s soccer teams capturing PACWEST gold medals in late October.

It was an uncertain start to 2022 for the Nanaimo Clippers but the final seven months of the year were extremely successful.

In February, Nanaimo’s coaches took a leave of absence which disrupted an otherwise strong run of play.

A month later, assistant coach Colin Birkas was promoted to head coach and general manager and the team caught fire.

Nanaimo won 12 straight playoff games before falling short to Penticton in the Fred Page Cup final.

The year also brought in new ownership as Brad Kwong took over operations of the team in June and on the ice during this current season the Clippers were in first place in the Coastal Division heading into the BCHL Christmas break.

After two years of delays because of COVID-19 the Nanaimo NightOwls played their inaugural West Coast League baseball season out of Serauxmen Stadium.

The NightOwls finished 10-18 but ended their first season on a five game winning streak.

Serauxmen Stadium went through several renovations in order to host WCL games and had more than 60,000 people attend games in their first season.

In May, the Nanaimo Senior A Timbermen returned to the floor after a two year absence and had their best season ever.

At the end of the regular season Nanaimo finished in a historic four way tie for first place with a 12-6 record.

They won their first ever playoff series with a four game sweep against the Coquitlam Adanacs before losing in five games in the league final to Langley.

Some of the major local individual accomplishments of 2022 included Olivia Lundman’s Canadian record in the 10,000 metre race walk set in early February.

She broke a 35-year-old U20 standard and qualified for the 2022 race walk World Championship.

Lundman captured the Canadian record in her first official attempt at the 10,000 metre distance.

Nanoose Bay golfer Shelly Stouffer reached number one on the world 50 plus amateur golf rankings in June.

Her notable results in 2022 included a second place finish at the B.C. Mid Amateur in Chase, winning the B.C. Senior Women’s title at Fairwinds and capturing the Pacific Northwest Senior Women’s Amateur Championship in central Washington.

In August Ethan Katzberg recorded a personal best to win a silver medal in the hammer throw at the 2022 Commonwealth games in England.

His throw of 76.73 metres beat his previous best by two full metres.

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