DORIAN GEIGER
Sports Editor

Though the Huskies men’s and women’s basketball teams were the undisputed champions when it came to turning heads of late, the Dogs had a very successful season.

Rewinding on the past year’s Canada West campaign, the Sheaf recounts the top five Huskies Athletics moments of 2009-10.

5: Women’s wrestling

Dogs get worldly wrestling recognition
In her final season of Canadian Interuniversity Sport contention, Jill Gallays once again proved she’s the best varsity wrestler of her weight class in Canada after claiming a gold medal at the national championships in Calgary on March 6.

Though the medal is one of many the decorated Huskies athlete has collected in her CIS career, Gallays wraps up the No. 5 spot on the top moments list for her worldly and Olympic ambitions.

On March 23 Gallays departed for the 10th World Cup of Women’s Wrestling in China where she will compete alongside the best wrestling talent from across the globe.

Captain of the Saskatchewan wrestling squad, Gallays captured gold in the 55-kilogram weight class in Calgary and will look to add herself to the exclusive club of Huskies Olympians when she attempts to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London after her Chinese endeavour.

4: Men’s and women’s track and field

Top-five Dogs
What do the Huskies men’s and women’s track and field programs have in common? They’re both top-five in Canada.

At the CIS championships in Windsor, Ont., in March, the women’s team claimed fifth in the country and the men managed to come away with a fourth place finish.

The Huskies track and field program has been nothing short of phenomenal in past years and consistently steals the show in Canada West and holds its own at the national level.

As for individual Huskies track athletes, pole vaulting brothers Taylor and Dillon Petrucha shattered record after record all season and snatched up a silver and bronze, respectively, in Windsor.

Also, Huskies pentathlon athlete Chris Crossley is up for Male Athlete of the Year at the upcoming Huskies Salute for his national championship performance which set a new CIS record with a 4,126-point score. With the impressive score, Crossley becomes only the second CIS pentathlete to ever surpass the 4,000-point barrier.

3: The ”˜Rush’ of bobsledding

Huskies at the Olympics
Though not technically within the realm of CIS athletics, Huskies football alumnus Lyndon Rush is currently able to say he’s one of the best bobsledders in the world after winning a bronze medal in the four-man event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Rush, the pilot of the four-man sled that consisted of himself and Canadians Chris Le Bihan, David Bissett, and Lascelles Brown , lost out on a silver medal by a 1/100th of a second at Whistler’s Sliding Centre. Hailing from Humboldt, Sask. the 29-year-old Rush is presently pondering bobsledding retirement and now resides in Sylvan Lake, Atla.

Rush racked up 79 tackles and four sacks over his five year career that spanned from 1999-2003 as a defensive lineman with the Huskies. He also helped the Huskies to two Hardy Cup titles in 1999 and 2002 and a Vanier Cup appearance in 2002.

Rush’s entry into bobsledding was by no means a planned transition. Rush made the move from football to bobsledding after Bobsleigh Canada contacted Huskies football head coach Brian Towriss to see if any of his athletes would be interested in the sport after their CIS eligibility expired.

After tragically falling to Calgary in November’s Hardy Cup, Towriss will now hopefully be able to find solace in knowing that one of his former athletes successfully found his way to the world’s stage largely in part to the training he received in Saskatoon.

2: Women’s Basketball

Bronze basketball
For the first time in the history of the U of S women’s basketball program, the dribbling Dogs captured a bronze medal at the CIS championships in Hamilton, Ont.

The third-place finish on the national stage came after a No. 3 ranking heading into the CIS season. A large component of the Huskies women’s success is due to veteran coach Lisa Thomaidis, who enjoyed a coaching stint at the Federation of International Basketball Associations’ Americas Championship in Brazil in October.

Slowly and quietly the women’s basketball program at the U of S has emerged as one of the best in the country and with the newly acquired bronze hardware, the team finally has some well-deserved credentials to accurately reflect the quality of basketball that is played under the roof of the PAC.

1: Men’s basketball

Beasting gold
It would be treason to not acknowledge the Huskies men’s basketball team as the No. 1  pick for the top Huskies moment of 2009-10 after their CIS gold medal at the national championships in Ottawa, Ont. on March 21.

Coming out of nowhere and ranked a mediocre 10th heading into this year’s Canada West season, the Dogs stumbled out of the gate early on but improved to a beastly 17-2 following Christmas break heading into postseason action.

Dethroning the No. 1 ranked University of British Columbia Thunderbirds and the No. 2 ranked Carleton Ravens from their stoop at the top of the CIS basketball hierarchy, the Dogs managed to bring home the first W.P. McGee trophy to Saskatoon in the entirety of Huskies history. The Huskies beat the Thunderbirds 91-81 in a game that saw Showron Glover score a game-high 28 points, likely solidifying his status as the Huskies Athlete of the Year at the upcoming Huskies Salute

The Huskies women’s team had Lisa Thomaidis — but want to know a major off-the-court player who was in-part responsible for the Huskies to a national championship?

A late, great individual, Brennan Jarett.

Jarett was the Huskies shooting guard who tragically died in December 2008 as a result of testicular cancer.

Since “Beej” passed away, the late athlete’s memory has been a source of inspiration for the entire Huskies organization and in January the team had a newly renovated, commemoratory locker-room constructed to celebrate Jarett’s life.

Since the new dressing room was unveiled in Jarett’s name, the Huskies went an impressive 17-2 — and it can be guaranteed that Jarett was the author who put the finishing touches on the Huskies golden campaign that is surely one for the history books.

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photo: Christopher Chang