2025 Year in Review in sports

Posted on January 15, 2026 by Taber Times

April continued

A Taber couple flew to Massachusetts to run the Boston Marathon, crossed the finish line, and got engaged on that very spot. Chris Chabot and Susan Reimer ran the 42.2 kilometre marathon on April 21 with staggered starts  – Chabot began running 30 minutes before Reimer – from Hopkinton to Boylston St. in Boston, Mass.

In mid-April, the Times published a story that detailed how the couple came together and worked in tandem to fulfil their ambition as runners. Reimer is a longtime runner, but Chabot’s fitness journey took shape at the onset of the pandemic and throughout its duration.

The Vauxhall Academy of Baseball Jets were looking to repeat as champions at the Prairie Baseball Academy Prairie Showcase Classic this past weekend. After winning the 2024 tournament, the Jets were looking to repeat in 2025 as they started on Friday with a pair of games at home.

The Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks women’s volleyball team is proud to announce the commitment of Reese Lund, a standout middle blocker from Vauxhall High School and the Taber Wham U18 club team.

Hailing from Barnwell, Alta., Lund, who recently capped off her high school playing career with a provincial title, will bring size, skill and a strong volleyball pedigree to the Kodiaks this fall.

Head Coach Anna Schwark says she has followed Lund’s development closely over the past few years.

May

At the April 28 meeting of town council, delegates Steve Van Geest and Klaas Hoekstra from Trail 77 asked the Town for $100,000 to help complete the club’s trail master plan. Trail 77 manages and maintains a network of trails in the Oldman coulee for recreational users like hikers, runners, and mountain bikers.

  Annual racing events like Taber Tuff, Oldman Mayhem, Tuff Oldman, and Gnarly Niblets complement the group’s regular events.

May Continued

Once again, St. Mary’s School have a combined girls slo pitch team with W.R. Myers High School. We have fourteen girls playing from grades 9 – 12, with some returning and some new players. It is a short season that sees us playing league games and a league finals tournament in June. Each league game is a double header in which you play the same team twice back to back. The team is coached by returning coach Mark Planger and Ashley Pulfer who is new to the coaching staff this season.

The horses were off to the races as Lethbridge’s Rocky Mountain Turf Club celebrated their 30th year beginning on May 3.

Taber Gymnastics Fitness Club competed at the Mountain Magic Invitational in Okotoks, Alta. the weekend of May 1-May 4. National Judges were in attendance at this competition with over 900 athletes.

With the school year starting to wind down, several high school athletes are starting to find new homes for the fall. Reese Lund from Barnwell, who played volleyball at Vauxhall High School and for WHAM U18, is one of those athletes, and she’s officially signed on to join the Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks for the 2025-26 season.

Another weekend has come and gone in the spring season for the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball Jets. After getting back from B.C., the Jets welcomed in the Great Falls Chargers over the weekend for four games.

Earlier this month, the best bantam football players in the south gathered for the Southern Alberta High School Football League all-star game.

Taber was well represented at the contest, as 10 players earned the nod to participate.

Harmon Pierson, Lincoln Torsius, Tomasi Masilago, Greycen Standing, Linden Payne, Preston Wight, Hosea Unger, Bennett Hughes, Gavin Maksymytz and Rylan Layton all took the field on May 3 at the University of Lethbridge.

The Rebels contingent was led by Unger, this year’s Nine-a-side SAMFA League MVP .

After plenty of road tournaments to start the spring, the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball Jets were at home this past weekend to play host at their Haven Agencies Tournament. Looking to continue their momentum from the previous weekend, the Jets were also looking to see improvements in all facets as the spring season rapidly approaches its end. 

 At the April 28 meeting of town council, delegates Steve Van Geest and Klaas Hoekstra from Trail 77 asked the Town for $100,000 to help complete the club’s trail master plan. Trail 77 manages and maintains a network of trails in the Oldman coulee for recreational users like hikers, runners, and mountain bikers.

An all-star football player for the Taber bantam Rebels is hoping to take his talents to Winnipeg this summer.

Harmon Pierson, who was honoured as the Southern Alberta Minor Football Association SAMFA Most Outstanding Offensive Player and was also named the SAMFA All-Star Game Most Outstanding Offensive Back, is one step away from being named to the U16 Western Challenge roster as a member of Team Alberta.

Once the weather turns warm, the months fly by and for the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball Jets, the spring season is nearing its end. After a tournament win at home, the Jets were back on the road this past weekend as they were in Montana competing in the Missoula Memorial Day Tournament. 

June

Taber will be hosting the 2025 Southern Alberta Summer Games (SASG) and there’s plenty to do in preparation for the event. The Games will take place from July 2 to 5 and feature both individual and team sporting events in and around Taber. Roughly 2,000 athletes and coaches are expected to compete.

 Three years after retirement, a Taber couple is doing anything but taking it slow. They’re racing around, quite literally, with a stock car.

 Brian and Catherine Morrison moved from Vernon to Taber after Brian retired from a career in the air. He started flying commercially at 21 and over the next 50 years, flew in Canada from coast to coast to coast, including offshore drilling, as well as extensive fire fighting both domestically and internationally in the United States and Australia. He also had experience flying for NORAD’s early warning system and his career resulted in over 20,000 hours of flight time.

The inaugural Cypress Farm & Ranch Show is just around the corner, running from June 12-14.

Coinciding with the Professional Chuckwagon Association Races and located at Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede, the show aims to “unite producers, suppliers and agri-businesses from across Western Canada, offering a platform for farmers to discover the latest in ag equipment and services, learn about new farming practices and reconnect with the industry in a meaningful way,” CRFS says in a release.

During a recent M.D. of Taber Council meeting, Council reviewed a Request for Decision memo regarding the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball Dryland Training facility.

According to the memo, which was presented by Administration, the proposed Vauxhall Academy of Baseball Indoor Facility Capital Project has successfully acquired $600,000 in provincial grant funding and requested $100,000 from the Town of Vauxhall toward a goal of $1,700,000 total funding. The Vauxhall Academy of Baseball, the memo states, has provided a financial plan along with an operating budget that includes fundraising and outside donations.

On June 9, town council reviewed a request from Allen Herbst for continuing access to the wastewater irrigation lands he uses for his first time hunters program. He asked for another five-year term beginning in the fall of 2026 and received it.

 For more than 25 years, Herbst has been using the Town-owned wastewater irrigation lands north of Taber for his fall program that runs before the big game and bird hunting seasons.

This weekend saw the Vauxhall Spurs back on the diamond as they welcomed in the Medicine Hat Knights. With a doubleheader at home, the Spurs were looking to get back on a roll. In game one, the Spurs went into the bottom of the seventh all tied up. Thanks to a walk-off error, the Spurs won game one 5-4.

The Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks men’s basketball team have signed power forward Kade Lund to their roster for the 2025-26 season.

Lund played for the Kodiaks in 2022-23 before he decided to take some time off. He says coming back to the team was a positive and smooth process, and that already knowing the coaches and having team connections made the recruiting experience easier.

During the June 10  M.D. of Taber Council meeting, Council reviewed a letter from Randy Bullock, Reeve of Cardston County, regarding a visit that a delegation from Cardston County paid to the shooting range facility just north of Taber, a visit hosted by the Taber Shooting Foundation.

The Taber U15 Thrashers lacrosse team has qualified for provincials.

On the weekend in the Southern Alberta Lacrosse Association playoffs, the Taber team took the league banner with a 7-6 win over the Brooks Drillers.

It was a tough start for the Taber team, however, as Brooks shot out to a 4-1 lead after the first period, as Jonah Fournier had the lone Thrashers goals, assisted by Hayden Eldridge and Kash Kover.

But Taber dominated the middle frame, as Eldridge got the scoring started, before Kover made it 4-3, on a goal assisted by Fournier. Eldridge then tied things up with a goal assisted by Tristan Bello.

In the third, Barrett DeVlieger gave Taber the lead, as Kover and Dalan Blasetti drew assists. DeVlieger scored again to make it 6-4, as Kover and Fournier had the helpers.

Brooks scored twice to tie things up before some heroics from Taber’s key players.