The College of the Rockies volleyball program hasn’t had to look too far for talent recently.
On Friday night, the men’s Avalanche team signed Cranbrook player Quinn Grist to their 2018-19 roster. Grist was a member of the Mount Baker Secondary Wild team that won a silver medal at the B.C. AAA Provincial tournament in early December.
He is the second local player recruited to the men’s team this year and fourth MBSS student-athlete set to join COTR next season.
“[Grist] is definitely a skilled post-secondary athlete [and is] also a quiet leader on the floor,” said head coach Cisco Farrero on his latest addition. “I was able to coach Mount Baker for a weekend, and he was really coachable and we clicked quite well. I was really drawn to that.”
At the provincial tournament, Grist and fellow COTR recruit Caleb Peters were both named to the event’s first all-star team. Getting a chance to continue his volleyball career and join his hometown team along with a good friend, is a dream come true.
“I think it’s really cool, I wanted to play here my entire life,” Grist said. “The college is just up the street [so] I’m super excited.
“It’s [also] going to be really cool to have somebody that I know [in Caleb] to play with since I [already] have some familiarity with him.”
According to Farrero, Grist has the potential to play three different positions and should be a solid contributor in all facets of the game.
“He can play right side, left side and a bit of libero,” the coach said. “I think that versatility is definitely something that I like, and we’ll just see what the team needs any given night [to determine how] he’s going to be able to help us out.”
In addition to his skills on the volleyball court, Grist is a multi-sport athlete who is also a pitcher and second baseman for the American Legion ‘A’ Cranbrook Bandits baseball team during the summer.
Beyond the excitement of adding a person and player like Grist, Farrero said that he was very pleased to continue to build a team made up of players from the surrounding region.
“There is talent in Grade 12, Grade 11 throughout the Kootenays, in Creston, Cranbrook and Jaffray,” he said. “For us to be successful here, we have to be able to recruit locally, for sure.”
Grist it the fourth member of the men’s team’s recruiting class for next season, joining Peters, Keaton Woods of the Penticton Secondary Lakers and Reece Wilson of Brandon, Manitoba’s Neelin High School.