8 Independent & Free Press, Tuesday,November 8, 2011 SPORTS & LEISURE Raiders cut into Blades' lead The Oakville Blades are usually tough to beat once they get the lead, so for the Georgetown Raiders to come back and earn points from their Halton rivals on consecutive nights is a revelation. Having been eliminated from the last four Ontario Junior Hockey League postseasons by Oakville, Georgetown has found some prolific ways to lose to the Blades during that time, but frustrated Raider fans witnessed a refreshing turn of events this past weekend. Trailing the Blades 4-1 with less than five minutes left in the third period Friday night in Oakville, the Raiders scored three times to force overtime, only to have Jordan Coccimiglio net the winner for the home side with just 18 seconds left in extra time. And on Saturday evening in Georgetown, the Raiders were down 3-1 in the opening frame before rallying back to win on a Caleb Apperson OT marker in which he raced past two Oakville defenders to beat ex-Raider goalie Michael Stiliadis and clinch the 4-3 win. Tyler MacPherson, Ryan Lopes and Jacob Bauchman also scored for Georgetown Saturday, with Bauchman (2), Manny Gialedakis and Tyson Fawcett finding the net Friday. Georgetown (12-6-1) is in second place in the OJHL West Division standings, three points back of Oakville. The victory over Oakville broke Georgetown's three-game winless streak while head coach and general manager Greg Walters is away with Team Canada East in Langley, B.C. for the World Jr. A Challenge tournament. Raider centre Patrick Megannety also made the squad, which began preliminary-round play against the Czech Republic Monday night. The Raiders have another back-to-back weekend ahead, traveling to Markham Fridayt before playing host to the 12-8-0 Waxers at Alcott Arena Saturday at 7:30 p.m. NOTES: Forgive former Raiders' goalie Michael Nishi if fellow netminder Jack Campbell isn't high up on his Christmas card list. Campbell, a first-round pick of the Dallas Stars last summer, bumped Nishi out of the OHL Windsor Spitfires' plans when Campbell signed there last year. The 18year-old Nishi was then dealt to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in September and made three starts as the club's backup, but has now been relegated to the Soo's number-three slot as Windsor traded Campbell to the Hounds last week...Local residents Jason Dickinson (Guelph Storm) and Jacob Harris (Sudbury Wolves) notched their first OHL goals over the weekend, while Georgetown's Josh Sterk potted his third in the Kitchener's 3-1 win over Oshawa Sunday. Georgetown native Lesley RasmussenMcKee competed in the Ironman world championships in Hawaii late last month. Photo courtesy of Dr. Tim McKee Hawaii no treat for `Ironman' By STEVE LEBLANC Metroland Media Group Having completed three Ironmans already this year and gone through a rather hectic move this fall, Lesley RasmussenMcKee was running on fumes by the time she reached Kona, Hawaii. "I knew I'd bitten off a huge chunk and that this was going to be a stretch for my body," said the 31-year-old long distance racer, of her debut at the Ironman World Championships. "But I told myself I'd manage somehow, I'd do what I had to do. This (worlds) was a huge goal and I wasn't going to walk away from it." That determination had some pretty stiff adversaries to do battle with, in the form of both fatigue and the flu. The latter hit during the flight over and had Rasmussen-McKee confined to her hotel room for the next couple of days-- leaving hopes of even participating in the Ironman worlds somewhat in doubt. "It was not an ideal situation, that's for sure," recalled the mother of four. Fortunately, the Georgetown native's illness lifted by race day morning-- and the accomplished racer had enough in the proverbial tank to not only complete the 3.8-km swim, 180-km bike, 42.2-km run, but do so in a very respectable 11:20:13. That wasn't up to the personal-best effort (11:03.16) she'd delivered two months GEORGETOWN JUNIOR "A" Jags, Rebels meet in playoff tilt There won't be any trophies on the line, but bragging rights will definitely be at stake when Georgetown's two high school senior football teams collide in a firstround post-season encounter at GDHS Wednesday in a 1:30 p.m. kickoff. The host Rebels and Christ the King's Jaguars both finished at 2-5 in the HSSAA Tier II standings, with Georgetown earning home field advantage for this game after winning the regular season opener at CtK 14-8 on Sept. 22. Fifth-place Christ the King upset second-place Abbey Park 21-7 in Oakville this past Thursday, while fourth-ranked GDHS flattened winless T.A. Blakelock 56-13, as Jay Richard led the offensive attack with three touchdowns. In junior football quarterfinal playoffs, third-place CtK (3-4) will host 0-7 Abbey Park Wednesday at 3 p.m. and the fourthplace Rebels (2-5) take on Bishop Reding, Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at Kiwanis Field. CROSS-COUNTRY: Haleigh Baines of Christ the King had the best placing among Halton Hills athletes who ran in Saturday's Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association cross-country championships in Ottawa. Baines finished 34th in the midget girls' race out of 242 participants in a time of 12 minutes, 57 seconds. Matt Knebel of GDHS was 39th in the midget boys' event and the five Rebel runners placed 23rd in the team standings, while Georgetown's junior boys placed 22nd as a group, headed up by Matt Simpson's 65th. earlier in Lake Placid, but given the circumstances it was certainly cause for celebration. "I told myself I was just going to survive this race. I set a time of 12-and-a-half hours and said I wasn't even going to look at my splits," noted Rasmussen-McKee, whose trip to Hawaii coincided with her and husband Dr. Tim McKee's one-year anniversary-- as their marriage was held on the island at last year's worlds. "I was really happy with my overall time and my splits, especially my swim (1:04.58) and bike (5:52.38)." The latter can be especially daunting in Kona, as the local racer found out firsthand. "The head winds there are so strong there. If you're going up a hill into the wind it's like you're going nowhere. It was pretty hot too, but I'd gotten a lot of tips on racing in the heat from the Texas Ironman. That was a great learning experience." Throw in the fact that it was her first Ironman in salt water, that no wet suits are allowed in Hawaii and that she isn't that far removed from a chronic hamstring injury, and Rasmussen-McKee certainly had her share of obstacles to close out 2011. "I was really amazed at how well I did. It was a great way to finish out the year." GEORGETOWN JR. A RAIDERS vs Player and Fan of the Week! MARKHAM GAME OF THE WEEK Saturday, November 12, 2011 7:30 pm Mold-Masters SportsPlex (Alcott Arena) www.georgetownraidersjra.com Player: Nathaniel Jr. Fan: Domagala, #28 Robert Eastwood