Rebels, Jaguars perform well at OFSAA swim meet

It's been a rebuilding year for the mighty Georgetown Rebels' swim program, but they still managed to earn four medals at this week's 2006 Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association championships at the Etobicoke Olympium. And their up-and-coming crosstown rivals, Christ the King's Jaguars, also made their biggest splash yet in the team's third year of existence. Rebel Ricky Davids was the top individual performer from Georgetown during the two-day competition, which involved some 1,700 athletes from across the province. The Grade 10 GDHS student was runner-up to OFSAA record holder Mehmet Dinc of Mississauga's Clarkson in Tuesday's senior boys' 50-metre butterfly, then beat Dinc in Wednesday's 100m individual medley by just 5-100ths of a second. Davids' bid for a third medal was dashed on an unfortunate slip by Rebel teammate Gareth Viray-Cox on the starting block during the senior boys' 200m freestyle relay, in which Georgetown placed seventh. "Things didn't work out in the relay, but that's okay. Next year should be really good for us," said Davids, who had two OFSAA record-breaking gold-medal swims last year. "Our captain and anchor Alex McDonald will be back and so will Gareth, so it looks good." The Rebels, who had won three consecutive boys' provincial team titles heading into this meet, settled for fifth overall in 2006. Georgetown's girls placed third as a team, headed up by Rebekka Bond's bronze-medal effort in the junior girls' 50m backstroke in a race in which the winner set an OFSAA best time. McDonald missed out on a bronze by 15-100ths of a second in the senior boys' 50m freestyle sprint. Christ the King, meanwhile, continues to make huge strides and the Jaguars had their own double medallist this week in Kim Galvin. The Grade 11 student finished third in both the senior girls' 100m IM and 200m freestyle, helping CTK to a 15th-place overall team result-- up from 75th in 2005. "I had a slow start (the 100m IM) on my breaststroke, then on the free I knew it was my last race of the year, so I turned it up," said the 17year-old Galvin after Wednesday's race. Jaguar Jessica Switzer scooped up a silver medal in the senior girls' 100m breaststroke, three seconds behind the winner. Rory Gaskill-Cadwallader of CTK finished in a tie for fourth in the junior boys' 50m freestyle and eighth in the 100m IM. Galvin, Kaitlin Carr, Switzer and Kristen Keough propelled the senior Jags to an eighth-place finish in the 200m medley relay. For Georgetown, its senior girls' 200m medley relay team, consisting of Mellisa Ott, Chandra Massey, Jessica Stuart and Emma Schreiber, earned bronze medals. Two other Rebel relay entries, the junior girls and junior boys, finished just out of medal placings, with a fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 200m medley event.