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Sports Oakville Beaver www.aplushomes.ca Adam Campbell Broker of Record 905-844-4444 B R O K E R A G E I N D E P E N D E N T LY O W N E D A N D O P E R AT E D SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2008 31 Runners burn up the track Two relay teams, three individuals win events Friday A French fry trailer wasn't the only thing on fire during second-day action of the south regional high school track-and-field championships Friday in Hamilton. A number of local athletes burned up the track, not far from the trailer that went up in flames in the sprinting area and required two fire trucks to extinguish the grease fire. Three Oakville individuals and two relay teams won gold in running events, bumping the local running gold-medal count to nine at the meet. The biggest surprise was Loyola's senior girls' 4x100 metre team, which was the fifth seed in its race. The squad of Kacy Gray, Ashlie Tracey, Ashara Cadogan and Megan O'Neill, running together for only the third time, crossed the finish line in 49.73 seconds -- nearly two seconds faster than the time it posted to win the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference title the previous week. The Hawks will enter the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations meet (which begins tomorrow in Hamilton) as the fourth-ranked team in the province, only two one-hundredths of a second behind co-second seeds Resurrection (Kitchener) and Mary Ward (Scarborough). Pickering High School is the top seed, having completed the race in a time of 48.83 seconds. The Abbey Park Eagles also won a relay event, finishing first in the open girls' 4x400m. Corinne Smith, Jessica Tat, Jade Johnson and Brooke Johnston teamed to post a time of 4:09.18, more than a second faster than second-place Highland (Dundas). Resurrection will be favoured in that event at OFSAA, seeded first with a time of 3:54.13. Individual winners on Day 2 at regionals were Abbey Park's Daniel Mathie, St. Thomas Aquinas' Miana Griffiths and Iroquois Ridge's Stephanie MacNeill. Both Mathie and Griffiths finished regionals with two gold. Mathie won the midget boys' 3,000m race Friday (with a time of 9:15.70) after finishing first in the 1,500m event the day before. Griffiths, who won the senior girls' 100m title Thursday, completed the 200m dash in a time of 24.82. MacNeill was first in the senior girls' 3,000m, posting a time of 10:21.90. Loyola's Alicia Knox came third with a time of 10:33.00. Silver for Eagles open boys' team Abbey Park's open boys' 4x400m relay team, considered an OFSAA medal threat, placed second at regionals. Michael Rose, Michael Trnkus, Kevin Cox and Brandon Musselman finished in 3:27.85, a quarter of a second behind Mississauga's Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Other medalists from the second day at regionals were Aquinas' Colleen Hennessy (second in junior girls' 3,000m), King's Christian Collegiate's Chantelle Robbertse (second in junior girls' high jump), Johnson (third in junior girls' 800m), Cadogan (third in junior girls' 200m) and Gray (third in senior girls' long jump). Tat also earned an OFSAA spot in the senior girls' 400m hurdles, placing fourth. Top-four finishers at regionals qualified for the provincials, which will conclude Saturday at Mohawk Sports Complex. -- Jon Kuiperij PASS IT ON: Loyola's senior girls' 4x100-metre relay team of (left to right) Kacy Gray, Ashara Cadogan, Ashlie Tracey and Megan O'Neill won gold at last week's south regional high school track-and-field championships in Hamilton. The Hawks finished the race in a time of 49.73 seconds and are the fourth-seeded 4x100m team going into the provincials, which begin tomorrow in Hamilton. Triathlete thrilled to represent Canada at world championships By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF He may have left qualifying until the last minute, but David Barrett is not doing the same thing when it comes to preparing for the World Age Group Triathlon Championships. Barrett has been training 10-12 hours each week in preparation for Friday's race in Vancouver. He will race in the 35-39 age group at the sprint distance, which is comprised of a 750-metre swim, a 20-kilometre bike ride and a five km run and is thrilled to get the chance to represent his country. "It's a huge honour to wear the maple leaf," he said. "I kind of feel like an Olympian. I'm not, by far, but it feels really cool." Barrett had not given the world champi- onships much thought. He had raced his first triathlon last year -- he had been competing in duathlons since 2000 -- and Mat Reid, a former national team member and founder of the Fighting Koalas Triathlon team, had mentioned that he could qualify. Barrett initially didn't take it too seriously, but then saw competitors who he had beaten earning spots on the Canadian team. Barrett entered a race in Wasaga Beach, the final qualifier for worlds. The only problem was that his brother was getting married the same day. So, he raced in the morning, finishing seventh in his division, then drove to Vineland for the wedding. It's the lengths he's willing to go to for the sport, he said, that have given him the chance to live a healthy lifestyle and be a positive role model for his three-year-old son, Lachlan. "I grew up the fat kid," Barrett said. "I want to be an active role model because I don't want him to go through that." Determined to change his lifestyle, Barrett lost 90 pounds in the '90s when he started mountain biking. That eventually led to running, which led to duathlons, then swimming and triathlons. Now Lachlan is following in his dad's footsteps. He's already competed in his first triathlon (consisting of a 15m swim, 100m bike ride and 100m run). "He's a real trooper," Barrett said. As for the worlds, Barrett said his goal is to keep himself in contention during the swim, then make sure he doesn't go too hard on the bike -- what he considers his strongest event -- so that he has some- thing left for the run. Barrett, a chartered accountant who works for the Independent Electricity System Operator, said it hasn't been easy. He said his wife, Sylvia Stultz, deserves a lot of credit for allowing him the time to train. And although he's had to make some sacrifices, he said the benefits have made it worthwhile. Reid rewarded Barrett's commitment by making a donation on behalf of the Fighting Koalas to Halton Family Services, where Barrett serves as president. Five other Oakville residents will be competing in at the world championships: Jennifer Coombs (women's 25-29 Olympic distance), Gary Wade (men's 35-39 sprint), Liliana Ziobakas (women's 30-34 sprint), Stephen Harrigan (men's 45-49 sprint) and Robert Rose (men's 55-59 sprint). The true story of a man, a pig and their journey to the table. Look for this innovative series Look for this innovative series in The Hamilton Spectator Saturday May 24 The Hamilton Spectator Saturday, May 24 to June 7. h il d June 1003