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34 - The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday October 25, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Balanced effort earns Eagles GHAC crown Hennessy won't sneak up on anyone By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Continued from page 32 onds over the five-kilometre course. She won the Hawk Invitational on the same course earlier this month in a time of 18:08. "Today, I had a totally different strategy where I just had to qualify, so I went out, stayed with the group of girls at the front and let them lead," Hennessy said. That was pretty much the plan she used in winning the OFSAA junior girls' gold last season: stay with the pack and blow them away with a strong finishing kick. This year she has been going out harder from the start and found it has not impacted her finishes. Thursday's 11-second win over Loyola's Alicia Knox was Hennessy's narrowest margin of victory this year. "It's really tough to catch her. She's awesome," Knox said. "I just tried to keep up with her as long as I could. And her kick, you can't even try to keep up with her, so I was just really happy to come second." While Hennessy has altered her strategy, her win at OFSAA last year has altered the plans of her rivals as well. Now Hennessy is the runner everyone is using as their measuring stick. That's something she is well aware of. "Next Saturday, there will be more pressure," she said. "I can't sneak up on anyone." Maybe not, but she can still pull away from them better than anyone in the province. DUNDAS -- The Abbey Park Eagles won three divisions and qualified a school-record five teams for next week's Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Associations (OFSAA) cross-country meet on their way to the overall team victory at Thursday's Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference championship. Abbey Park swept both midget divisions and also won the junior boys' grouping, where Dan Mathie and Braedon Russell posted the day's only one-two finish by teammates. "The nice thing is, we only have one kid win and we get five teams through. It kind of proves our philosophy that it's a team concept for this sport," said Abbey "It's not about Park coach Greg Dailey. "It's not about individ- individuals. uals. They're kind of almost playing their posi- They're kind of tion and doing their part for the collective almost playing whole. I'd rather have five teams than five indi- their position and viduals, easily." doing their part Despite losing the senior girls' title by a sin- for the collective gle point to their around-the-corner rivals, the whole." Loyola Hawks, Dailey believes the Eagles seniors represent Abbey Park's best chance for a Abbey Park coach team medal at OFSAA next Saturday in Greg Dailey Windsor. And their narrow loss may just provide the extra incentive for a group that twice won OFSAA as juniors. "It's probably going to be beneficial for them," Dailey said. "They have the experience. We'll have to see if it plays out." Loyola's Alicia Knox, whose second-place finish helped the Hawks edge Abbey Park 35-36 (lowest-point total) for the title, said the victory will give her team a boost at OFSAA, though she knows they will need to be at their best again. "We're pretty confident and it's going to be close again," Knox said. "Abbey Park's going to be there and they're going to be fighting and so are we, so it's going to be tough." Knox will be joined by Paulina Maher (6th), Lindsay Bryant (11th), Megan O'Neill (16th) and Arienne Morency-Charbonneau (21st). Representing Abbey Park will be Corinne Smith (3rd), Jade Johnson (8th), Brooke Johnston (12th), Julia Friesen (13th) and Paige Zeniuk (14th). GHAC champion Colleen Hennessy, Blakelock's Jessica Gallaher (4th) and Oakville Trafalgar's Karina Sils (5th) earned the individual berths for OFSAA. Nathaniel Green, who finished third, will lead Abbey Park's senior boys' team. Making up the rest of the team will be Kevin Cox (17th), Jeff Mitchell (18th), Adam Maybee (20th) and Aaron Campbell (33rd). While Mathie is expected to contend for a medal at OFSAA, Abbey Park's junior boys' team got a welcome boost from Russell, who finished second. A member of the Oakville minor AAA Rangers, Russell only went out for the team as a way to get in better shape for hockey. "That kid is a huge talent. I wish we had him last year," Dailey said. "He's been a huge bonus. He's a big strong kid and he showed (Thursday), he's good." Karun Tandon (5th), Brandon Hazineth (8th) and Parker McKibbon (12th) form the rest of a team that could contend at OFSAA. Loyola will be represented by Shane O'Hanlon (3rd), Daniel Arias (9th), Cameron Sayers (19th), Carson Docherty (21st) and Simon McNeil (22nd). Dailey was particularly happy with Abbey Park's sweep of the midget divisions, showing the school will be a contender for years to come. Still, Dailey is not sure what to expect of his youngest athletes. "They could run out of their minds one day, you never know," he said. "With junior and seniors, you kind of know what's around in the province. Our two midget teams are such a good group of kids, though." Though Dailey told his midget teams there was no pressure on them, Sarah Brennan said she and her teammates still wanted to contribute to the team's success. Abbey Park midgets were `a good nervous' "We were really, really nervous, but it turned out to be a good nervous," she said. "You want to help carry on the school's winning streak." Brennan, who finished seventh, led a group of Eagles runners to the finish line that included Brianna Cheng (8th), Breagh Cheng (9th), Kate Wickham (12th) and Haley Thomson (15th). Iroquois Ridge's Claire Segeren finished second to earn one of the three individual OFSAA berths. The Eagles' midget boys' team showed that one-point decisions can go both ways as it edged Burlington's Corpus Christi 62-63 for the division crown. Lucas Boyce took fourth to lead Abbey Park's contingent. He'll be joined at OFSAA by Gianni Zorbas (13th), Ryan Wilkinson (17th), Justin Harrigan (28th) and Caehan Boettinger (30th). Blakelock's Berkin Cetin finished second and Lewis Kent of MacLachlan College was third to earn individual spots at OFSAA. Oakville top-10 finishers at the GHAC meet who did not qualify for OFSAA included Erin Queenan, King's Christian (fourth, junior girls); Sasha Boulton, Blakelock (fourth, midget girls); Sharalynn Missiuna, Oakville Trafalgar (fifth, midget girls); Kelly Hennessy, Aquinas (sixth, midget girls); Robbie Dominato, Holy Trinity (eighth, midget boys); Trevor Hoff, Blakelock (ninth, midget boys); Scott Downing, Iroquois Ridge (10th, senior boys) and Patrick Queenan, King's Christian (10th, junior boys). 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