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Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports 31 | Friday, June 13, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" Blades sign 11 Oakville residents for next season The Oakville Blades vowed to feature more local talent on their roster next season, and it appears that will be the case. The Ontario Junior Hockey League team recently announced the signings of 11 Oakville residents, including Ross Sloan, the Blades' leading scorer in 2013-14. He'll be joined by fellow returnees Ryan Garvey, Kamil Tkaczuk, Sean Kohler, Greg Campbell, Vince Palermo, Daniel Jelic and Brendan McGlynn, as well as newcomers Matt Luff, Jackson Bales and Christian Rajic. Luff and Bales are products of the Oakville midget AAA Rangers, while Rajic led the Greater Toronto Hockey League in scoring last year with the Mississauga Rebels. Luff and Rajic were drafted in this spring's Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection. Other notable additions include high-scoring forwards Joe Mitchell and Matt Lippa (both of whom played junior B last season in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League), former Stouffville Spirit goaltender Daniel Mannella, Burlington resident Trenton Bourque, Mississauga's Ryan Markovic and Toronto's Adam Timleck. The group will be led by new Blades head coach Mike Tarantino, an Oakville high school teacher and former Blades player who was the general manager of the league champion Toronto Lakeshore Patriots this past season. The Blades were 23-26-1-4 in 2013-14 and lost a tie-breaker with the Toronto Jr. Canadiens for the final playoff spot in the South West Conference. Loyola Hawks runner Kristin O'Neill (second from right) rounds a turn with other competitors during Saturday's Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations junior girls' 800-metre final in Mississauga. O'Neill broke away from the pack down the stretch to win gold, her second OFSAA 800m title in as many years, after earning bronze the previous day in the 400m. | photo by Graham Paine -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog Another OFSAA gold, bronze for Loyola runner Loyola high school runner Kristin O'Neill added two provincial medals to her already-impressive collection last weekend, including another gold in the 800 metres. O'Neill used a strong finishing kick to win the junior girls' 800m at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations track-and-field championships Saturday in Mississauga, beating out Toronto French School's Lucia Stafford by 1.26 seconds. O'Neill's time of 2:11.08 was 0.68 seconds faster than the clocking she recorded to win the midget girls' 800m at last year's OFSAA meet. Abbey Park's Devyn MacKenzie and T.A. Blakelock's Zaria Armstrong were Oakville's other athletes to win OFSAA medals, claiming silver and bronze, respectively. O'Neill added a bronze at OFSAA for the second straight year, finishing third in Friday's junior girls' 400m -- five one-hundredths of a second behind silver-medallist Jenna Smith of Highland. O'Neill earned bronze in the midget girls' 1,500m last year, when she also qualified for OFSAA in the 400m but chose not to compete in that event. Despite her success on the track, the Grade 10 student might be better known as a hockey player. O'Neill plays for the Provincial Women's Hockey League's Stoney Creek Sabres, represented Ontario at last year's national women's under-18 championships and helped Loyola win OFSAA girls' hockey silver in 2013. Silver medal came after fourth-place finish at regionals MacKenzie appeared to be a bit of a darkhorse to finish in the medals at OFSAA after placing fourth at the south regional championships just a week earlier. But the 17-year-old matched her personal best with a leap of 1.70 metres at provincials, placing second in the senior girls' high jump. "At regionals, I didn't jump my best... I was just taking it easy, just trying to qualify," said MacKenzie, who returned to the OFSAA podium for the first time since claiming bronze in the midget high jump three years ago. She was fourth in high jump as a first-year senior last spring. "I thought this was going to be my year," MacKenzie added. "I worked really hard for the past year... I worked out a lot and got stronger." Blakelock runner in the medals this time Armstrong secured bronze in the junior Devyn MacKenzie girls' 100m Friday. She finished in 12.47 seconds, 0.23 seconds off the pace set by St. Roch Catholic's Kyra Constantine. Armstrong missed out on an OFSAA medal by the slimmest of margins last year, placing fourth in the midget girls' 100m -- one one-hundredth of a second behind the third-place finisher and three one-hundredths behind the silver medallist. Loyola's open girls' 4x400m relay team nearly became Oakville's fourth medal-winning entry, placing fourth. The Hawks squad of Alex Ratcliffe, Pamela Sanchez, Kristen O'Neill and Bridget O'Neill crossed the line in 3:55.46, 0.42 seconds out of bronze-medal position and 0.46 seconds behind the secondplace finishers. Other top-10 finishers at OFSAA included Abbey Park's Evelyne Guay (fifth in senior girls' 800m, sixth in 400m), Bridget O'Neill (sixth in senior girls' 800m, ninth in 1,500m) and Abbey Park's Melissa Langegger (ninth, senior girls' long jump). -- Jon Kuiperij Multiple CISAA medals for Appleby teams, individuals It's been a stellar spring season for several of Appleby College's sports teams and athletes. Two of the Blue Dogs' rugby squads won Conference of Independent Schools Athletic Association titles, as did Appleby's girls' softball team. Tennis players added a CISAA gold and silver, and the Blue Dogs won a rugby silver as well. Appleby's varsity girls' rugby team routed Hillfield Strathallan College 36-12 in its CISAA final, while the junior boys' Division 1 team downed St. Michael's College 24-5 in the gold-medal game. In girls' softball, Appleby clinched CISAA supremacy by knocking off St. Clements School 17-7. Senior Two students Laura Jabbour and Mathilda Tear were CISAA girls' varsity tennis doubles champions, and the Blue Dogs' varsity boys claimed silver in the team competition. Appleby's U14 boys claimed rugby silver.