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Wednesday. May 16, 2001 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER D1 APPLE AutoGlass , f ix UPHOLSTERY... S p o r t s W e d n e s d a y SEATS, BOAT TOPS, CONVERTIBLE TOPS.. 1033 Speers Rd. 8 4 2 -6 0 6 0 An Oakville Beaver Feature Editor: N O R M N ELSO N Phone:845-3824, ext 255 Fax:337-5567 E-m ail:nnelson@haltonsearch.com Blakelock has something to cheer about' By Norm Nelson BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR B lakelock's cheerleaders have a lot to cheer about -- they're the best in Ontario! They capped o ff a banner season over the M ay 5/6 w eekend w ith a first place finish in the provincial high school cham pionships at York University in Toronto. The O akville team , which has been practicing at least tw ice a week (average, three hours a prac tice) since school began in September, had previously taken first place at both the regional and Halton cham pionships. They didn't exactly sneak out of nowhere, having finished second at the provincials last year. The Blakelock team seem ed on a mission at the provincials and were also first after Saturday's prelim i nary round. Blakelock led a strong Halton contingent. Second place in the high school division went to M ilton District. Also making the cham pionship round were M.M. Robinson (Burlington) and W hite Oaks (Oakville), finishing 7th and 9th, respectively. At the elem entary level, Pilgrim Wood, which is a feeder school to Blakelock, put in the best finish for Halton with a provincial silver m edal. The provincial cham pionship was won by St. Joseph's of Ottawa. A lso in the cham pionship round, Rolling M eadows of Burlington fin ished seventh and H eritage Glen of O akville eighth. Blakelock went into the provin cials hoping to contend. A fter all, they had won at the regional and H alton levels, and had earned silver at the previous y ear's provincials. It's a subtle difference, but they didn't go into the provincial com pe tition so much with a particular colour of medal in mind as they did with a desire to ace their two and a h a lf minute routine, know ing that if they did, it should put them square ly into medal contention. Photo by Ron Kuzyk PROVINCIAL CHAMPS! Back row: Sarah Davis, Steph Wong, Maggie Hopkins, Melissa Moed, Sarah Worden, Karen Alexander and Steph Moed. M ID DLE ROW: Elyse Curley, Cathrine Crooks, Sheena Taylor, Courtney Ross, Lauren MacKonka, Jen Garven, Ashley Crawford and Lori Dickson. FRONT ROW: Lynsay Halbich, Bianca Rende, Cristin Stasiuk, Leah Ringwald, Alex Jakabauskas, Caitlin Stasiuk, Katie Gillham and Juli Francis. ABSENT: Julie Canham ... Coaches are Laura Bound, Frank Vurro and Patricia Ristemovich. Staff advisor is Janet Davis. It unfolded perfectly for the O akville team which is coached jointly by O akville resident Laura Bound and Pickering resident Frank Vurro. The team loosened up Friday with the practice session. On Saturday, they set the tone w ith a first place finish in the pre lim inary round (which narrow ed the field to the top half for Sunday's cham pionship round). The coaches were "thrilled" with the routine. Yes, there were a couple of glitches "and ju st being nitpicking coaches we saw those couple of errors." Nothing major, mind you. "None o f the stunts came down -- there w asn't anything tragic," said coach Bound. W hich is a good thing, she added, because "by that point in time, if they're not already ready, they're not going to be." Blakelock were ready, and, again this may be a subtle difference, but they didn't go out Sunday tensely trying to preserve their first place standing; they went out trying to top their Saturday prelim inary round performance. And in coach Bound's opinion (and obviously in the opinion o f the judges), they succeeded. "I knew that it didn't make a dif ference where we finished because we couldn't have done that routine any better." Teams are allow ed a three minute routine with B lakelock's com ing in under the wire at about two and a half minutes. "We have m usic," explained coach Bound. "We perform our stunts, we per form tum bling, we dance and then the music stops and we perform a cheer. Being that we are cheerlead ers, we have to perform our cheerleading skills. "And then the music starts up again and we carry through until the end of the routine." In this sport, more than most oth ers, you're only as good as the w eakest link. "This team is absolutely phe nomenal and in all honesty every single girl on this team adds som e thing unique ... to the team which makes it such a strong team because we do require every single girl to be as dedicated as the next. "It's not like any other sport where you can bench somebody if they're not living up to their expec tations or whatever. "Every girl has to be 100 per cent focused, and 100 per cent dedi cated." * Hurd and Pomeroy medal at Spring Nationals * Two O akville sw im m ers m ade podium appearances at the recent spring nationals. Andrew Hurd, who represented Canada at the 2000 Sydney O lym pics in the 1500 metre event, easily retained national honours. And for good m easure, the 18-year-old Oakville Trafalgar swimming star also finished in a dead heat in the 400 metres with Rick Say (at 3:52.75). Hurd went through the O akville Aquatic Club's Olympic Way program before m oving to the M ississauga Aquatic Club where he contin ues to train with coach M ark Temple. O akville A quatic C lub m em ber Laura Pomeroy, 17, finished second in the 50 metre freestyle event behind Laura Nicholls. Another club grad, A nna Lydall, now w ith the University of British Colum bia, finished eighth in that race. Pomeroy also helped her Toronto All Star relay team to a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle relay. Another high light for the Oakville Aquatic Club was Kimmi Labbett, 14, winning the `B ' final of her 200m breaststroke race (meaning she was ninth, over all). Kelly Millar, 17, also com peted for the club. BONDING NIGHT The Oakville Aquatic Club recently held a fun team relay evening for swim m ers from all club levels. The event was designed to provide an oppor tunity for the younger club members to meet and swim with the older provincial and nation al team members. M ixed relay teams were formed for a variety of both fun and com petitive races. Judging by the quantity o f pizza that was consum ed by the swim m ers after the relays, the event was a huge success. Accident led to coaching career The Oakville Aquatic Club, which has graduated its share o f elite national level swim mers, has a new head coach. Christy Yaremczuk brings with her a wealth of coaching experience, a keen desire to build on an already top ranked swim club and an infectious enthusiasm for fun. Christy has been a full time coach for about 12 years. She started swimming with the Brantford Aquatic Club, but also had a keen interest in music. According to Christy, the two provided a good bal ance. "Physically, swimming gives you the aerobic base for any sport in the future and music helped to provide the m ental discipline and focus needed for swimming," says Christy. She swam at the national (See 'coach' page D3) Photos by Ron Kuzyk At the Oakville Aquatic Club's recent run relay evening were ... LEFT PHOTO: national senior medalist Laura Pomeroy, 17, and level one swimmer Dana Thompson, and ... RIGHT PHOTO: new coach Christy Yareinczuk. ij TIn DAS & \ TRAFALGAR R0AI? / OAKTOWN SHOPPING PIQ JL& 400 Dundas St. E. 257-TIRE 257-0429 844-0202*^ ~ STORE HOURS: M o ri 3 sat ? S F ri. 8 :.T 0arrv9 Look fo r' dur flyer in Friday's Oakville Beaver m \ * j j WM -|iiinii|(|i. m * ' iVSSBL S lin . 'I . i r t v ' ^ i m