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U4 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday. August 8, 2001 HAC hauls in hardware ; The first annual Halton Wood Bat Baseball Tournament was held over the Holiday weekend and despite some strong U.S. competition, the championship game saw two local teams vying for top honours. Gord Robertson of Oakville pitched a strong game as Jhe host Halton Athletic Club (HAC) defeated the Ontario fa lco n s 5-1 in the final to take the cup. Robertson was also the tournament MVR The Halton club was in first place with a 5-1 record after round robin play. In their semi-final match HAC defeated the New Jersey Pirates 2-0 on the strong pitching ;of southpaw Hallan King who struck out 11 batters and flo w e d only one hit to earn the shutout. » The other semifinal game was a real thriller with the Falcons battling a very strong New Jersey Mets team. The lead changed hands several times and the teams were even at 4-4 at the end of regulation time. The Falcons scored four runs in the top iialf of the 10th inning and held on to w in 10-6 and advance to the champi onship game. Other Oakville athletes who fig ured prominently for the champion HAC team were infielders Tyler Cooper, Julian Richards, Daryl Ringwald, Dan Thomerson and outJielders Rich Garton and Matt Wood. John Jurgaitis, Andrew Kotulak and Stuart Spencer pitched strong games and added offensive and defensive support. · Next week the Halton club, spon sored by TD Securities, is back in action at the Franklin Cup wood bat tournament in Burlington. This event will see HAC compet ing against some o f the top 18-yearold teams in Canada. ' Fans looking for tournament infor mation and schedules may log onto www.hacbaseball.com Oakville players help Ontario at nationals in ... ... men's rugby O akville players Patrick D essaulles, Andrew Dold, Sean Michael Stephen and Dan Yungblut all represented the Ontario Rugby Union (ORU) U-21 team at the national championships in Ottawa over the weekend. The ORU U-21 team qualified for the tournament final and nar rowly lost to B.C. 25 - 18. Dessaulles, Dold and Stephen have all been selected for the Canadian national U-21 team. ... girl's soccer Oakville teams were well repre sented at the national cham pi onships held July 25-29 in Prince George, British Columbia. Playing on the Ontario U-15 provincial team were Laura Bandy from the U-15 Oakville Cobras and Anne Friedland from the Oakville U -16 Angels. This Ontario representative squad went undefeated in the pre lim inary rounds beating Newfoundland 6-1 (Bandy scored one goal in this one), Maritimes 70 and Alberta 3-0. In the final against Quebec, Ontario eked to victory with a 2-1 win to garner national cham pi onship honours. Playing on the Ontario U-17 provincial team were Kara Lang from the U-16 Oakville Angels and Diana Matheson from the U-18 Oakville rep team. This team defeated Manitoba 20, Saskatchewan 1-0 (Lang scores) and tied Quebec 1-1 (Lang scores) to advance to the final against Alberta. Although the Ontario side out played their opponents in the final they lost 1-0. TOP PHOTO: HAC player Stewart Spencer slides head first. ADJA CENT PHOTO: outfielder Rich Garton in action. Both HAC players are Oakville residents, as are a majority of the players, this year. Photos by Brent Foster Oakville sisters make finals at the nationals Johnson, Bailey crossed the line of sportsm anship when he publicly berated Johnson for pulling up lame. Bailey later correctly apologized, conceding that he got caught up in the hype. It wasn't Bailey's finest hour and it came back to haunt him as the injury bug basically stung him for the rest o f his career. Some o f them were off-track. In the fall of '97, he rolled his M ercedes, totalling it. He literally walked away, with only assorted bumps and bruises to recover from. No big deal since '98 was a dark year in track, with no world or Olympic cham pionships (as is the case, next year, in 2002. Later in '98, however, he suffered a career threatening Achilles Tendon rupture while warming up for a pick up game o f basketball at Sheridan College. Bailey got full marks for his spec tacular recovery from an injury known to end athletic careers. With the Olympics looming on the horizon, he even started com pet ing again, in '99, and was able to make it to the world championships, although limiting him self to the 4x100m relay, which Canada failed to defend amid internal controversy. And then when it came time to defend his Olympic crown at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Bailey, hav ing endured strenuous rehabilitation, had to pull out with a respiratory virus. And going into this past week end's 2001 Olympics, it was touch and go whether he could compete, hobbled by bone spurs on both feet and a wobbly knee. With Sunday's retirement, how ev er, the focus immediately shifted to Bailey's career as a whole, and not what he had or hadn't done lately. And that's why his star will rise. Because he done good, so the saying goes. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and no doubt the absence of Canadians in important future 100m world and Olympic finals will make us fonder of Donovan Bailey, and, yes, o f Bruny Surin (who is set to retire next year). This past weekend, for instance, Americans took the top spot (top three, actually) in the 100m final and are favoured for this weekend's 4x100m relay (even without the injured Greene). For three glorious years in the mid-nineties, it was Canada that ruled. Will we ever again be as dom inant? Canada's summer national swim ming championships are on tap this week and the Oakville Aquatic Club had a sizzling start, thanks to two Oakville sisters. Both Laura and Julia Pomeroy made the final championship race of the 50m fly with Laura finishing 5th at 33.44s and Julia eighth at 33.96s. The race was won by Rhiannon Leier in 32.78 seconds. Will Canada ever be as dominant again? (Continued from Back Page Sports) scream, the trium phant fist pump. It can confidently stand along side Henderson's winning goal against the Russians or the embrace o f Gretzky and Lemieux on their Canada Cup winning goal. The celebration over Bailey's glo rious Olympic gold medal didn't end 'till he came back to Oakville for his second and biggest parade at Coronation Park that was covered live by CBC Newsworld. In a nice touch. Bailey had Oakville's three other '96 Olympic athletes share the stage. Sprinters have a reputation of being high strung, sounding more like Muhammad Ali. then, say, Ken Dry den. But in '97, at the much vaunted 150m showdown at the Sky Dome between Bailey and M ichael Club's juniors sparkle at provincials The junior long course provincial swimming championships were recent ly held at the Etobicoke Olympium, July 12-15. About 78 clubs from all across Ontario attended, including the Oakville Aquatic Club with a contin gent of nearly 30 swimmers. When the spray settled, the Oakville club had placed third overall and had a number of outstanding swims to boast about. Marco Monaco won gold in the 100 and 200-metre breaststroke, 200 and 400 individual medleys as well as the 400 freestyle while taking home the High Point award for his 13-14 age group. Other top swims were put in by the boys 11-12 relay team of Sam Thrall, Cam Cummings, Luka Pike and Sebastian Moench who swam to gold in the 4x 50 medley and silver in the 4x50 free relay. Cam Cummings and Sam Thrall were also individual medal winners, Cummings in the 200 back (silver), 1500 free (silver), 200 IM (silver) and 400 IM (bronze), and Thrall in the 100 free (silver) and the 50 free (bronze). The boy's 13-14 4x50 freestyle relay of Monaco, Kevin Jones, Mauro Parker and James San Pedro came through with a bronze medal swim. On the w om en's side, Kimmi Labbett was a double medalist in the 13-14 girls 100 and 200-metre breast stroke, taking silver in both as she pre pared for the senior nationals which are now ongoing. All had great swims and fun and the club continued to show why it is one of the top programs in Canada according to SWIMNEWS Canada. Strikers strike gold at Burlington tourney The Oakville Strikers U11 all star team took gold in the Burlington all-star tourna ment over the July 21/22 weekend. Oakville won the champi onship 2-0 over Dundas in a game that was as sizzling as the heat. O akville m anaged two early goals by Alexandra Lyn and Kristina Zucchiatti. From then on the Oakville defence took over. Defenders Julie-R ose Pagnotta and Ashley Sloane played great in front of Dundas's biggest little obstacle, Sonya Lafleur. Lafleur played in net for all five shutouts. C aroline Davies was awarded MVP for the champi onship game while Alexandra M ason received M VP the tournament MVP. Oakville came up against a hot Mississauga North goalie in the semifinal but managed a 2-0 win on goals by Jenny M cGuire and C aroline Davies. Katie Vincent was game MVP. In the preliminary round Oakville defeated Mississauga North 1-0 on a goal by Rachel Duban. M elissa Provost played a strong game on the forward line picking up game MVP. Beth Irvine was a stand out on defence. Oakville defeated Dixie 10 on a goal by Kristina Zucchiatti on a nice pass from Alexandra Lyn. Katie Vincent was awarded game MVP. Oakville opened with a 2-0 win over Burlington Devils. Leah Franco opened the scor ing followed by Sarah Longo. Emily Frost played a strong game in midfield with Rachel Duban winning the MVP award on defence. Oakville's first tournament over the July 7/8th weekend resulted in reaching the conso lation final. Burlington Lasers won the game on overtim e penalty kicks after tying the game at 1-1 with just three minutes left in regulation time. It was actu ally the only goal allowed by the Strikers in regulation time of both tournaments. Oakville was relegated to the consolation final after los ing their semifinal game to host Scarborough United on overtime penalty kicks after the team s were scoreless through regulation and over time. In the preliminary round, O akville tied 0-0 with Clarkson Comets and won 3-0 over Scarborough United and 2-0 over Erin Mills Eagles. Goals in this tournament were scored by M elissa Provost (2), Emily Guagliardi, Kristina Zucchiatti, Katie Vincent and Caroline Davies. Photo Special to the Beaver The Oakville Strikers. BACK ROW: Tom Guagliardi (asst, coach), Emily Frost, Melissa Provost, Kristina Zucchiati, Rachel Duban, Jenny M cGuire, Emma Steenhorst, David Wetherald (head coach). MIDDLE ROW: Gillian Wetherald, Sarah Oikawa, Leah Franco, Beth Irvine and Ashley Sloane. FRONT ROW: Alexandra Mason, Caroline Davies, Sonya Lafleur, Sarah Longo, Alexandra Lyn, Julie-Rose Pagnotta and Katie Vincent. Refs are needed The Halton High School sports sea son may be over, but it's already time to start organizing for the coming school year. Volleyball referees are needed when the school sports season resumes again in September. A clinic will be provided. Phone Peter Moore, the Halton high school sports convener, at 335-3665, ext. 3201 (work) or 3352626 (residence) Titans in tight battle for first place The Oakville Titans U- l l A rep team came away with an important 3-1 win against the Burlington Strikers AA rep team. The win moved the Titans' record to 8-2-2 and within one point of first place with six games remaining. Oakville broke open a 1-1 deadlock on goals by Jordan Starr and Hayen Jones. Kenton CarrHall had opened the scoring for Oakville against the grain of play. Goalie Luke Kriel helped pre serve the 3-1 win.