The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Wednesday, May 21, 2014 | 18 Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports "Connected to your Community" Hinchcliffe back in front row for Indy 500 For the second time in his career, James Hinchcliffe will have a front-row view to the start of the Indy 500. The Oakville driver finished second Sunday in qualifying for the famed race, turning in a four-lap average speed of 230.839 miles per hour. He'll start this weekend's race in the front row, next to Ed Carpenter, who earned the pole position for the second year in a row with an average speed of 231.067 mph. Sunday capped an incredible comeback for the Oakville Trafalgar High School alumnus, who wasn't cleared to drive until three days before the final qualifying runs. "To think about the fact a week ago I wasn't allowed to operate a cell phone," Hinchcliffe said. "Today I'm whipping an IndyCar around IMS (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) at 230-something miles an hour is pretty incredible. It's only because of so many people, everything from the doctors, my family taking care of me at home, all my teammates who did such a good job getting these cars ready." The 27-year-old suffered a concussion in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis May 10 after being struck in the head by a piece of the front wing of Justin Wilson's car that broke off during a restart. Hinchcliffe could only wait for clearance as E.J. Viso drove his No. 27 United Fibre & Data car in practice early in the week. "Driving into the Speedway on Thursday was just awful because I'm driving in, seeing cars drive around, thinking I should be out there, knowing I'm going to a dark room that is going to determine my fate. It wasn't the most comforting feeling certainly," he said. "It was more nerves, I think, than any lasting effect from the accident. Needless to say when those results came in, it was a huge relief. They determined I'm just as brain-dead as I was before." After getting clearance, Hinchcliffe was back in the car for Friday's final practice session, but had limited time on the track. "If I had a choice, I probably would have rather had more than 18 minutes," he said. "Trust me, next year I don't plan on taking a vacation practice week, calling in a sub. I'd rather be here all week." Hinchcliffe finished fourth in the opening round of qualifying Saturday with an average speed of 230.407 mph. That earned him a spot in the Fast 9, with those cars getting see Driver on p.20 Oakville high school basketball players Anthony Pate (left, pictured in action with the New Hampton Huskies) and Jake Babic (pictured with the Loyola Hawks) have chosen different paths for their post-secondary playing careers. Pate will play CIS basketball with the Carleton Ravens next year, while Babic is headed south to join the Appalachian State Mountaineers. | Pate photo submitted, Babic photo from Oakville Beaver files Choosing NCAA or CIS no slam-dunk decision by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor Since first crossing paths nearly a decade ago, Anthony Pate and Jake Babic have constructed their basketball careers from similar blueprints. Both played for Oakville Catholic high school powers, Babic with the two-time provincial finalist Loyola Hawks and Pate with a Holy Trinity Titans program that has won four Halton senior titles in the last eight years. Both were members of the Canadian national cadet team that competed in the FIBA U17 World Championships two summers ago. And both chose to conclude their high school playing days south of the border, determined to elevate their game against stiffer competition while also gaining exposure to university scouts. But now, at the pinnacle of their basketball lives to date, the two are going in different directions, both figuratively and literally. Babic will play NCAA Division 1 in North Carolina next season for Appalachian State University, while Pate has turned down offers from The reality is Carleton is beating a lot of (NCAA) teams I would have strongly considered. several American schools to play instead for the Carleton Ravens dynasty in Canadian Interuniversity Sport. Babic's plan all along was to secure a scholarship from a U.S. school, but Pate's decision represents a complete 180-degree turn from his line of thinking as recently as a few weeks ago. "To be honest, up until the day I committed to Carleton, I was strongly considering multiple Division 1 schools," said Pate, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard whose strongest NCAA interest came from UNC Greensboro, Maine and St. Peter's. Carleton has won 368 of its last 399 regular-season games, eight of the last 12 Ontario University Athletics championships and four consecutive CIS titles. The Ravens also made waves last summer when they beat the Wisconsin Badgers -- this year's NCAA Tournament semifinalists -- and took the Syracuse Orange to overtime in exhibition play. "It's not a knock towards any level of D1 basketball, but the reality is Carleton is beatAnthony Pate Carleton basketball recruit ing a lot of the (NCAA) teams I would have strongly considered," Pate said. "Carleton is a D1 basketball program," Babic added. "It just see Both on p.19