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Wednesday, March 7, 2001 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER D3 'Awesome' experience Down Under at junior worlds By Kathy V^nchus SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Being a part of an international sail ing championship in the majestic set ting of Sydney Harbour, was "awe some." "It was so cool," said 18-year-old Connolly Aziz, who finished 19th out of 35 countries with sailing partner Trevor McEwen of Belleville at the pre-Christmas 30th annual Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships. Position, however, came secondary to the entire experience which Connolly soaked up like the intense Australian sun. Representing his country, parading in opening ceremonies, residing in an old seminary overlooking Manley Beach, forming new friendships and renewing old, all combined to create a memorable experience for the OAC student, one from which he is still reel ing. Discovering that their khaki shorts and white shirt uniform matched about 10 other teams' choice, the Canadians donned their red fleece jackets in the searing sun "just so we could look dif ferent." A disadvantage for many of the sailors, including the young Canadians, was that there was no pre-race opportu nity to practice in the international 420s as these boats are not raced in North America nor in many other parts of the world. "Everybody got their boat the same day. We had a training day two days before the races started. We just went out and sailed a lot. Then we had a Photos Special to the Beaver Oakville's Connolly Aziz and his teammate Trevor McEwen of Belleville represented Canada Down Under at the world junior sailing championships practice race. The Canadian duo was hooked up with the Bermuda team to train, allow ing them to fine tune technical and speed maneuvers. "With the international 420s you have to move your weight around a lot more. In the boats we sail (470s), we just have to lean a bit." Although dazzled by the view from the water at times, Connolly kept on course and wasn't intimidated by his competition. "It's not like any of these others guys went to the Olympics. I just put things in focus and it gave me positive motivation." Aside from windy conditions, the only other obstacle in their 12 races proved to be the "huge ferries" gliding across the harbour. "They don't get out of your way. They can make you or break you," said Connolly. "It was pretty windy but we had 10 times better wind than for the Olympics. We had a few top 10 finish es. After each race even though you'd wished you'd done better, we felt we had sailed pretty good." Now that Australia and his year with the Canadian Youth Sailing Team are behind him, Connolly is concentrating on his studies with the hope of landing in the business program at either Sir Wilfrid Laurier or Queen's University. "I have to concentrate on academics now," says Connolly, who hails from a family passionate about sailing includ ing mom Jennifer, father Julian, uncle John Dakin and grandfather Sid Dakin, a legendary sailor who competed in the `79 Olympic trials in Halifax and was World Shark Champion six times. Because he is `too old' now, he won't be heading to Florida for the cur rent Canadian youth team trials, but he will be back in the boat this summer as a racing coach at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club. Having taken courses, he has also qualified to be an international measurer official at the Europe World's being held at his home club, the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club, in August of 2002 . "I 'm going to be taking it easy this summer. Last summer we trained so hard." Connolly's road to Sydney was an impressive one with first and second place finishes at the mid-Winter East and mid-Winter West regattas which solidified his youth sailing team status. He also won two races in the Laser II Gold Cup Series, was victorious in the Laser II Ontario 23-and-under regatta in Kingston and won the Ontario High School championship last fall. Stewart settles for fifth, arch rival wins OFSAA gold Oakville wrestlers made themselves known at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) provincial championships which wrapped up last weekend in Guelph with several top-ten results. Leading the pack was Kevin Stewart of Blakelock high school, the four-tim e Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference (G-HAC) champion, who set tled for a hard earned fifth place finish despite not being fully recovered from a shoulder injury. Stewart was injured in early January at an `open' meet at Queen's University in a match he was well ahead. The freak injury kept him off the mat for five weeks, unable to practice or keep up his daily regi men of 100 chin-ups. About all he was able to con tinue was his daily 8K run. He did manage one light practice prior to the pre vious week's G-HAC tourney which he went on to win (as previously recounted in the Oakville Beaver). His therapist pegged the shoulder at about 75 per cent healed and recommended that he give this year's OFSAA a pass. But Stewart would have none o f it and so the ther apist then went to `plan B ', advising Stewart on how to best protect it. "For him to reach the finals (top 6) is huge," said coach Patterson. "He was a threat all year to win the gold until the injury. O f course he is disappointed with not winning a medal but it's remarkable he was even here at the tournament." Stewart's key match came in the quarterfinals of the championship draw when he lost a sudden death heartbreaker to Ontario juvenile champion Greg Blois from Sarnia. It was one of the tightest matches of the weekend in one of the toughest weight classes of the tourna ment. It was marked by numerous moves initiated and then defended superbly with counter moves by both wrestlers. At the end of the match the score stood at 1-1. And it was into sudden-death overtime. Unfortunately for Stewart he lost the point and was eliminated from any gold medal chance. Blois would go on to earn the silver medal. Stewart, then, easily won his next two matches 90 and 9-1, before losing to Tim Day of the Sault in the bronze round semifinals. That left Stewart with one match left in his OFSAA career -- and with a night's rest he won the Saturday afternoon 5th/6th place battle handily over 4th ranked Mark Crockett of London. The OFSAA gold medal, meanwhile, was won by Stewart's local arch rival, Chris Holmes of E.C. Drury. Although Stewart had claimed the G-HAC title, he had actually lost to Holmes by one point in the tournament championship round. Stewart was able to claim the G-HAC title, how ever, because it was a round robin with three wrestlers and Stewart was able to pin the other wrestler while Holmes lost to him. Earlier in the season, the two wrestlers had been involved in three previous matches which had all been decided by one point -- with Holmes holding a 2-1 edge. Prior to this season, Stewart had never lost to Holmes. OTHER RESULTS Three other Oakville wrestlers from White Oaks also met with success. Sophie Sevastos turned in the biggest surprise of the contingent when she finished in 7th place. Coach Tim Patterson was thrilled with her perfor mance at this highly com petitive tournament. Sevastos reached the quarterfinals with a big upset win in the early rounds before bowing out to an eventual medalist. She then won her next match when she scored a three-point throw with only two seconds remaining. I 'll at was good enough to get her a coveted top-10 finish. Flynn Bevan, wrestling in her second OFSSA tournament, came up against some very stiff compe tition and wrestled very well but was eliminated early on the second day of the three-day tournament. Mike Kucan, wrestling in the heavy weight divi sion, overcame a first round loss to the number two seed to win his next two matches, both by falls, before being eliminated. He also finished in the top 10, at 9th spot. Kevin Stewart and coach Tim Patterson at the OFSAA meet. P H IL T H Y 'S S P O T L IG H T : Oakville Hornet novice ASI house league team won silver in Brantford. BACK ROW: coach Ed Jackson, Paige Robinson, Kimberlee Falkenstein, Olivia Barrow, Rebecca Burns and coach David Borthwick. MIDDLE ROW: Kendra Lawson, Samantha Ketcheson, Stephanie O 'Mahoney and Rachel Alves. FRONT ROW: Heili Palo, Emily Vrooman, Laura Jackson, Morgan Downer, Nicole Mitchell, Chelsea Erhardt and Meghan Borthwick. ABSENT: Lauren Lord. - Philthy's Spotlight Teams receive a $50 gift certificate Silver at Gretzky tourney An Oakville Hornets novice house league team were proud to win a silver medal in a rep `C ' level girls tournament last weekend, and especially proud to do it at the Walter Gretzky invitational in Brantford. The ASI-sponsored team defeated the host team, Brantford, to win a berth in the finals they lost to a strong Saugeen team. The team was led by the stellar goaltending of Chelsea Erhardt. Gaudet earns four shutouts The Oakville Hornets Peewee BB team continued their winning ways, recording four wins in their last four outings. Oakville 2, Halton Hills 0: Roxanne Johnson opened the scoring and Traci Galbraith added the insurance marker. Danielle Bernier assisted on both goals. Oakville 5, Etobicoke 0: Danielle Bernier fired in a pair of goals with singles added by Traci Galbraith, Mary DiMarco and Amanda Cicchini. Picking up assists were Rachel Vallance (2), Allison Thompson (2), Amanda Cicchini, Stephanie Secord, Monique Kahnert and Tania Ganassini. Oakville BB 5, Oakville BB 0: Taylor Laughlin scored her first goal of the season and Jordyn Mackonka contributed 1 goal and 2 assists. Tania Ganassini and Amanda Cicchini each had 1 goal and 1 assist. Mary DiMarco also added a goal. Stephanie Secord and Emma Hobson supplied an assist each. Oakville 2, Whitby 0: Goals were scored by Jordyn Mackonka and Mary DiMarco, assisted by Stephanie Secord, Amanda Cicchini and Monique Kahnert. Gabrielle Gaudet was unbeatable in net collecting all four shut-outs. The solid defensive play of Laura Iosue and Bianca Mirabelli was impressive. The team would like to thank their spon sors CIBC, Telus Mobility, Kadet Auto Centre and Custom Cupola. PRO TEACH BASEBALL Curling notes March Break Camp (March 12 · 16) e AGES: 9 - 1 3 © TIME: 9am - 12pm, Monday to Friday © © COST: $150.00 (includes tax & t-shirt) PLACE: Tansley Woods Centre Lori Adderley and her foursome o f Mary Jo Lynett, Fran Garrett and Jacquie Ramier from the Oakville Curling Club won the Business Women's Invitational played recently at the Oakville Curling Club. The runner-up in the Bonspiel was Sharon Bollenbach's team from the Dixie Curling Club. Other winners included rinks skipped by Tracey Krunic and Sharon Burton from the Oakville Curling Club. I (Oakville Major League) Doug Garritson's team, consisting of Fraser Brewster, Dale Paul and Cory Schneider from the Dixie Curling Club, won the Oakville Major League with a win over Bob Edmondson's rink, also from the Dixie Curling Club. Edmondson's foursome included Chris McMillan, Mike Shpuniarski and Vaughan Barnes. Doug Willey's team, consisting of Darcy Reid, Don Morris and Bob McDonald from the Oakville Curling Club, ended the round-robin series in first place with an impressive 11-1 record. He was followed by Bob Edmondson's rink with a 9-3 record. Ken Saw chenko's foursom e, consisting o f Ross Tousaw, Grant Clark and John Parks from the Oakville Curling Club, was tied with Doug Garritson's team for fourth place each with a record o f 8-4. In the semifinals, Edmondson's team beat W illey's rink while Garritson's foursome won over Sawchenko's team. This led to the final matchup between Garritson and Edmondson. In other club news, Jamie Parker's rink, consisting of Mike Clarke, Ryan Doran and Kyle Watkinson, from the Oakville Curling Club won the St. George's Bantam Bonspiel held Feb. 25th at the St. George's G olf & Curling Club. Impressive regular season The Oakville Hornets peewee BB team, sponsored by CIBC/Medela Canada, finished off their regular season with a 4-0 loss to the first place Vaughan Flames. It dropped Oakville's record to a still impressive 14-5-9. Their good play this year, pushed them up to the `BB' level. On Feb. 27, they played Oakville's vet eran BB team, just falling short 3-2. The CIBC/Medela-sponsored team held a 2-1 lead before their cross-town rivals scored a pair in the third period. Goals were scored by Amy Robinson and Giselle Panton. Feb. 28: Oakville appeared to struggle from the outset in this 5-2 loss in Mississauga. Megan Wanless briefly put Oakville in the game, cutting the deficit to 2-1 (Melissa Snedden and Tenille Clarke assisting) and Amy Robinson put in a great unassisted shorthanded effort (which cut the deficit to 4-2). (Oakville tourney) Oakville 1, Niagara Falls 0: Jenelle Stevens got the gam e's only goal from Melissa Snedden and Amy Robinson. Buffalo 5, Oakville 2: a very good per formance by Oakville against the eventual champs who describe themselves as an `A' team on their own website. Oakville actual ly held two brief one-goal leads on unas sisted markers by Kate Longmoore and Giselle Panton. Brampton 2, Oakville 1: showing the hangover effects of their best effort o f the year, Oakville fell behind 2-0 and couldn't recover despite good pressure. Giselle finally put Oakville on the board on a breakaway goal, assisted by Sarah Grigor and Jenelle Stevens with three minutes remaining. www.proteach.net ( ToRegister Call 905-974-0734 or 416-812-6793