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w w w .insidehalton.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, June 1 5 , 2 0 1 7 | 4 4 Kevin Nagel Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports Coyne was hoping to move up to AAA com petition this year, but the school's population slotted it back in AA. "It would have been nice to play St. Mike's (the AAA provincial champs)," said Coyne. "I think it would have been a good game." Chris Dong joined the attack as a starter this season with returnees den Elzen and Justin Sykes, with Dong's older brother Kevin mov ing to midfield. "Kevin's a big part of the program. He's a great leader," said Coyne of the Grade 12 stu dent responsible for the formation of the team last year. Other starting midfielders included Michael Boushy, William McAllister, Ricketts, and Hul bert. Starters Justin Sykes, Ethan Cummings, and Noah Gibson returned on defence along with long-stick mini Matt Wright, who was playing his last game with Appleby Park. Wright is going to spend his Grade 11 and 12 years at the Hill Academy in Vaughan, one of the top lacrosse schools in North America, according to Coyne. Grade 9 goalie Chase Strychaluk started the final and shared the goaltending duties with veteran Evan Mason this season. The victory wrapped up a season in which the Eagles lost only one game (8-7 in an earlyseason tournament against St. Catharines' De nis Morris, whose lineup included NLL player Latrell Harris). "We had a lot of Grade 12s, so we're going to "Connected to your Community " Eagles soar to OFSAA gold By Kevin Nagel Oakville Beaver sports editor Bronze medallists last year at OFSAA in their first year fielding a lacrosse team, the Abbey Park Eagles upped their game at the all-Ontar io high school field lacrosse festival in Brant ford by winning the AA gold this spring. The Eagles took the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations gold-medal game 9-5 over McKinnon Park from Caledonia, their opponents in the bronze-medal game last year. Eagles coach Patrick Coyne expected his team to be strong considering the fact only two players were lost to graduation this season. Another, Curtis Douglas, relocated to Barrie to play in the Ontario Hockey League. "Our goal was OFSAA gold and there would have been some level of disappointment if we didn't achieve that," said Coyne. "I think it's pretty cool, especially for the seniors, as we celebrate Canada's sesquicentennial. They're OFSAA champions in Canada's official sum mer sport." Justin Sykes scored three goals, Kevin Dong added two, and singles went to Nick Hulbert, Jack Ricketts, Jackson den Elzen, and Matt Sykes in the championship game. Abbey Park won all four games it played at OFSAA, including division wins over Owen Sound St. Mary's (22-7) and Etobicoke's Lakeshore Collegiate (18-5), and an 11-5 victory over St. Catharines'Holy Cross in the semifinals. The Abbey Park Eagles defeated Caledonia's McKinnon Park 9-5 to win the OFSAA boys' A/AA lacrosse champion ship. It was the second straight OFSAA medal for the Eagles, who won bronze last year. | photo submitted lose a lot, but we've got a good foundation for the next three years," Coyne said. Teacher rep and assistant coach Sheila Gabura earned praise from Coyne, who said "Miss G" stepped up to help make it possible for the team to compete. "She spent (countless hours) knocking down barriers and organizing everything for us so they could play the game they love for the Eagles," Coyne said. Other members of the team include Pierce Burch, James Carroll, Owen Coyne, Matthew Hiedin, Lucas Hucal, Rahul Kaura, Kolby Kavic, Gareth Mann, Christopher Parsons, Na than Rougier, and Ethan Stainton. At AAA OFSAA, Holy Trinity defeated Neil McNeil 9-6 to finish in seventh place. Oakville Trafalgar beat St. Martin 11-3 to place ninth. Both teams finished the tournament with 3-2 records. Holy Trinity won its first two, beating Au rora 15-7 and Assumption 14-5. It lost a close 9-8 decision to Denis Morris and then fell 12-7 to Maxwell Heights. OT dropped its opener 11-5 to Maxwell Heights, bounced back to beat St. FX 15-5 and then lost 12-7 to gold medallist St. Mike's. The Red Devils then beat Aurora 10-8. Appleby College's Ayorinde finds silver lining in OFSAA track & field performance By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff Experience is supposed to be beneficial for an athlete, but in some ways, Ibrahim Ayorinde says it was easier when he was just getting started. As a 10-year-old in his first year of competitive track, Ayorinde won the 100-metres at the Hershey's Track and Field North American championships. "I never really thought of it at the time, but looking at Hershey now, I realize how big of a meet it was," says the Grade 10 Appleby College student. "Back then, it was just another race. Now everything becomes a lot more intense." So as he lined up for the junior boys' 200-metre final at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations track and field championships, Ayorinde couldn't help but feel the nerves. The day before he'd been denied a gold medal in the 100m by the narrowest of margins. Now he had a second chance. Though he prefers the 100m, Ayorinde said he might actu ally be better at the 200m because of his ability to maintain his speed. A caution in the starting blocks had him on edge, though, and he didn't get the same good start he did in the preliminaries when he posted the fastest time qualifying time of 21.88 seconds. In a race determined by fractions of a second, that gave Ham ilton's Myles Misener-Daley the opening he needed to win in 21.93 and complete a sweep of the 100m, 200m and 400m. Ayorinde still managed to earn his second silver of the meet, finishing well ahead of the rest of the pack in 22.19. The two squared off a day earlier as well. They had gone head-to-head in the 100m twice this year, each winning once. Ayorinde got a good start and the two once again pulled away from the field. Down the stretch, he thought the gold was his. "I felt like I was ahead in the last five metres," he said. "I thought I had won, but he must have got me on the last step." Misener-Daley crossed the line in 10.85 seconds, one hun dredth of a second ahead of Ayorinde. To say he was edged by a blink of an eye doesn't begin to do it justice. The margin of victory was 1/30th of the time it takes a person to blink. "At first, I wasn't very happy because I finished second," Ayorinde said. "But then I look back at how I ran, that I got a personal best and I'm happy with that." And with good reason -- their times were actually faster than the senior boys' gold medalist (10.92). See Tint on pg. 45 START THIS SEPTEMBER. APPLY NOW. You may qualify fo r financial assistance. A variety of awards, scholarships, bursaries and other funding opportunities are available to students showing financial need. Learn more about what opportunities may be available. Learn more at mohawkcollege.ca/apply II m o H a u jK COLLEGE