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PAGE 16THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, JUNE 6,2001 Sports &LEISURE CANADIAN STATES. MAN JUNE 6, 2001 High jumper reaches new heights with gold at OFSAA Back-to-back titles for BHS student Mark Dillon BY BRAD KELLY Sports Editor BOWMAN VILLE - There is no way to measure measure how high Mark Dil lon's talents will lake him in the future. For the second year in a row, the Bowmanville High School high jumper won the provincial gold medal in his age group, beating 23 competitors at the OFSAA championships championships in Toronto this past weekend. While back-to-back gold medals in the midget Canadian golfer an all-American BY BRIAN McNAIR Staff Writer DURHAM, N.C. - A Canadian all-American. While it definitely has a nice ring to it, it is also believed believed to be unhear d of in the *vorld of NCAA golf. * Or, at least, it was unheard t>f before Jon Mills of Brooklyn Brooklyn finished sixth at the J'JCAA Division 1 championships championships Saturday and was one of 11 to earn first-team 'all-American honours from 'the Golf Coaches Associa- ] lion of America based on the ipast season. • Neither Herb Page, a na- jtive of Newmarket who ! coaches Mills at Kent State 'University, nor Craig Jenk- ■ ins, the communications di- | rector at the GCAA, know of j another Canadian to earn I such an honour. ! Mike Weir, Canada's current current top professional, was a i second team all-star, Dave | Barr was a third team all-star 'and David Morland IV, another another of the many Canucks | Page has coached, was twice 'an honourable mention. i "Jon Mills has got as jrnuch or more talent as any •of them," says Page. "He has ljust a phenomenal attitude. |He's a coach's dream. On top 1 of that, he has a ton of talent." ! Mills, 23, put some brilliant brilliant finishing strokes to his ' four-year career at Kent State !by carding rounds of 71-73- ; 67-71 at the NCAA champi- ■ onships hosted by Duke University. University. With a six-under-par ; total of 282, he finished one i stroke back of fourth place [and six back of winner Nick ;Gillam of the University of i Florida. | "Overall I was pretty 'happy," Mills says of the i championship, his ninth top- ] 10 finish of the season. "The 'last day, coming in on the iback nine, I hit the ball really | well and gave myself a lot of 'birdie opportunities, but did- Jn't capitalize with my | putting." i Besides Gillam, who learned all-American status j based largely on the victory, iMills finished ahead of the tournament, including No. 1- ranked Bryce Molder of Georgia Tech. "I think the consistency - just going out every week and playing and coming in the top-10," Mills says in explaining explaining his success this season. season. "The icing on the cake was the nationals." Mills, who ended up ranked 12th among more than 2,500 NCAA golfers according to the Golfweek/Sagarin performance performance index, remains humble humble despite the success. But coach Page can't say enough about his prized pupil. "He's just been better and better and better each year he was here," Page says of Mills, who was named a third-team all-American last year. "More important to me as a coach, he's a better person person off the course than he is on it." Always known for his ability to hit the ball a long way, Mills has become a complete player by working on his wedge shots and putting while at Kent State. He will continue on as an amateur this summer before turning professional in the fall, hopefully at the Canadian Canadian Open as Oshawa's Derek Gillespie did so successfully last year. Mills will hook up with Gillespie and Whitby's Eddie Maunder for a Canadian Tour event in Edmonton from June 28 to July 1. "It'll be fun," Mills says of the tournament, where he will compete as an amateur. "I grew up with those guys playing junior golf." Oshawa's Angela Buzminski, meantime, suffered suffered more heartbreak at the U.S. Women's Open golf championship on the weekend. weekend. A 30-year-old member of the SBC Futures Golf Tour, Buzminski missed the cut for the third time in as many tries, this time by a single single stroke. She finished seven-over-par after rounds of 74 and 73 at the Pine Needles Needles Golf Club at Southern Pines, N.C. and junior age group is something to be proud of, Dillon's accomplishments accomplishments arc even more impressive considering considering he competed at OFSAA with a severely sprained ankle suffered suffered during a charity basketball game. The injury occurred on May 11 when he landed on the foot of another another player and rolled over on his ankle. "I knew that was the last thing I wanted to happen," he said of the injury injury just two weeks prior to OFSAA. It wasn't until four days before the meet that he declared himself fit enough to enter. "If it hurt too bad I was going to drop out. OFSAA wasn't a big priority priority at this time. I wanted to make sure (the ankle) was healed for junior nationals," in July, he says. The Grade 11 student entered the meet coming off a personal-best jump of 2.11 metres at an invitational invitational meet. He was hoping to use OFSAA as a springboard into the junior junior national finals in Calgary. With his ankle heavily bandaged, the 16-year-old had to rely on his natural ability in winning the gold medal. He passed on his first three attempts, cleared his first jump at 1.80 metres, then four more at various various heights, before missing three times at 2.05 metres. His winning jump of 2.00 metres was equalled by another competitor from Nepean, but Dillon won the gold medal because he had fewer faults. "Considering my ankle I was very pleased with my height." His coach at the University of Toronto junior development program, program, Dave Hay said, "Considering his (leg), 1 thought he did quite well, but let's not forget that lie has jumped 2.11, which is exceptional fora 16-year-old." With his continued success and improvement, Dillon is being touted as Canada's next bright star on the international circuit. He is already being compared to Olympian Mark Boswell and Michael Ponikvar, who owns the Canadian interscholastic record of 2.24 metres and the provincial mark of 2.14 metres. He takes the comparisons as a compliment. But he won't let it alter the way he approaches every meet he enters. "I never expected to be compared to those guys. Those are guys you watch on TV and are the best in the sport. "I'm just a kid who can jump. I'm not cocky. I go into every meet and do my best and if it's good enough it's good enough. I always try to get better and don't think of myself as any kind of superstar."- - with files from Torstar News Service Statesman file photo Bowmanville High School student Mark Dillon won his second consecutive gold medal in the high jump event at the OFSAA track and field championships. The Grade 11 student is being touted as Canada's next bright star on the international circuit. 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