Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2009 17 Finances, staff shortage sack Longhorns' year By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Short-term pain for long-term gain. That's how Steve Harrington sums up the Oakville Longhorns' decision not to compete in the Northern Football Conference this season. The Longhorns, who won an unprecedented 11 consecutive NFC championships and three national titles between 1992 and 2003, have applied to the NFC for a one-year leave of absence. Harrington, the owner of the not-for-profit senior football club, said the notion of sitting out the 2009 season was not one he and the team's board of directors took lightly. "It's a bit of a "It's a bit of a sad day, but do you continue to limp on or sad day, but do stop and get the body you continue to healthy?" he said. limp on or stop Increasing expenses, and get the body decreasing revenues and a healthy?" shortage of administration were all factors in the decision, Longhorns owner Harrington said. Steve Harrington "It's probably a combination of all those things. It's like piling one rock on top of another," said Harrington. "It's not just one rock that holds you down. They all weigh you down." On top of NFC league fees that are nearly $7,000 per season, the Longhorns spend as much as $4,000 a year to rent fields for practice (approximately $100 per practice), according to Harrington. A decline in sponsorships and fundraising dollars has made it harder for the Longhorns to offset those and other expenses. Sponsorships harder to come by "At one point, we were spending more than $50,000 a year," Harrington said. "It's less than that now, but you can imagine at least $20,000 needs to come from sponsorships and revenue sources. That's a lot, especially in this economy. Sponsors are deluged with requests, and we're finding it gets tougher and tougher, especially with men's competitive teams." Though they had already begun training camp for the 2009 season, the Longhorns were without much direction at the helm. Only three coaches remained after former head coach Barry Emo resigned earlier this year, while general manager Liston Bates -- who had expressed interest in purchasing the team during the winter -- walked away last week. Bates said he and Harrington had contrasting views on many issues concerning the team, including how much player fees should be, and he didn't like the direction of the organization. LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER ALL CLEAR: River Oaks student Alex Dodds competes in the high jump during last week's Halton Public District School Board Wallace track and field meet. Forest Trail wins intermediate boys' title at meet With a top-three finisher in all but two of the intermediate boys' events, Forest Trail won the intermediate boys' division pennant at the Halton District School Board's Wallace track and field meet Friday in Burlington. Connor Gour was the lone Forest Trail student to win an intermediate boys' event, but the top-three finishes of Khaleel Griffiths, Mitchell Gour and Munam Ahmad helped the school earn 67 points, 16 more than second-place Brant Hills. Forest Trail also placed second in the intermediate boys' relay, four one-hundredths of a second behind Brant Hills and six one-hundredths of a second off the meet record time. River Oaks was the other local school to participate in the meet, which featured the nine middle-sized elementary schools in the Halton board. Other Forest Trail students to win events were Sarah Showky (junior girls' high jump), Stephan Ward (junior boys' 800m), Rachel Hassleman (intermediate girls' long jump), Erica Marinka (senior girls' long jump) and Cole Taylor (senior boys' 1,500m). Ben Everett (junior boys' 400m), Eduan Pretorius (junior boys' triple jump), Pavle Vujicic (intermediate boys' 400m) and Graham Appleby (intermediate boys' 1,500m) won events for River Oaks. WALLACE MEETRESULTS Junior girls long jump 3 Olivia Oberholster, RO 3.32m Junior girls high jump 1 Sarah Showky, FT 1.25m 3 Ocean Bryan, RO 1.25m Junior boys 200m 2 Kyle Shannon, RO 30.70 Junior boys 400m 1 Ben Everett, RO 1:08.48 Junior boys 800m 1 Stephan Ward, FT 2:47.15 Junior boys long jump 3 Kyle Shannon, RO 3.87m Junior boys high jump 2 Jack Buckland, RO 1.25m Junior boys triple jump 1 Eduan Pretorius, RO 8.94m Junior boys shot put 3 Eduan Pretorius, RO 9.17m Junior boys relay 3 Forest Trail 1:03.44 Junior boys team 2 River Oaks 54 pts Intermediate girls long jump 1 Rachel Hassleman, FT 3.96m Intermediate girls high jump 3 Nicolette Crummy, FT 1.25m Intermediate girls triple jump 2 Hayley Palmer, RO 8.57m Intermediate boys 100m 3 Khaleel Griffiths, FT 13.26 Intermediate boys 200m 2 Khaleel Griffiths, FT 27.59 Intermediate boys 400m 1 Pavle Vujicic, RO 1:03.70 Intermediate boys 800m 2 Pavle Vujicic, RO 2:33.50 3 Mitchell Gour, FT 2:34.13 Intermediate boys 1,500m 1 Graham Appleby, RO 5:19.04 Intermediate boys long jump 2 Khaleel Griffiths, FT 4.13m Intermediate boys high jump 1 Connor Gour, FT 1.50m 2 Pavle Vujicic, RO 1.45m 3 Mitchell Gour, FT 1.45m Intermediate boys triple jump 3 Connor Gour, FT 9.10m Intermediate boys shot put 2 Munam Ahmad, FT 9.90m Intermediate boys relay 2 Forest Trail 55.46 Intermediate boys team 1 Forest Trail 67 pts 3 River Oaks 3 2 1 3 2 3 3 3 3 2 1 2 3 Senior girls 100m Ana Tarnovskaya, RO Senior girls 400m Amy Hill, RO Senior girls long jump Erica Marinka, FT Keara Maynard, RO Senior girls high jump Erica Marinka, FT Senior girls shot put Fatim Ammor, FT Senior girls relay Forest Trail Senior girls team Forest Trail Senior boys 100m Marcus Rowlett, RO Senior boys 200m Marcus Rowlett, RO Senior boys 1500m Cole Taylor, FT Connor Bevington, RO Senior boys shot put Nathan McCabe, RO 43 pts 14.13 1:09.72 4.18m 3.65m 1.40m 8.47m 58.18 32 pts 12.80 27.09 5:16.63 5:18.87 10.12m See Oshawa page 18