Wednesday, June 6,2001 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER .. D1 AutoGlass 1033 Speers Rd. APPLE S p o r t s W k t a t o 842-6060 < / o r UPHOLSTERY... SEATS, BOAT TOPS, CONVERTIBLE T O W .. An Oakville Beaver Feature Editor: N O R M NELSO N Phone:845-3824, ext 255 Fax:337-5567 E-mail:nnelson@ haltonsearch.com Oakville Cobras win national Nike Cup GOLD ... the Oakville Cobras girls U-15 rep team cele brate Sunday's Nike Cup Canadian cham pionship win in Toronto. The Oakville Cobras U-15 girls rep team are the Canadian national Nike Cup soccer champs. The Cobras, which won the Ontario provincial Nike Cup playdowns late last month to earn a berth in the nationals, won the championship in Toronto on Sunday with a 2-1 win over the North Shore Runnin' Rebels from Vancouver. Goals were scored by Karen Zmirak and Vanessa Dumlao. Zmirak pulled double duty on the weekend, helping her St. Thomas Aquinas soccer team to a silver medal in the Ontario provincial high school OFSAA championships (see story below). The Cobras brought with them solid credentials, being a two-time winner of the prestigious Ontario Cup provincial championships. Last year, however, they, bowed out in the Ontario Cup quarterfinals to Burlington, so they're pleased with their siz zling start to the current campaign. Not only does it include the provincial and national Nike Cup triumphs, but also tournament wins in London andGrimsby. Ironically, they've yet to play a regular season game with the rainy spring already causing one game to be postponed. But their Nike national triumph was definitely hard fought every single inch of the way, and their regular league promis es to be just as tough as the U-15 age group graduates from regional (South Regional Soccer League) to provincial (Ontario Youth Soccer League) competition this year. The other highlight for the team will be participating in the prestigious Washington All-Girls Soccer (WAGS) soccer tournament in the fall. The national Nike Cup competition was a four-team chal lenge featuring the Ontario champion Cobras along with the British Columbia and Quebec champs as well as the host team, Scarborough. (See 'Cobras' page D3) ... & SILVER the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders are dejected after losing the OFSAA provincial gold medal game 2-1 in double overtime in Ottawa on Saturday. Showing their dis appointment, here, are Clare O'Connor, Kersha Walker, keeper Katie McKenna and LeAnne DaRosa Photo courtesy of Nike Canada Silver lining at OFSAA B y N orm Nelson BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Any other high school in Ontario would probably have been ecstatic to bring back a silver medal from the Ontario triple-A provincial girls high school soccer championships. After all, it's not too shabby being the second best girls high school team in all of Ontario. But not for Oakville's St. Thomas Aquinas. At least not yet. Oh, with each passing week and month, their silver medals will, no doubt, start to shine brighter. But for now the sting of losing the gold medal game, 2-1 in overtime, to their namesakes, St. Thomas Aquinas from London, still stings. And why shouldn't it. The higher you're up when you slip, the more it hurts. But isn't that the wonderful world of sports: the thrill of victory; the agony of defeat. It's just that players and fans alike can sometimes conveniently forget the implications of the second half of that equation. Aquinas had the gold medal in sight, having played such an outstanding tournament. Consider: Semifinal: 3-1 over Holy Cross (Southern Ontario Secondary School Association) Quarterfinal: 6-2 over Lisgar. Preliminary round ... 7-0 over Notre Dame (Eastern Ontario Athletic Association), 8-0 over East York, and 4-1 over London St. Thomas Aquinas in a preview of the cham pionship game. Not only had Aquinas won all five games leading up the provincial championship game, but the closest anyone had got to them was by two goals. But it is St. Thomas Aquinas from London that have the gold medals, for which they were immediately thrilled about. They interrupted the Oakville school's destiny with a goal with about two minutes left in the second and last overtime to break a 1-1 tie. Karen Zmirak had scored Oakville's lone goal. Zmirak, at least, had some immediate consolation on the weekend as her club rep team, the Oakville Cobras, on Sunday, won the Nike Cup national championship with a 21 win over the North Shore Runnin' Rebels from Vancouver. Asked, straight off, how the team felt about bringing back the silver medal, coach Michelle Spears, understated that, "To tell you the truth we were a little disappointed." "I'm certainly proud of the team, the girls are proud of themselves, but on the other hand there's a little bit of a dis appointment because we beat them the day before and kind of feel like we're the better team." They may very well be, but the only relevant fact was who was the better team during that afternoon. And that's something coach Spears, graceful in defeat, had no problem accepting. Bottom line is that the London team were full value for (See 'youthful Raiders' page D2) Photo Special to the Beaver by Tim McKenna Photo by Peter C. McCusker Oakville `Y' supporters contributed to the world's largest run on Saturday. `Y' run in Oakville on Saturday raised $5,000 The 'World's Largest Run' marked the beginning of a year of celebration of the founding of the first YMCA in North America. More than 1,000 Y's across the continent, including in Oakville, hosted runs on Saturday. The total number of runners has yet to be compiled, but here in Oakville, where the event was presented by the Invidiata Team as title sponsor, there were 159 runners, 33 walk ers and 62 in the IK challenge. They helped raise about $5,000. They were welcomed and assisted by vol unteers from Appleby College, the Air Cadets and YMCA staff and friends. Here are the overall winners o f the 5K run ... MALE: Paul Osland 15:12; Daniel Lennox 16:09; and Richard Garton 17:19. FEMALE: Kimberley Webb 17:32; Adela Flista 17:51; and Sandra Omand 18:36. Both Osland and Webb will have their names inscribed on the Invidiata Trophy, which is housed permanently at the Oakville Family 'Y'. The winner of the Ron Sanderson award was Koichi Ginnan: FLUSH & FIL1 Here's what we'll do: DUNDAS & TR A FA LG A R ROAD 400 Dundns Si. E. 257-TIRE 2 5 7 -0 4 2 9 Mon. -Fri. 7am-9p#l S.it. 7ntrv6pm 0A K T0W N S H O P P IN G P 50 K e rr Sf?i 844-0202 st · · · · Install up to 8L of Motomaster Coolant Pressure - test cooling system Visually inspect all belts & hoses Check cooling tan operation A Wk Look for dur flyer in Friday's Oakville Beaver * # s e r v ic e h o u r s * Sun. 9.1m-5pm STORE H O U R 8 r * * £ ^ Mon. -Fit 030Nm.9pm Sat?!JS?Tv6pm JS S " Sun. 9am-5pm