The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

7.777.77-, Tf'i SPORTS Loi Mellen of Whtby -continued -ber quest for a -bèrth -on, Canaâda's8 Summer Olyrnpic swim, tear as she won tbree puold and two'silver * mpdals to earn ",ýhonorsý as top femaàle swirnmàerý at the Canadian *inter chamàplonships héld last weekinEdmofltôflAlta. .,'I had.one 'of my be' et -?evèr," adMeln 1,a"Ander- "sonCVI student; She wonthe 50 and 100metre backitroke'anid50 butter- fJyýý and was,,seëcond in the 200- backstrokeandbbfreetyle. sasIve olyof the Ajax Aquai Club, to wbich'Melien lien i's-top-fi "W'egot another Olympian. on' ourhands," she prediets. ~ -Meli .eq- was pleased that sheýý açbleved':personal bests hi#al five events. Sbe's stillý-hoplng .1»t shave - another, haif-second off,,Ïi,the 100" backstiroke in -the Olymçeic trial$* May 28ý-June 2,in Montreal to reach: a quallfyiiig time she f eels is 'necouss1a ry to earn a trip to the Olypipca ,,1 7"ýIt'getting there," se says, addlng thdat much, trainingils Yet to. corne bt in the Pool azïd'on. the Mellen as a bit taken ib.ckga ber results in the non-backstroke, even~ emaleswimrn-er 1I lnaifals 'II Wanted to .do weli in my backstr .oke, but I was surprised about the other two, events," she says. She s"ys that a U.S. swimmner pushed ber to her first-place finish intefly eveit. Derek Phillips of Wbltby, also a member of the Ajax club, will jomn ,Melien at the Olyrnpic trials after fourth, fifth and - eight-place flnlhes at the wmnter nationals. Phiips, 16, a Henry Street High School student, was fourtb in the, 100 backstroke and fiftb in the '50 backstroke. He was eighth in the,' 200 baekstroke,. Botb Mellen. and Philllips mayý take part-lu the Durhamn Region hlgh school swim meet in !Pickering this Tbursday. Other Whitby residents who swim fo'r the Ajax club had top,finishes in other reent meets. Lindsay Crowder won the 50 freestyle and 100 individual medleyi Pickening novice swl*.m meet'on*' Jan ~ ~ 60 h wsaso eond- in the 25 backstroke. ebra* Thatchel', af 'the. saine meet, was tird in th-0 rat stroke for girls 10 and under.*«Qreg, Melien was. se .cond in'-the 50 freestyle. -Jennifer Thatcher won goldintbhe 200 breaststroke for girls 13 and 14, at'tbe central region B champeion- shipa beld recently lu Scèarborough. Tearn' celebrate s it s first ..W.n It was a long time coming but on Sunday Whitby's minor atom B teamn finally made it -to tbe vic- tory cqlumn as tbey posted .their firstwin of the season. And the season of frustration en- ded in stunning fashion.,,Whitby was without one of ié best.players when it flot only de feated but shut out, Markham, one Ã"f- the- local league's best teams, and in,.a playoff gamne. "They've been trying. so bahrd al year," said_ Douig< Norton, a Brooklin-Whitby. Minor Hockey executive member whose son Mat- thew is the ot her goalie obn the, team. Steven Hastin$s went ail the way in goal in this contest to gain the shutout. "This was a real convincing vic- tory." Coach Mark Westenhoefer said the vict ory came latý, in the season but noted that the team is "finally cominûg together.", Members of the team had no.. previous experience in representative level hockey.--, Norton said-the team*bad been- involved in several close -games, adding to the frusrationtbat had developed . Bul'.the, win over. excited., Shane Terry led the scoring with three goals while Bnian, Howden and Gavin Findèrs had the others. Aomscone los e -m. silveër stick.to.urniey.. final of the international1 silver. stick ,tournament. in. Newmarket over the weekend before losing a- heartbreaker, 1-0, to Pickening. - Relying on strong defence and goaltending, Whitby, the regional silver stick champions, defeated Newmarket 2-1, Ottawa 4-0 and Mississauga 2-1 and 3-0 to*reach the Whiby arnd arevenge of sorts b~dèèatrigickrin3-1the n'èxt. night in -the league.'playoff round- robin, t 'heir ,fif-th-straight.playoff win., Whitby, sponsored by Checker's * Vaniéty, as fist uig..,the regular season.' The team now< will take part' in the all-Ontario playdowns. W~ ~ ~~~CL teklrm s C . --wsVe et àmdseal! JULIE PARKER of the Henry Street- High Sehool junior volleyball team prepares tô spike during the champion- ship game against O'Neill ln a tournament o~n Saturday at Henry. lienryvuIn two strqîýht,gameg See stor-y on- page -- ~ '-r- Free pI'css photo Fl E> ý Week 0-NEWE K Feb. 6 ý citmc-all