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Wednesday, February 28, 2001 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER D1 Sports^ata% An Oakville Beaver Feature Editor: NORM NELSON Phone:845-3824, ext 255 Fax:337-5567 E-mail:nnelson@haltonsearch.com Halton champs St. Thomas Aquinas won their first Halton volleyball championship on Monday with the junior girls team prevailing over Georgetown in three games (22-25, 25-22, 15-11). Despite Georgetown being the three-time defending champions, it was Aquinas, which had lost to Georgetown in last year's junior championship, that was favoured. The Oakville school had not lost a match all year, and, in fact, with Monday's Halton championship win over Georgetown, had only dropped four games against 71 wins. Of the four dropped games, only two were in league and playoff action, including Monday's opening game loss to Georgetown as well as a dropped game in a 2-1 regular season win over Loyola). The closest they came to dropping a match, in fact, was, well ... (See 'Aquinas' page D3) LEFT PHOTO: Shelly Visser goes for the spike. BOTTOM AND RIGHT PHOTOS: after shaking off a slow start, the junior Raiders were able to cel ebrate a Halton championship. Photos by Barrie Erskine Iroquois "Ridge misses the point (guard) P hotos by E rin R iley Iroquois Ridge could not repeat their heroics this year in preventing an all-Burlington sweep at Friday's Halton boys basketball championships at Sheridan College. Like last year, Iroquois Ridge was the only nonBurlington Halton high school in the mix, in the junior division, but they lost 54-30 to M.M. Robinson. The Ridge's Justin Close had to leave game with injured hand. Justin Close, forced out of they game, due to injury, in the third quarter. This year it was deja vu -- only worse. Close showed up with a badly injured hand as a result of a fall on the ice earlier in the day. He gamely went in, but, this year, he was forced out In the senior headline m atch, N elson beat only 30 seconds in the game. N otre D am e 60-43. And this year, his teammates couldn't rally. In the midget final, Robinson defeated M.M. Robinson were a "very tough team," acknowl Notre Dame 58-19. edged Ridge coach Dave Ferencina. Last season, Iroquois "They put a lot of pressure on us. We only had one Ridge managed to spoil point guard (Close) all year that could handle that kind the Burlington sweep by of pressure." winning the midget final. "We hung tough for a while but we just weren't pre pared for that, and then we just started throwing the ball And they managed to pull all over the gym." out the comefromIt was a tough blow for a team that fully expected to bring back a second straight boys basketball title to behind 61Iroquois Ridge. 57 victory despite hav "I still believe we were the team to beat. We were ing their first overall in our division and M.M. Robinson was sec ond and we beat them early on (in the season). point "But that's okay, kids learn from that." guard, He added that it's just part of the learning curve in trying to create a great basketball tradition at Iroquois Ridge that will enable them to compete against the Burlington powerhouses. "It's tough, Nobody knows too much about us. No one invites us to a lot of tournaments ... I tried to get more games for them. "Robinson played double the games that we played because they just played a lot of tournaments. "I think that game experience helped them down the stretch." Double coverage by these unidentified Ridge players. Inter-club championships are on tap this weekend The Oakville Skating Club had its top Inter-club skaters (i.e., top two at the club level) compete at the recent Metro West competition. Top skaters from that event move on to this weekend's Central Ontario Interclub championship. (See .QSC M etro West 1page D3) The Oakville Skating Club inter-club skaters ... BACK ROW: Dimah Nassar, Karen Newman, Krysten Becker, Catherine Sue-A-Quan, Jacqueline Fisher, Jenna Preston, Caitlin Harvey, Alexandra Skinner, Taryn Spiegelberg, Emily Merrick and Kara Egelton. MIDDLE ROW: Eric Von Hagen, Alexandra Antidormi, Kaylen Shimoda, Lizzie Schwartz, Katie Bonar, Kylie McMahon, Claire Follett, Kristen Robinson, Stephanie Van Veen, Courtney Andison, Hillary Buchan-Terrell and Kelly Donaldson. FRONT ROW: Cameron McCann, Brooke Cachia, Amanda Lepholtz, Katie Sheridan, Christina DiClemente, Curtis Samuel and Caitlin Radich. ABSENT: Kendra Anne Johnston and Danny Pursoo. Photo by Barrie Erskine Here'S what we'll do: UA IM U W N SHOPPING PLAZA JJpper Middle aT8th Line \ / ^ *55 0 K e rr S treet · Inspect all key components Use the latest computerized equipment to measure wheels, adjust front caster, camber and toe-in as required Rear adjustment and parts extra (if required) 8 4 9 -8 4 7 3 x^ * * » d 4 4 -0 2 0 2 STORE HOURS: Mon. -Fri. 830am-9pm Sat 9am-6pm, Sun. 9am-5pm Our new store is opening at Trafalgar and Dundas early April. The Gar Bar is now open and the car wash is opening soon. SAVE Look for our flyer in Friday's Oakville Beaver