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Wednesday, March 8, 2000 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER C1 An Oakville Beaver Feature Editor: NORM NELSON Phone:845-3824, ext 255 Fax:337-5567 E-mail:nnelson@ haltonsearch.com SportsHr edmday o u g a ^ l ^ ll eee i Town Contra I oorvai a qew 844-8703 Friday, Mar. 10th, 10pm NITE FLY Friday, Mar. 17th, 10pm SOMETHING EXTRA Photo by Barrie Erskine Swimmers earn shot at Sydney I w eek but I only have to do eight -- probably I because I'm 14." She also enjoys other sports, running cross country in the fall and playing soccer in the slim t's a M onday afternoon at the W hite O aks mer, although, after three years at the elite rep pool, and it's hard to believe that several o f level, she now settles for the recreational level. these h igh perform ance sw im m ers w ith the "I couldn't be com m itted to both." O akville A quatic C lub have earned them selves The clu b 's best shot at an O lym pic berth is a shot at the Sydney O lym pics in m idprobably A nna Lydall, given that she m ade last Septem ber. y ear's Pan-Pacific team . She helped C anada to a It seem s so grass roots, here, as the sw im m ers bronze medal, sw im m ing the third leg o f the -- m ostly kids but also the odd young adult -- 4x100m relay. filter slow ly in for practice. B ack in tow n from the U niversity o f British B ut th at's how dream s are built, on good old C olum bia w here she is on her second year on the fashioned hard w ork in hom e tow n rec facilities. varsity team , Lydall, an A ppleby C ollege grad, W ho would have ever thought D onovan said she tries not to "think about it that m uch B ailey w ould have gone on from local tracks to because I d o n 't w ant to put that m uch pressure win one one o f the w orld's m ost coveted sports on it." titles. "Because it would be a great thing to m ake it B ut in this case, that's putting the cart ahead but I 'm not going to quit if I don't m ake it. o f the horse. "I 'm still having tons o f fun and really enjoy For now, let the O akville A quatic Club cele ing it so that's the m ost im portant thing." brate its accom plishm ent o f qualifying at least At the recently com pleted national university h alf a dozen sw im m ers to C anada's O lym pic tri sw im m ing cham pionships in G uelph, Lydall fin als w hich run the beginning o f June. ished second in the 50 free and fourth in the A nd they will get their m ain tune-up this 100m free and thought they were "pretty good w eek w hen they com pete in the senior spring runs." Photo by Barrie Erskine nationals w hich get under way today in `T ry in g to m ake the O lym pic team , my best Lim bering up at W hite Oaks pool on M onday were (left to right) Kate Plyley, Anna Lydall, Etobicoke. shot is the 100 metre because o f the relays. Christina Kubacki and Sandy Henderson (also shown in action in the top photo). A long with Julia T he youngest o f the com petitors is only 14 Because they'll take at least four people and then Pom eroy and Bryson Tan, still at their respective U.S. colleges, it represents the O akville A quatic years old and in G rade N ine at B ailey's old m aybe alternates." Club contingent who have earned berths at Canada's O lym pic trials at the beginning o f June. school, Q.E. Park. H er training regim e is 10 tim es a w eek, 2 to K ate Plyley, who is four years younger than 21/2 hours each session. Tim e is certainly on her side, agreed head coach Lucie Hewitther next youngest O lym pic trial team m ate at the O n why she com es back to train with the local aquatic club, she Henderson. club, ju s t recently earned her berth, at last m onth's junior nationals said "it's a good team and I like com ing hom e and seeing m y fam "She's young going into the trials at 14. She will have at least w here she had quite the m edal haul (along with one near miss), ily and friends from here. two more (Olympic) trials, not ju st one more because certainly at earning a silver m edal in the 400m free, tw o bronze in the 50m "It's a nice com bination to sw im w ith the school out there 22 she would still be com petitive." free and 200m free and a fourth place finish in the 100m free. (UBC) and com e back and sw im w ith the hom e club." Plyley said she'd be "really, really happy if I could ju st m ake a "I w asn 't sure that I could qualify but that was my really big T hree o f her other Oakville A quatic Club team m ates, w ho will second swim -- top 16." goal," she told the O akville Beaver. Towards that goal, she trains "eight times a w eek and they're all jo in her at the O lym pic trials, are also currently in sim ilar situa This tim e around, her biggest prize w ill probably be experience. tions, attending university on scholarships but com ing back during for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours." "W ell, I 'm pretty sure I will not m ake a second sw im because breaks to sw im w ith the local club. And she said she gets off lightly, com pared to her older team everyone is `sooo' good and so fast there," she said w ith a nervous Julia Pomeroy, who last year w on a national cham pionship in mates. laugh. the 50 metre breaststroke (unfortunately, not an O lym pic event), is "A lot o f the people in my (training) group do nine tim es a "N ot these O lym pic trials -- m aybe in a w hile." BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Ridge point guard Justin Close in action prior to leaving the cham pionship gam e due to injury. By Norm Nelson Chouinard to star in the OSC*s Y2sK8 T he O ak ville S kating Club m ounts its alw ays anticipated ice ex tra v a g a n z a o n ly o n ce every tw o years, and, yes, one is sc h ed u le d fo r th is new M illennium Year. Fittingly, it's called Y 2sK 8, and it w ill star form er C anadian cham pion Josee C houinard. F our show ings w ill be held o ver a three-day run at O akville A ren a, F rid ay , M a rc h 31 (7 p.m .), Saturday, A pril 1 (1:30 and 7 p.m .) and Sunday, A pril 2 (1:30 p.m .). M ore than 600 clu b m em bers w ill also take p art in the show and they range rig h t from the K idskate/C anskate toddlers to the c lu b 's elite provincial and national stream skaters. T he show co u ld n ot tak e place w ithout the generous su p p ort o f the parents and the m any hours put in by the volunteers m aking the hundreds o f co s tum es and those in volved in building the props, selling tick ets, doing the program m ing and those producing and directing the entire event. It's a huge undertaking but alw ays w ell w orth the effo rt put into it. T he show will run ap proxi m ately three hours. T ickets are $15 for adults, $ 10 for children and are for sale at the O akville Skating Club office (R iver O aks Rec C entre) an d at O ak v ille C y c le and Sports (T rafalgar Village M all). Photo by Peter C. McCusker Ridge rout Rams By Norm Nelson BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR It w as B urlington's year at last w eek's H alton h igh sch o ol bo y s basketball ch am pionships, boasting five o f the six team s. B ut O ak v ille's Iroquois R idge overcam e d ou ble digit deficits and the loss o f their star point guard to ensure it w asn 't a clean sw eep, w inning the m idget title 61-57 over M .M . R obinson. T he all-B urlington senior final was won by N elson 47-42 over N otre Dame. T he all-B urlington ju n io r final was won by M .M . Robinson 60-38 over Nelson. For a while, it looked like the lone O akville school w ould not be able to stop a Burlington cham pionship trifecta. D ow n quickly into double digits, Iroquois Ridge m anaged to reduce the deficit to five (See 'Ridge' page C2) Photo Special to the Beaver Form er C anadian cham pion Josee C houinard will star in the Oakville Skating C lub's alw ays anticipated ice extrav aganza which is held only once every two years. This year's version runs at O akville Arena, M arch 31-April 2.