Jr. B Lions in it, but only part of the time

It appears the Seaway District High School Track and Field team is back on track, with a good number of athletes at the midget and junior ages out working hard for the last two to three weeks. 

And their work paid off at the annual TISS Track and Field Meet here Saturday, with two athletes, Kaitlyn Stewart and David Swerdfeger picking up first and seconds, Cassie Hummel winning one first, and Sid Sideratos and Shawn Dowson collecting second place finishes.

Several others were not far off the pace, and says Mark Lewis, who is co-coaching the Spartan team with Lindsay Waddell,  “They are all improving. It is good. Our team number is better than it’s been in the past, and I would say, looking at the weekend, they are the best results we have had in years.”

The team is heavily weighted at the midget and junior levels, a good sign for the future. There are no athletes competing at the senior level this year.

Top performers Saturday were Stewart and Swerdfeger. 

Stewart won the junior girls triple jump with a 10.45m jump, well ahead of the second place finisher at 9.72 m. She was just narrowly edged out of the long jump win with her jump of 4.67m. (The winner jumped just 4.68m). Stewart also ran the 100 meter dash, with a time of 14 seconds to qualify, but finished well back in the final.

David Swerdfeger had big results in the midget boys triple jump, with his winning jump of 12.12m. It was a new personal best, which shattered his previous PB of 11.81m. Swerdfeger, who has been competing since grade 7  and has been undefeated in all that time, said too that the extra pressure was that, “I scratched on my first two jumps.”  He backed up his triple jump win with a second place long jump (5.42m). The event was won in 5.48m. Swerdfeger also ran the 100m hurdles and finished fourth with a time of 17.13 seconds.

Cassie Hummel was back in action in junior girls javelin, and absolutely demolished her previous best throw of 22.00m with a first place throw of 27.60m.  She was clearly ahead of the pack with the second place competitor throwing 25.52 m. Hummel also threw discuss, but an 11.59m throw place her well back. She expects to concentrate on javelin this season.

Also at the midget age level, Sid Sideratos collected second place in shot put with a 12.14m throw, not far back of the 12.27 winning throw. He ran his 100m heat, in 13.71 seconds.

Shawn Dowson had solid performances in discus and high jump. He placed second in junior boys discus with a 31.30m throw and was fifth in high jump with a 1.50m jump. He finished well back in shot put at 9.30m.

Turning in a solid meet performance was Maggie Wells, who finished the 2014 season ranked sixth in Ontario in midget girls discus. Saturday, Wells threw a third place shot at 10.88m and was fourth in discus at 27.11m. “Maggie will get better as we go,” said Lewis of her early season start.

Finishing out the junior girl athletes are Quinn Horne and Holly Connolly-MacDonald, both of whom did not advance out of their 100m heats. Horne ran her heat at 14.72 and Connolly-MacDonald ran her’s in 18.33. She also ran the 200m in a time of 37.72.

Getting their feet wet at the midget are Kaeghan Lowson, Grant Wells, Jaycie Maville, Julenea Barnhartd, Kaileigh Vautour and Sydney Piquette.

Lowson, in his first time throwing Javelin, placed fifth with a throw of 32.45m. He ran the 400m, finishing well back in the pack at 1:03.27.

Distance runner, Grant Wells, who had some big results for the Spartans Cross-Country team last fall, was fifth in the 1500m (4:44.89) and sixth in the 3000 (10:16.56). He wasn’t far off in the winning mark of either race with the 1500m going in 4:30.95 and the 3000 in 10:00.13.

Maville and Vautour both ran the 100m but did not move out of their qualifiers with times of 15.25 and 15.30 respectively. Maville threw a seventh place finish in shot put with a 9.39m throw.

Barnhartd ran the 200m in 28.94 seconds and finished fourth in long jump with a jump of 4.39m.

Piquette ran the 800m with a time of 3:04.38

This Friday, the Spartans are in Ottawa and next Wednesday, May 13, they head to Cornwall for the SD&G championship. Qualifiers at the SD&G advance to the Eastern Ontario. 

[…]

While Bob Mann put the wraps on his first Morrisburg Golf Club Championship here on the weekend, Vicki Boivin was returning to a familiar spot in the winners’ circle.

Boivin shot 79-89 in the championship rounds played on the weekend to win her ninth Morrisburg Golf Club championship crown (seventh consecutive).

Also picking up a win was Linda Barclay who successfully defended her 2011 B flight championship title with rounds of 99-89. 

Barclay was not contested for the B flight win, and Boivin had opposition only from Lori-Anne Davies.

Just 17 players bid for the men’s championship with club captain Bob Mann leading the way with rounds of 76-75 (151 total).

Close on his heels, were Lee Beaupre and Eric Wemerman who finished overall tied with 153s, both with openings rounds of 79s on Saturday, and 74s on Sunday.

In addition to finishing in the top A spot, Beaupre’s weekend was highlighted with a hole-in-one shot on the par three, 11th hole on Sunday.

Wemerman’s 153 made him the club’s B flight champion. His closest competition came from Kirk Barkley with rounds of 79-79.

Brian McNairn, who was solid in round one to tie Mann with a 76, fell back in round two with a 79. His 155 total gave him the senior men’s championship.

Claiming the C flight championship was Doug Warner at 176 with rounds of 90-86. Second spot went to Bob Barclay (94-88).

[…]

As the end draws near, the Morrisburg Junior B Lions picked up another pair of losses in Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League action, a close one to the Winchester Hawks, 5-4 and a 5-2 loss to the Alexandria Glens.

Friday night, the Lions were in Winchester where they put up a solid effort against the division’s fourth place Hawks. Up against their former longtime goaltender Mikael Dion they collected a single goal in the second period to cut the Hawks advantage to 2-1, and then traded goals evenly in the third as they collected the 5-4 loss.

Josh Stubbings put the Hawks on the scoreboard late in the first period, and at 14:15 of the second they went up 2-0 on a Christopher Rossi tally.

Grant Cooper got one back for the Lions with help from Steven Savage and Eric Evans just 1:57 before the end of the second period. 

Then in the third period it was back and forth, with the Lions able to stay close but never able to take control.

Brandon Pantaleo and Cam Hughes counted for the Hawks as they fought to maintain a two goal lead, while Drew Veenstra (from Evans and Taylor Eamon) and Savage (from Evans and Eamon) answered for the Lions.

The Savage goal put the game back in reach for the Lions making the score, 4-3, with 7:55 left in the game.

Forty-seven seconds later, however, the Hawks fired back on their power play, when Adam Beveridge collected an empty net goal to again go up by two (5-3).

The Lions did manage one more from Taylor Eamon (assisted by Grant Cooper and Michael Paquette) with 15 seconds left on the clock.

The game saw only six minor penalties assessed, three to each team. The Lions were out shot, 46-31.

Sunday afternoon, the Alexandria Glens paid their final visit to Morrisburg this season and skated away with a 5-2 victory.

They led 2-0 after the first period and increased it to 3-0 just over a minute into the second.

The Lions came to life later in the period when a pair of Glens. penalties gave them power-play opportunities.

Eric Evans wielded the stick for both goals, the first at 8:23 with help from Steven Savage and Martin Lavallee, and the second at 18:03 from Savage and Taylor Eamon.

That cut the Glens advantage to 3-2 and made it a brand new game as the two skated into the final frame.

Just over five minutes in, the Glens went up 4-2 and they crushed the young Lions five seconds later with another goal that put them up 5-2.

Ryan Cooper was in net for both weekend games for the Lions. The Glens out shot the Lions, Sunday, 47-29. Both teams had seven power-play opportunities. The Lions scored twice, and the Glens converted one.

The Lions with just six wins in 38 games have four games left in the season.

They travel to Casselman to take on the first place Vikings this Thursday, January 31, and on Saturday night, February 2 they are on the road to play the St. Lawrence Division’s second place Rebels.

Their final weekend of action sees them in a home and home series against Akwesasne on Friday, February 8 (in Morrisburg) and Saturday, February 9 (on Cornwall Island).

The Wolves are currently holding the division’s third place, two points up on the Hawks. Both teams will be playing tough for the next two weeks as they battle for the division’s third place spot to avoid tackling the powerful Vikings in the first playoff round.

[…]