Bantam Cs collect tough series win

For Morrisburg and District figure skater Ali VanHoof, it’s been a season of ups and downs. But with a hugely solid performance behind her at the, February 15-17, EOSIC at Whitby, Ontario, the 16 year old, grade 10 student at Seaway District High School is exactly where she wanted to be when it started…training for the upcoming 2013 Ontario Starskate Championships in Fort Erie, Ontario.

For a period of several weeks last fall, Ali’s hope of qualifying at EOSIC for a spot at the Ontario Championship wasn’t looking good.

“Ali started her season by training over the summer (2012), developing new programs with the goal of qualifying at EOSIC in the Triathlon event to go on to the Skate Ontario StarSkate Championship,” explains her coach Louise Dimmick. “It all seemed on track until she suffered an injury to her ankle warming up at a competition at the end of September. That kept her off the ice for five weeks, and limited her as to what she could practice for an additional three weeks once she came back.”

It resulted in her planned 4.5 month pre-competition preparation time being cut in half.

“She had just over two months to get back into competition shape both physically and mentally, as well as finish the preparation and polish of four programs,” says Dimmick. “We were faced with a daunting challenge.”

But, says Dimmick, “it is amazing what can be accomplished by the human spirit with perseverance and support.”

Despite the injury-plagued season, Van Hoof worked hard and her results were impressive at the Eastern Ontario Section Inter Club event (EOSIC) in Whitby, which allowed her to qualify for the upcoming Ontario Starskate competition from March 22-24.

The Triathlon is a three part event with skaters competing in Skills, Interpretive and Freeskating.

Ali started the Triathlon at EOSIC with a personal best skate in her Skills program. “She demonstrated good edges, turns and spirals and filled the boardless ice surface with her speed and power,” says Dimmick.

Her performance put her in fourth place with only 1/100th of a point separating her from third spot going into the Interpretive program.

“Her Interpretive program, admittedly her weakest part of the Triathlon, was the true breakthrough of the weekend,” says Dimmick explaining that Interpretive requires that the skater communicate a theme to the audience through performing skating moves to music.

“Cleopatra’s Conquest was a fitting theme for Ali this season as it signifies the fight and determination she has demonstrated in order to challenge for her goals given the obstacles she has faced.”

In skating her Interpretive, Ali shattered her previous score by over 12 points to earn a fifth place finish in the Interpretive segment. This moved her into third place with her strongest event, Freeskate, yet to come.

“I knew going into the Triathlon that the Freeskate would be my strongest. I knew that it could be the one that could lift me up,” says Ali. “I was fairly confident going in, but after I was finished I knew there were a few things I could have done better. I felt that I had skated well enough though to be in the top somewhere.”

And indeed she had. An excellent performance placed her first in the Freeskate segment and landed her an overall second place finish in the Silver Triathlon Event to qualify for this month’s Ontario Starskate Championship.

During her EOSIC Freeskate, VanHoof landed five double jumps, two double, double combinations, a double lutz and a third jump combination-Axel plus loop.

She performed three great spins including a death drop flying spin and two combinations which included difficult variations.

As for the upcoming Starskate Championship, VanHoof says she is now training hard. “I’m going to try to add to my Interpretive, and I am working on cleaner turns in my skills.”

“I am trying to up my mark a bit in all of my programs.”

Ali has been skating since she was a wee tot. She is a very motivated skater and works very hard. She successfully balances her skating with her school studies, school athletics and a part-time job.

She is one of only a few local skaters to earn the opportunity to skate at provincial levels. 

[…]

The Seaway Kickers Under-13 Mixed team was on the road to Ottawa, where they lost to the division-leading Nepean HotSpurs, 3-2, on July 17, at Hillcrest High School. The last time these two teams met, the Hotspurs beat the Kickers 4-1. 

The HotSpurs landed on the scoreboard first, besting Kickers goalkeeper Kendrew Byers at the 19th minute. They scored again at the 24th minute and carried the 2-0 advantage into the second half. 

Seaway cut the Nepean lead to 2-1 in the second half with a goal by forward Aaron Tibben at the 38th minute, his 10th of the year. 

Nepean answered back with a goal at the 45th minute, to push ahead 3-1.

Seaway continued to rally in Nepean’s end, with forward Curran Gilmour scoring on Nepean’s goalkeeper at the 52nd minute, 3-2 Nepean.

Seaway maintained pressure on the HotSpurs in the second half, controlling possession of the ball over 60 per cent of the time, and landing six shots on Nepean’s goal. 

Despite these efforts, the Kickers could not get it past Nepean’s goalkeeper. 

The final score was Nepean HotSpurs 3, Seaway Kickers 2.

Seaway maintains their seventh place in the 12-team division with a record of four wins, seven losses, with four games remaining in regular-season play.

The Kickers host the Ottawa Royals M1 team at the Merkley Soccer Fields in Iroquois on July 24. Kick-off is at 6:30 p.m.

U13 Girls resume league play

IROQUOIS — The Seaway Kickers Under-13 Girls team resume play this week, after a two-week break due to a weather-postponement and a by-week in the nine-team division. 

They visit division leaders Nepean HotSpurs at Medhurst Park in Nepean on Tuesday, July 22nd. 

Game results will be published in next week’s Morrisburg Leader.

[…]

Consistent would be the best word to describe Richard Greer’s play at the annual Upper Canada Men’s Open on Saturday.

On his way to a one under par 71 and the tournament win, Greer, who plays out of the Beaconsfield Golf Club posted, three birdies and 13 pars. His round was marred by just two bogeys, the first on the par four first hole and the second on the par three seventh.

The long-time golfer turned the corner with a one over par 37 and picked it up a notch on the difficult Upper Canada back nine with a two under par 34, thanks to back-to-back birdies on the par four 16th and 17th holes.

The course, in fantastic condition, drew rave reviews from the 35 competitors who played in three flights.

Greer’s closest competition came from Ottawa golfer and defending champion Paul Nooyen and Cedar Glen’s Rick Barkley who were tied with 78s.

The only other golfer to break 80 was Kirk Barkley (Morrisburg) who posted a 79 for the win in C flight.

Two strokes back, in second spot, was Upper Canada’s Jr. Thompson with an 81 and after that it was Bernie Variault (Upper Canada) and David Myers (no club affiliation) tied with 91s.

B flight had the closest finish with three players tied for top spot with 81s to force a one hole, sudden-death playoff on the par four ninth.

They included Upper Canada’s Mike Laurin and Nationview’s Larry Gordon and Shawn Lapier who plays out of Iroquois.

In the playoff all landed good drives and all missed the green on their approach shots from 150 plus yards out.

Gordon, who was first up, put down the challenge with a chip that ended up inches from the cup. Lapier’s chip left him a six foot putt while Laurin’s bunker shot checked well short and left him about a 12 footer.

Lapier and Laurin missed their par putts and Gordon tapped his in for the B flight win.

Other low scores in B flight were an 82 shot by Rod Pittman of Nationview, an 83 from Upper Canada’s Richard Guthro and an 84 from Upper Canada’s Jim Beckstead.

Following the top three shooters in A flight were Upper Canada’s Tom Thompson, Jamie Scott and Lance LePage and Cedar Glen’s Kurtis Barkley all tied with 80s.

The players was divided into flights with the 11 player A flight including players up to a nine handicap,  15 players in B flight with handicaps from 10 to 13 and C flight including nine players with a handicap range of 14 and up.

[…]