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40 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday June 13, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com First-year Tigers win girls' rugby title By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR CARLEIGH JOYCE / SPECIAL TO THE OAKVILLE BEAVER TIGER TAIL: Hannah Reinsborough (bottom left) tackles an Aquinas opponent while Reinsborough's T.A. Blakelock teammate Ashley McCarthy looks on. Blakelock, in its first year of girls' rugby, won the Halton tier 2 title last week with a 8-5 victory over the Raiders. Two months ago, the T.A. Blakelock Tigers were simply hoping to learn the game of rugby without getting hurt. Now, they're Halton tier 2 girls' rugby champions. The Tigers outlasted the previously undefeated St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders 8-5 in last week's tier 2 final in Burlington, winning the game in penalty kicks after the two teams played to a 5-5 deadlock through regulation time and three overtime periods. Grade 9 student Hannah Reinsborough made the decisive boot in the seventh round of penalty kicks after two of her teammates had narrowly missed winning the game themselves, one hitting the upright and another nailing the crossbar. The victory was Blakelock's third tight win in as many playoff games. Coming off a 2-2-2 regular-season showing, the Tigers needed a late try from Hayleigh Cudmore to defeat the M.M. Robinson Rams 12-10 in the quarter-final, then pulled off a 15-10 upset of the 6-0 Lester B. Pearson Patriots in the semis. "It was beyond our wildest dreams in a lot of ways," said Brian Vincent, who coached the team with Victoria Woodhead. "This was our first year running a girls' team. Our goal was to go out, not get hurt and learn the sport... and if we won, great." The Tigers, who also won a tournament in Hamilton earlier this month, received contributions from many different players during their late-season surge. Cassandra Burany and Kate Moors teamed up to score Blakelock's try in the final, Burany and Cudmore were the team's co-MVPs in the Hamilton tournament, and Erica Couls -- the regular-season MVP -- scored the winning try in the semifinal against Pearson. "There are no stars on a rugby field. In hockey, you have Gretzky or Crosby. In soccer, there's Beckham," said Vincent, who plays rugby with the Burlington Centaurs. "But in rugby, if you don't have two or three players out there of equal star quality, you're not going to win because it's such an incredibly family-oriented team sport." A sport that seems to be a hit amongst the Blakelock girls. Though the start of next season is nearly 11 months away, Vincent said a number of players have already expressed interest in holding conditioning workouts in the fall. Dedication and starting blocks pay off for Aquinas' Griffiths Continued from page 39 boys' 400m. Though she was thrilled with her silver medal, Griffiths is already looking forward to her senior year. "It's pretty good for now, but I can do better," said Griffiths, who posted a time of 11.87 seconds, 19-hundredths of a second behind Westview's gold-winning Sherine Wells. Griffiths had run the best high school time in the province heading into OFSAA. That came just months after making a commitment to really dedicate herself to track. "I decided to take it a little more seriously," she said. "I'm getting older now and I'd like to go to the Olympics with it." Aquinas track coach Cindy Miller said Griffiths' talents were obvious when she came out for the track team in Grade 9, even if it was only raw talent; Miller had to convince Griffiths that using starting blocks would benefit her. "She had beautiful, natural ability," Miller said. "She keeps getting better and I think she's now realizing what kind of talent she has." Griffiths has done what she can to make up for lost time. She has sought the advice of former Olympic champion Donovan Bailey and she will race at the Canadian nationals this summer. Griffiths, who also finished 12th in the 200m, said she can improve her starts to trim more time, but her strength is her acceleration. "The middle of the race is where I start doing my bursts, just like Flo Jo (American sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner)," she said. "And she has my last name, so that's cool." Relay members a real team In a sport that isn't generally considered team-oriented, it was clear the Abbey Park Eagles 4x400m relay members were more than a collection of individuals. Michael Rose, Brad Amos, Jimmy Tat, Trnkus and Kevin Cox earned silver at OFSAA with a school-record time of three minutes, 20.75 seconds. For Amos and Tat, the OFSAA medal was a great way to end their high school tenures. "We wanted it badly. It's what we've been training for all year," said Amos, who ran the second leg. "It's the accumulation of four years of training." For the three returning members of the team, the goal is clear. "It would be nice to go back to OFSAA and try to win gold again," Rose said. The silver-medal team has been together for two years and had finished fifth at the provincial championships last year. Though each member competed in other events individually, they also trained together specifically for the relay. "Hopefully we'll go back (to OFSAA), but it will probably never be the same," said Trnkus, who ran the anchor leg. The Grade 10 "We wanted it student ran a 50.73 badly. It's the to earn his second accumulation of medal in the 400m, after winning a silfour years of ver as a midget last training." year. Richard MacLennan of St. Abbey Park relay Mary's Collegiate, runner Brad Amos who edged Trnkus at the line last year, again claimed the gold in 49.84 seconds. "It was all the same guys at the top as last year," Trnkus said. "It's a friendly rivalry. It's always good to compete against the guys that are the best." Though Trnkus' personal-best time is 50.15, he has broken the 50-second barrier in relay so he knows his competitors are within reach. While Rose, Amos and Tat teamed up with Jeevan Sian two years ago to win a 4x100m silver, it was the first OFSAA medal for Cox, a Grade 11 student who was pressed into a bigger role with the team due to a hamstring injury that prevented Rose from competing at the regional meet. Rose even sat out the preliminaries where Abbey Park posted the second-fastest qualifying time of 3:24.70. Rose replaced Cox on the lead leg for the final and the Eagles posted a time of 3:20.75, a second and a half behind the gold medalists, Birchmount Park. "Luckily for us, we had Kevin to carry us through regionals and qualifying," Rose said. The team also posted a sixth-place finish in the 4x100m relay. "Not bad, considering we're all 400m runners," Rose said. Other local top-10 finishers Abbey Park's Julia Friesen, Corinne Smith and Sam McVean also turned in top10 finishes at OFSAA. Friesen was fifth in the junior girls' 3,000m, Smith placed sixth in the junior girls' 400m and McVean finished 10th in the midget girls' shot put. Loyola's Ashara Cadogan was sixth in the midget girls' 200m and teammate Paulina Maher was seventh in the junior girls' 3,000m. King's Christian's Chantelle Robbertse was sixth in the midget girls high jump, Aquinas' Colleen Hennessy was ninth in the midget girls' 1,500m, Holy Trinity's Gerald Morris was seventh in the senior boys' javelin and Titans teammate Daniel Kotwinski was 10th in the senior boys' 400m. O BO NO LI K N E JOIN US FOR LADIES NIGHT Every Monday Starting at 5pm 9 Holes & a Sumptuous Dinner $44.95 · Monday to Thursday · Early Bird (Weekdays before 8:30am) · Twilight (Everyday after 4pm) · Friday to Sunday & Holidays $68 $50 $50 $78