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Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 31 Bekker, Canada seeking Olympic soccer berth Kyle Bekker and the Canadian under-23 men's soccer team hope to clinch an Olympic berth tomorrow (Saturday). Canada will take on Mexico at 9 p.m. eastern in the semifinal round of the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Kansas City. Finalists in the tournament -- El Salvador will face Honduras in the other semifinal -- will be the CONCACAF representatives for this summer's Olympics in London. Bekker, an Iroquois Ridge grad, was called up to the Canadian team prior to the qualifying tournament. He started for Canada in the first two games of the tournament, then came off the bench Monday against Cuba. The 21-year-old Bekker has played three seasons at Boston College, collecting 16 goals and 18 assists in 63 games with the Eagles. He led the team in points last year, scoring eight goals. The Oakville Soccer Club product helped the Oakville Bluestars win back-to-back Ontario Cups and won national titles with the Bluestars (2004) and Mississauga Dixie Dominators (2006). Canada went undefeated in the preliminary round, sandwiching ties against El Salvador (0-0) and Cuba (1-1) around a 2-0 upset of the United States. A win over Cuba in its final game Monday would have earned Canada top spot in its pool, but Cuba tied the game in added time on a free kick. Mississauga resident Evan James, who also played for the Oakville Soccer Club, had Canada's goal Monday. Canada has not sent a men's soccer team to the Olympics since 1984. Both CONCACAF semifinals will be broadcast on Sportsnet tomorrow, with the Honduras-El Salvador matchup appearing on Sportsnet One and the CanadaMexico clash airing on Sportsnet Ontario. ISAAC ORTIZ / COURTESY OF CANADA SOCCER SIGHTS ON THE OLYMPICS: Iroquois Ridge grad Kyle Bekker (left) chases down the ball against El Salvador's Andres Flores last week during the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Canada can qualify for the Olympics with a victory tomorrow (Saturday) against Mexico. Fraction of a second denies swimmer trip to Olympics Two-hundredths of a second were all that prevented Oakville swimmer Zack Chetrat from qualifying for this year's Olympic Summer Games. The former Oakville Aquatic Club (OAK) member finished second in the men's 200-metre butterfly Wednesday at the Canadian Olympic trials in Montreal, which determine Canada's representatives for the upcoming Games in London. Chetrat reached the wall in 1:58.83, two-hundredths of a second behind race winner David Sharpe of Halifax. Event winners at trials automatically qualify for the Olympics, while second-place finishers can also qualify if they meet the Olympic qualifying time. Sharpe and Chetrat both failed to meet the Olympic standard tie of 1:56.86, meaning Sharpe was the only one to qualify for London. Local swimmers did prevail in another close race at trials, though there was no Olympic spot on the line. The OAK team of Evan White, Gamal Assad, David Whiteside and Bryce Kwiecien-Delaney won the 4x200m freestyle relay by onehundredth of a second, setting a Canadian 15-17 boys' age group record in the process. White, Assad, Whiteside and Kwiecien-Delaney are four of 28 swimmers that OAK sent to Olympic trials, the fourthlargest representation for any club in the country. Expected to lead the way for OAK at trials are Tera Van Beilen, Annie Harrison, Mack Darragh, Marni Oldershaw, Kent Kikot and White. Van Beilen is seen as OAK's most likely candidate to qualify for the Olympics, entering trials ranked third in Canada in the 200m breaststroke and fifth in the 100m breaststroke. The University of British Columbia student has national team experience, including last year's double-silver performance at the World University Games. Harrison has been swimming competitively since 2006 and represented Canada at the world junior championships in Peru last summer. The Appleby College student will attend the University of North Carolina in the fall and is a holder of both individual and relay national age group records. Darragh already placed fifth in the 200m breaststroke at trials (the same race that Chetrat finished second in). The University of Missouri freshman is a national age group record holder, setting the standard in the 200m butterfly at last year's world juniors. Darragh chose to forego the 400m individual medley at trials to focus on the 200m butterfly, but he will also compete in the 200m breaststroke, 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley. Oldershaw has plenty of Olympic pedigree. Her father, Dean, was a three-time Olympian in paddling, while her grandfather, uncles and cousins have also competed at the Games. Oldershaw holds several individual and relay national age group records, including the 15-17 short-course 400m individual medley record she set in December. She will attend the University of Michigan in the fall. Kikot recently completed his first season at the University See Finals, page 32