PAGE 30, WH1-1BY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1987 SPORTS Western interest in Whitby Iroquois tourney Teams from Oshawa, Chinguacousy, London and St. Clair came out on top in the Iroquois hockey to tournament in Whitby over the weekend. Chinguacousy, a team which attracted some attention from organizers of a large bantam are age tournament in Kamloops, B.C., won the minor bantai AAA division with a 4-1 final win over Windsor. Chinguacousy advances to the silver stick finals in Newmarket with the win in the Iroquois, which was also the regional playdown for silver stick. Also moving on to silver stick finals will be St. Clair Shores of Michigan, a 4-3 winner over London in the minor peewee AAA final, and London, 8-1 victors over Hamilton in the minor atom AAA final. Whitby minor atoms lost 4-0 to St. Catharines, 2-0 to Buffalo and 5-2 to London in AAA action. In minor peewee AA, South Oshawa downed Scarborough 7-2 in the final while London won the minor bantam AA final with a 4-1 decision over Georgetown. Whitby lost 2-0 to Scarborough, tied Aurora 3-3 and downed Chinguacousy 6-2 in minor peewee AA. In minor bantam AA, Whitby rolled over Brampton 10-3 before falling 4-2 to Georgetown and 2-1 to Stratford. "We would like to have some of these teams in Kamloops," said Fred Cavanagh, president of the Kamloops tournament held annually in April. Cavanagh and director Terry White said they werE hoping to attract top Ontarik teams to future KamloopE tournaments to make it more of a "national" bantam final. They learned that Whitby and North Bay held two of the major tournaments and attended both over the past weekend. Whitby's major bantans also played in Kamloops last year, along with Ontario's only other representative from Burlington. Cavanagh says Kamloops may already have the "major" tournament for Canada's bantam teams but want more eastern Canadian participation. And eventually he'd like to start a national bantam championship, preferably in Kamloops. Cavanagh and White added that they were impressed with the organization of the 32-team Iroquois tournament over the weekend, coordinated by Del and Gloria Rints. JEFF MALCOLM of the Whitby minor atoms is checked by a London player as he goes around the Whitby net during play at the Iroquois tournament over the weekend. Whitby lost this game to London 5-2. KAMLOOPS MIDGET tournament organizers Fred Cavanagh (1) and Terry White look over some Ontario talent during the Iroquois tournament in Whitby over the weekend. Free Press photo Sun Life starts Thursday Skip Rick Bachand and his rink from Ottawa's Rideau Curling Club will be back to defend their championship as 32 rinks take part in the Ontario Sun Life Invitational Bonspiel in Whitby starting Thursday this week. Gord Carroll, Whitby Curling Club manager and ice-maker and a member of the Sun Life bonspiel organizing committee, says spectators are more than welcome over the next four days to view some of Ontario's best curlers. Organizers scheduled the bonspiel so as not to coincide with Grey Cup weekend. However, the Skin's Game will also be held this weekend in Thunder Bay, meaning Ed Werenich won't be at this year's Sun Life event. Werenich and Gord Howard, whose rinks have previously taken part in the Sun Life, will vie vith AI Hackner's rink in the Skin's Game. "It was a coincidence that we tried to avoid the Grey Cup but didn't know about the Skins' tournament," says Carroll. If any rinks could be considered favorites at the Sun Life, says Carroll, look to those skipped by Bachand, John Base of the Humber Highland Club, Don Aitken of Montreal and Earle Morris of Ottawa. Morris has represented three different provinces at previous Briars, Base only recently won the Central Trust bonspiel in Dundas Valley while Aitken is a top veteran. And another rink in this year's event, Jim Sharples of the Dixie Curling club, has twice won the Sun Life. Rinks skipped by Stu Bennett and John Brotherhood will represent Whitby while Bob Turcotte and Brian Suddard will skip rinks from the Oshawa SEE PAGE 33 Melien earns bro ze medals Lori Melien of Whitby, a member of the Ajax Aquatic Club, had two third-place finishes in the Esso International swim meet and was part of the first-place relay team for Canada in a dual meet Sunday against the Soviet Union. Melien was third behind U.S. swimmers in the 50 and 100 backstroke events in the Esso event at the Etobicoke Olympium. But she was more than pleased with her results in the 100. She had a time of one minute, 3.58 seconds for the distance. Winner Kristen Linehan had a time of one minute, 2.33 seconds. As a member of the Canadian 4-by-100 medley relay team, which defeated the Soviet Union, Melien went even faster in her specialty, beating her previous time by three-quarters of a second. "This will be a pointer as to where my training should go now," says Melien, an Olympic Games aspirant. She began her competitive swimming career at the age of 9 in Brampton. In August 1982, the family moved to Whitby, and she began swimming with the Ajax Aquatic Club, under coach Paul Meronen. At 11, Melien was a member of the Canadian youth team and represented Canada at a meet in Scotland. Since that time, she has been a member of the Canadian senior team and represented Canada at international meets in Germany, Sweden, Japan, Spain, and this past summer was a member of a medley relay team which won a silver medal at the Pan Pacvific Games in Brisbane, Australia. She was voted team captain at a dual meet against the LORI MELIEN U.S.A. She holds 35 provincial and national records for the four age groups she has competed in since beginning to swim competitively. This past summer in Calgary she won her first national women's title in the 100-metre backstroke. Her most exciting moment came during the winter of 1985, when the final short-course world rankings were published. Melien and a swimmer from Calgary were tied for the fastest time in the world for the 50-metre freestyle. She was only 13 years old at the time. Melien is now in very hard training for what would be the thrill of her lifetime, to represent Canada at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea. Melien, 15, is a Grade 10 student at Anderson Collegiate, where she maintains a 90 per cent average, despite training 16 hours a week. She has not only joined, but is helping to train her high school swim team. What little spare time she has is usually spent relaxing with family and friends. Her major accomplishments include a bronze medal in the 1985 Pan Pacific games in SEE PAGE 32 By BRYCE COOPER The Olympic torch made its debut in the 1936 Berlin Olympics after being carried across Europe by a chain of runners from Olympia, Greece, where the Olympic flame burns year round. The torch is now being carried across Canada to begin a new Olympiad in Calgary and is now passing through New Brunswick, heading into Quebec next week, averaging 100 km. per day. When the torch reaches Durham Region, Norman Van Duyn and Charissa Morrice will each carry it for onekilometer. "It's a chance of a lifetime and a chance that will never come again," says Van Duyn, who filled out 200 applications to ensure that he would not NORMAN CIA1USSA VAN DUYN MORRICE miss this national event. "Mostly shock, I really didn't expect it," says Morrice, describing ber reaction afler begin notified that she was to be a torch bearer. Morrice, 15, filled out only six applications. She is a member of Henry Street High School swim team which is keeping ber in good shape. Whitby's Olympic " Torchbearers