InsideHalton : Another stellar year for Milton athletes
Here are the top 20 highlights — in chronological order (as much as possible) — from 2011, with apologies to those who earned distinction but were not included.
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Exploding for 10 goals and five assists in his last three games, Brampton Capitals’ star James Woodcroft finished as the top goal scorer in the Ontario Junior Hockey League. His fierce finish included a six-goal, three-assist night against his former hometown IceHawks. Closing the season out at 52 goals and 49 assists, Woodcroft placed third in the league’s overall points race.
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Proving he can truly compete with the top freestyle aerial skiers in the world, 19-year-old Travis Gerrits delivered a sixth-place overall performance at the world championships in Red Deer, Utah. That plus a pair of top-10 finishes at World Cup meets earned the young Miltonian the FIS aerials rookie of the year. He’d close out his prosperous year with national bronz in Val St. Come, Quebec.
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Milton Minor Baseball Association (MMBA) underwent a rebranding of sorts, dropping its longtime Red Sox moniker in favour of the Mets. MMBA program director Dave Clark said the move was made primarily to help Milton baseball distinguish itself from a multitude of other southern Ontario communities using the Red Sox name.
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For a second straight year, E.C. Drury’s Zack Brady reached the innermost sanctum of Ontario high school wrestling competition, with another silver-medal performance at OFSAA. Facing a much taller Bethume opponent in the 41-kilogram final, 15-year-old Brady fell short in a two-round loss. With just one senior representative, Drury missed out on a team medal for the first time in 14 years.
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Accomplished wrestler Duncan Moffat pinned down more success on the national stage, securing 60-kilogram gold at the junior nationals in Edmonton. The former E.C. Drury High School star won all four of his matches out west, capping that unbeaten run with a 1-0, 1-0 victory over Richard Balfour of London — who is no stranger to Moffat when it comes to high-stakes wrestling competition.
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OHLer Michael Sgarbossa highlighted a prosperous 2011 with a little March madness — amassing 10 goals and 17 assists for Player of the Month honours. He powered the Sudbury Wolves to a first-round upset of Ottawa during that stretch to follow up on an 82-point regular season, and finds himself among the league’s top scorers once again with 21 goals and 18 assists (at press time) this year.
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Jon Gleed capped an impressive season with the Belfast Giants of the Elite Ice Hockey League by being named to the league all-star squad, as well as a finalist for defenceman of the year.
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Ed Whitlock celebrated his 80th year with a flurry of new age-class world records. Along with establishing a new benchmark in the 80-and-up marathon division — doing so twice, with 3:25.40 and 3:15.54 efforts in Rotterdam and Toronto respectively — he also set new world records in the 1,500 and 10,000m during the World Masters Track and Field Championships in California.
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Another year, another provincial silver lining for the Springers. Giving the local gymnastics club its latest one was Alex Robson, who — on the strength of her bread-and-butter floor routine — claimed second overall among Level 5 gymnasts at the Ontario championships in Windsor.. She finished just a tenth of a point behind the all-around champion, thanks in part to a silver on bars.
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To say Jody Jamieson enjoyed a successful 2011 harness racing season would be putting it mildly. His prosperous year was highlighted by a World Driving Championship title in New York — the second of his career. The Moffat reinsman also captured the $1.5-million North America Cup, steering Up The Credit to victory for trainer/father Carl, and enjoyed two-win nights at both the Breeders Crown and Ontario Sires Stakes’ Super Final — not to mention hitting the 6,000-win plateau on The Red Mile in Kentucky.
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A trio of Miltonians were in the mix during the latest wave of inductees for the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Inducted posthumously was Tammy Samuel-Balaz — who before her 2008 passing from cancer was the president and general manager of highly-accomplished Sam-Son Farm. Also named to the hall of fame were successful breeder and owner Robert Burgess and accomplished driver Steve Condren.
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Having watched partner David Anderson thrive on the national lawn bowling stage for so many years, Laura Seed decided to get in on the act. A longtime player herself, she served as vice on the Kelly McKerihen-skipped Ontario B 4s squad that reigned supreme at the Canadian championships. Seed’s team clinched gold with a 26-11 rout of British Columbia, while Anderson’s pairs entry (with Steve McKerihen) fell just short in the national finals.
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The Under-12 boys became the Milton Magic’s first League Cup champions since 2007 when they edged the North Mississauga B Panthers 2-1 for South Region Soccer League 2nd/3rd Division bragging rights. Tinashe Tuso and Philip Skorzewski were the Magic scorers, finding the back of the net at the 24th and 29th minutes respectively, while Steven Ly backstopped Milton to the narrow win.
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Serving as a constant nightmare for opposing goalies, soccer star Eros Olazabal scored an NCAA Division 3-high 26 goals for the Manhattanville Valiants — leading them to a school record 15 wins. He and twin brother Erick — the playmaker of the family — were both named to the Freedom Conference all-star squad.
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Bishop Reding’s Ben Preisner capped an impressive cross-country season with fourth-place honours among the junior boys at OFSAA (provincials) in Ottawa — completing the six-kilometre course in 21 minutes and 15 seconds. This followed a dominating GHAC performance in which the 10th grader — who also qualified for OFSAA in track and field back in the spring — prevailed by more than two minutes.
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On the heels of a dramatic semifinal win over Lester B. Pearson, Milton District’s senior girls basketball team put the finishing touches on their Halton Tier 2 championship run — knocking off the much smaller Burlington Central Trojans 45-30. That was thanks to a dominating performance on the boards and game-high 20-point effort from Rose Serafini.
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The highlights kept rolling in for NCAA star cager Kayla Alexander, who had a career-high 33 points in late November to lead Syracuse to a 90-57 rout of Binghamton. That night she also became just the 21st Syracuse player to surpass the 1,000-point plateau. This year’s success follows a stellar sophomore season in which she was a conference all-star and was named the team’s co-outstanding player of the year, among other accolades.
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Highlighted by a sensational scramble touchdown pass by Zehan Jagosh to Daniyel Malik, Milton District’s junior football team laid claim to the Halton Tier 3 title with a 21-6 triumph over the Iroquois Ridge Wolfpack. Dominating the season from start to finish, the Mustangs won all eight of their games by at least 14 points, thanks to offensive anchor Michael Parent.
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Gridiron success followed Matt Sewell at every turn this past fall. A third-year offensive lineman with the McMaster Marauders, he tasted Yates Cup and UTeck Bowl victory before McMaster staged a Vanier Cup (national) triumph for the ages, eclipsing top-seeded Laval Rouge et Or 41-38 in double-overtime at B.C. Place. If that wasn’t enough, Sewell got the nod for the OUA’s first-team all-star squad.
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Living up to some lofty expectations, Milton District’s senior boys volleyball team reached the OFSAA ‘AAA’ quarterfinals, a run which followed Halton and GHAC championships. Anchoring the Mustangs were the brothers Kewin and MacIntyre — the latter of whom also shone on both the provincial and national stage in both club and beach volleyball.
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