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Sports Oakville Beaver www.orlandoinfo.com/canada 800-551-2006 29 SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2006 Abbey Park wins cross-country Halton tune-up Regional meet slated for Wednesday The Abbey Park Eagles won the Christ the King Invitational, the final tune-up for the Halton cross country championship, Wednesday at Bronte Creek Provincial Park. Abbey Park won the junior girls' division on its way to the overall girls' title. The Eagles also won the junior boys' division and finished second to Toronto's St. Michael's College in the overall boys' standings. Once again, Abbey Park and Loyola dominated the junior girls' race. The two schools accounted for the top eight finishers and nine of the top 10. Abbey Park's Julia Friesen won the race in a time of 15 minutes, seven seconds. That gave her a three-second victory over Loyola's Paulina Maher and squared their record in head-to-head meetings this season at two apiece. Loyola's Alicia Knox was third. The Eagles' Ailey Jarvis, a midget-aged runner competing in junior, edged Loyola's Lindsay Bryant for fourth place. Also in the top 10 were Abbey Park's Jade Johnson (sixth), Corinne Smith (seventh) and Sarah Malone (eighth), and Loyola's Ariane Morency Charbonneau (10th). Chantelle Robbertse of King's Christian Collegiate won a close finish in the midget girls' race, beating St. Thomas Aquinas' Colleen Hennessy by two seconds. Brooke Johnston of Abbey Park was third. Francis second in senior boys Abbey Park's Danny Francis turned in a second-place finish in the senior boys' race, crossing the finish line five seconds behind St. Michael's Andrew Aguanno. Iroquois Ridge's Eric Downing was fifth, Jon Volpatti of T.A. Blakelock was seventh and Matt McLaughlin of Holy Trinity was 10th. Abbey Park, which also had Jamie McKeown and Mike Sebben in the top 20, was second in the team standings. Iroquois Ridge's Stephanie MacNeill was second in the senior girls' race, finishing behind Notre Dame's (Brampton) Chloe Conlon. Abbey Park's Laura Pendlebury (fifth) and Alex McCann (10th) both cracked the top 10. Nathaniel Green turned in a third-place finish to lead Abbey Park to the junior boys' title. Iain Forbes, Robert Logan and Brett Jones also finished in the top 20 for the Eagles. King's Christian Collegiate's Graeme Scott was seventh. In the midget boys' race, Ramsey Franklyn was fifth, Iroquois Ridge's Scott Downing was seventh and White Oaks' Brennan McNicoll was 10th. The Halton/Golden Horseshoe cross-country championship will be held Wednesday at Bronte Creek Provincial Park. RON KUZYK / OAKVILLE BEAVER NO LUCK AGAINST THE IRISH: A White Oaks Wildcats player (left) looks to run past a Notre Dame Fightin' Irish opponent yesterday in Burlington. Notre Dame ended the Wildcats' senior girls' field hockey season by edging White Oaks 1-0, and will face Oakville Trafalgar in the final for the eighth straight year. Field hockey to feature familiar final By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF They've got a date for eight. The Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils and Notre Dame Fightin' Irish will meet in the Halton high school senior girls' field hockey final for the eighth straight year. And the Devils would love nothing more than to even the score. "I can't wait, they're ours this year," said the Devils' Jenna Bull, who scored twice in the second half to seal OT's 3-0 victory over the Nelson Lords in yesterday's semifinal. OT's run of three straight Halton titles came to an end in 2001. Since then, Notre Dame has taken the last four championships. "I'm excited. We've been training for this all season," said OT goalie Nyrie Israelian, who has yet to allow a goal in 11 games this season. "We're ready to win one for once." It won't be easy. Notre Dame is the defending provincial champion --its third Ontario high school title in four years -- and is also undefeated in 11 games after beating White Oaks 1-0 in Friday's other semifinal. The Halton championship game is scheduled for Monday at OT, unless field conditions make a change necessary. "We've got to get it out of our heads, who they are," Bull said. "This isn't about the past. It's the future now." Although the two field hockey superpowers played in different divisions, they did meet in a tournament earlier this year where a scoreless game was decided when Notre Dame won in penalty flicks. The key for OT will be a good start. Last year, one goal was enough to decide the title, with Notre Dame winning 1-0. But with Israelian yet to surrender a goal this season, an early goal -- or any goal -- may be enough for the Devils to regain the title. That's exactly what OT did against Nelson. Alyssa Gorab scored in the first five minutes. The Red Devils took that 1-0 lead into the half but were threatened early in the second. Israelian turned aside a pair of Nelson scoring chances set up by a Lords' corner. OT controlled the game from that point and Bull, who is fielding scholarship offers from U.S. colleges, put the game away with a strong shot from about 20 feet out midway through the half. She added her second goal with eight minutes to play. "That's two years in a row we've gone deep into the playoffs so they're a team we're certainly familiar with," Nelson coach Steve Clark said of OT. "We made it close but they were at the top of their game." -- Herb Garbutt can be reached at sports@oakvillebeaver.com.