The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Sports Oakville Beaver By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, MAY 18, 2007 43 Ex-keeper gives track and field a shot Baseball Raiders play Irish tough M egann VanderVliet was brought to Calvin College to stand in the way of shots. Four years and a change of sports later, such practice would be exremely hazardous to her health. The former soccer keeper is now the Grand Rapids, Michigan school's unlikely track-and-field star. VanderVliet recently defended her Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) titles in both the discus and the shot put to earn most valuable field performer honours at the conference championship. Which is all pretty hard to believe, considering her limited exposure to the events in which she now excels. "Maybe I'd thrown a shot in gym class," the Oakville Trafalgar graduate said. "Rugby was the huge thing. I don't even think I'd seen a discus before I got here." She will head to the upcoming NCAA Division III championships as the top-ranked discus thrower in the country and is rated seventh in shot put. She has also qualified for Canadian senior nationals three straight years. "I think expecting her to do what she has -- a multiple All-American, top 10 in Canada -- would have been very unrealistic," said Calvin assistant trackand-field coach Norm Zylstra. "Maybe if she did it in one event. But to put the time and energy into two, she's had to RISING STAR: Megann VanderVliet, pictured heaving a shot be very disciplined." during NCAA track-and-field competition, is also one of the counIt has also required some sacrifice try's top young discus throwers. Megann VanderVliet on VanderVliet's part. After having played for the same soccer coach for so Zylstra points to VanderVliet's diverse sports background long, she found it difficult making the adjustment to a new as a major factor in helping her excel so quickly in a new system of play at Calvin. She gave up soccer after her fresh- sport. man year to concentrate on a sport that, at first glance to "More than anything else, I think it's the Canadian athher, "looked kind of weird." letic system that allows someone to play volleyball, basket"Soccer had been my life. I had played rep ball, rugby and figure skating. The emphasis is since I was nine," the 21-year-old said. "It was a "She was a on participation and I think it produces a more hard decision but soccer in college was a lot dif- blank canvas. well-rounded athlete," he said. "In the States, ferent." you're not going to find a figure skater that has She didn't have Had she not played that first year, though, bad technique time to play rugby. I think it has put her in a sitCalvin track-and-field coach Jong-il Kim would uation where the skills she has learned, she can we had to have never seen her boot a soccer ball. He would apply to other sports." have never wondered about the potential of her deconstruct... we Zylstra took full advantage of all those previpowerful legs launching a shot and he would could build from ously learned skills. Using her background in have never asked her to come out for the track - the ground up." figure skating, he drew on the fluidity and tight and-field team the following spring. spinning motion of performing a jump to begin Feeling as though she had nothing to lose by Calvin College building her technique. Then he had trying, VanderVliet accepted the invitation. coach Norm Zylstra VanderVliet add in the aggression she had disZylstra, the school's throwing coach, said her played in rugby to give her the explosiveness inexperience was not an obstacle. when releasing the shot or discus. "She was a blank canvas," he said. "She didn't have bad Of course, Zylstra said none of that ability would have technique that we had to deconstruct, nothing she had to meant anything without VanderVliet's dedication. An exer See VanderVliet page 44 un-learn. We could build from the ground up." Aquinas edged in GHAC semifinal The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders only had to look at the Halton high school baseball standings to know they had their work cut out for them. "We knew they had scored 48 runs (in five league games), so we knew they could hit," said Aquinas pitcher Mike Ide. Forget the fact that Notre Dame, the Raiders' opponent in Wednesday's Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference semifinal, had allowed only three runs in those games. Or that it had won a pair of 11-1 decisions the day before. Or that those two victories ran Notre Dame's winning streak in league play to 15 games over the past two years. Aquinas had finished the Halton regular season with a 32 mark so, on paper, it looked like a huge mismatch. The Raiders had other ideas. Aquinas shocked Notre Dame by jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning, becoming the first team this year to score more than one run against the Irish. And the Raiders threw a scare into the Halton powerhouse, which needed a one-out double in the seventh inning just to escape with a 32 victory. Raiders held 2-0 lead After a Sean McConnell walk and a Ryan Lutzko infield single, the Raiders took advantage of a Notre Dame throwing error to open the scoring. Lutzko then came home on a wild pitch to make it 2-0. Aquinas threatened again in the fourth after a leadoff walk to Adrian Staples and a base hit to right by Ide to start the inning. The Irish would dodge a bullet though, getting a ground ball for a double play, which it turned into a triple play when it caught Staples taking a big turn at third. Meanwhile, Ide was keeping the Irish in check , not allowing a hit until the third inning. He pitched his way out of a bases-loaded jam that inning and then did it again in the fourth, allowing just one run when Etienne Beaulieu got an infield single that deflected off Ide's glove. "I was just trying to keep the ball low, don't give them anything to drive and let the (defense) make plays," Ide said. Alex Burrows, who took over on the mound in the fifth, followed the same game plan. He also found himself facing a one-out bases loaded situation in the fifth but escaped by getting a pop-up to the mound and a grounder to second. Notre Dame would finally break through in the sixth when Josh Robinson walked, stole second and scored on Tyler Patsoluk's base hit. Aquinas' hopes of adding to its run total took a hit in the top half of the inning when Robinson came in to pitch. He came to the mound with two runners on and nobody out but needed just 10 pitches to strike out the side. He retired the See Aquinas page 45 www.hiddenlakegolf.com VICTORIA DAY WEEKEND 36 Championship holes Home of the Canadian Open qualifier Complete premier practice facility Golf clinics, Jr. Golf Camps & private coaching taught by qualified professionals Best Golf Pro Shop in the area! MAY 19, 20 & 21 We'll pay for your gas! Bring in this ad and receive a $10 Pioneer gas certificate when you purchase a regular priced green fee between 11:00 am and 4:30 pm (905) 336-3660 BOOK NOW CALL 905-336-3660 Must present this ad to qualify. One certificate per player. Not to be used in concjunction with any other offers or coupons.