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20-lb. Canadian Champion, Frlday, October 29,1999 ,/,Red-ing's Docil goes the distance for victory. By STEVE LeBLANO The Champion Michelle Doell is back in the w inner's circle. The Bishop Reding lOth grader - a regional champion in three track and field events last spring - raced to victory at the combined Halton/GHAC Cross Country Championships Wednesday. Amid the pictureaque surroundings of Kelso Conservation Area, Doell tumed back each and evexy challenger in the junior girls division. She completed the 4,245 metre course in a blistering 17:39, finishing more than half-a-minute ahead of Oakville Trafalgar's Jennie Green. The up-and-coming star runner was hier school's lone qualifier for OFSAA, which will be held next Saturday (November 6) at Etobicoke Centennial Par k. Six Milton athietes in total - aIl females- advanced to the provincial finals. 'he only other individual qualifier was E.C. Drury Hligh's Melissa Logue - who took a wrong tumn on around stayed on path to finish fourth in 12:16. She was less than a minute behind the winner and a mere four seconda off a top three placing. Meanwhile, Milton District High would not be denied representation at provincials either. Their senior girls took a strong second and qualified as a team. Leading the way was Chrissie Henderson, who tamed the 4,639m course in 20:37 for 1I th spot. Melanie Casson came I 8th while Rebecca Meltzer and Lee Carson were neck and neck - placing 26th and 27th respectively. Drury's Fiona Silcock took sixth spot in 20:14- but narrowly missed qualifying as an individual. Also edged out of an OFSAA berth was BR' s Candace Nogueira, who placed ninth in the midget girls race Among maie runners from Milton, BR's Tim Mohr was the top finisher. He was I6th among the midget boys with a time of 18:59 on the 4,639m course. Schoolmates John McDougall and Scott Bimie weoe 21 at and 22nd in the senior boys race - which fea- tured a course of 7,094m. October supremacy goes missing for Jr. Merchants By STEVE LeBLANC The Champion October has taken a frightening tum for Marty Williamson. Hlis Merchant teains have always done exceptionally well through the first full month of the season. However, this year's edition is cur- rently struggling just to keep their heads above water. They've bast four times so far this month - twice as many as duning the previous three Octobers combined. Since September's 6-0 ahowing, the club's offensive out- put has tapered off significantly and made them look rather miediocre. "We just can't bury anything," aaid Williamason. But Milton's skipper was much more concerned with a lack of teain play in their latest defeat at Streetsville's Vic Johnston Arena Tuesday. The Merchanta exhibited little cohesion over the course of the evening and absolutely none in the final few minutes - when they suffered a complete collapse on the way to being humbled 7-4. it was their first regulation losa this year and (including overtime) second in five nighta to the Derbys. -They were aIl ton individualistic out there," fumed Williamson, who went as far as to question whether personnel changes were in order. "Nobody wanted to play together or back each other up." About the only positive part of their game was a 3-for-4 showing with the man-advantage - which was somewhat surprising for their first gaine without suspended scor- ing leader and powerplay point man Phil Barski. Ryan Carrigan, James Coleman and Rob Martin made deposits while their team had the extra attacker before Ryan Eby notched his seventh season goal late in the middle stanza to put the visitors ahead for a third time. Milton would hold this lead until the last four minutes of Play, when they had their biggest breakdown of the year and allowed four goals in 3:23. Larry Moniz - who traded some extra curricular stick work with defenceman Chris Kerr in the recent home-and-home series - delivered the game winner on a cross-ice redirect while Eric. Burling sealed the deal by going upstairs on Luc Lamothe. The Derbys added insuit to injury with an easy empty netter in the dying moments of the gaine. Again, Terry Lenyk was between the pipes for Streetsville. Moniz and Jimmy Tudor each tallied twice. The Derbys flot only came out on top on the score sheet but also in terma of shots on net and overaîl physîcal play. Meanwhile, Milton sank further into their rut leading up to tonight's clash with second place' Georgetown. With neither club currently playing up to their capa- bilities and each side missing one top performer - Barski for the Merchants and number one goalie Jeif Hladysh for the Raiders - the highly anticipated showdown has afready lost some of its luster.