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mm economist suntribune sports thursday may 23 2002 35 photoerin riley huskies batter mike nesbitt gets set to unload on this offering during saturdays action in the 20th annual raiders slopitch tournament at memorial park the huskies advanced to the d division final before suffering a 177 loss to the weekend warriors from brampton bridlewood weekend warriors claim top prizes at snowy slopitch event frigid temperatures didnt dampen the enthusiasm at raiders 20th annual tourney in the past 19 years that the raiders staged their annual slopitch tournament at memorial park convenor murray pattenden couldnt recall a time when the weather hovered near the freezing mark that was until this year with belownormal temperatures invading stouffville during the victoria day long weekend the 20th annual raiders slopitch tournament was conducted under conditions that didnt resemble spring it was cold and its the first time snow has ever happened in the tournament pattenden recalled we had a good laugh and the tournament went well with a total of 20 teams 10 in each of the e and d divisions taking to the memorial park ball dia monds for the twoday event scarboroughbased entry bridlewood captured the e division title with a 128 win over the phantoms from cannington on sunday going undefeated in the tournament with a 50 mark bridlewood reached the final after defeating the red hot dawgs of pickering 156 in their semi final match the phantoms advanced to the final with an 187 win over torontobased boys are back who made their 18th appearance in the tour nament in winning their division bridlewood pocketed 300 in firstplace prize money the weekendwarriors of brampton claimed the d division crown with a 177 win over the huskies ofbowmanville in reaching the final the weekend warriors who went 51 in the tournament won their semi final game over torontobased diamond kings 21- 10 the huskies defeated time zone of uxbridge 189 in their semifinal encounter in winning their title the weekendwarriors took home the top prize of 350 several local entries took part in the tourna ment in the d division the crm cavemen of stouffville advanced to the quarterfinals before coming out on the short end of a 2221 decision to the weekend warriors in the e division easy win of stouffville reached the quarterfinals before bowing out with a 136 loss to the red hot dawgs of pickering the a and s old twisters a team comprised of raiders alumni players won one of three games taws reaches the podium in formula ford racing debut ashley taws became the first woman to stand on the podium at a canadian formula ford championship race as she drove her be anything with barbie at walmart vehicle to a thirdplace fin ish in her first pro race at mosport international raceway near bowmanville on saturday the 18yearold stouffville resident was on a fast pace throughout the weekend setting competitive times in practice sessions before qualifying third in saturdays race taws ran as high as third and as low as fifth in the opening laps before settling into third for the duration initially surprised by the aggressive racing at the pro level taws quickly adapted and proved shed be no pushover aim autosport gave me a great set up on the car so i was very confident with the handling she said im really happy to have finished in the top three in my first rape at this level its a great way to start the season with a successful first outing under her belt taws is now looking forward to the next race which takes her to montreal for the canadian grand prix june 79 ashleytaws stouffville race driver happy with thirdplace finish sports digest gibbons 13th in cascar opener peter gibbons began his cascar season last weekend at delaware speedway near london ont with a great qualifying effort and a 13thplace finish in the mopar parts 250 feature race driving his canadian tire monte carlo chevrolet the stouffville resident sat on the outside of the front row after recording a qualifying time of 19668 seconds gibbons seized the lead on lap 14 of the 250lap event that was held under cold weather and high winds before a restart on lap 21 shuffled him back to fourth gibbons remained in contention throughout the race before adversity struck on lap 180 when he punctured a right front tire after challenging for the lead forced to pit under the green flag gibbons went down two laps but made one back before robbie thompson of southampton ont took the checkered flag we did all we could when you get flat tires under the green there is nothing you can do the canadian tire crew got a good workout today we know the car is good and we will be strong for the race at peterborough said an optimistic gibbons after the race and in reference to their next cascar event stratas vaults to the top of her novice class at provincials a visit to a gymnasium for a birthday party gves gormky resident the incentive to try gymnastics by jim thomas correspondent five years ago alexandra stratas attended a birthday party it was held in a gymnasium the event proved so enjoy able the gormley resident thought she would give gym nastics a try today 10 years later the grade 6 honors student who attends holy trinity school in richmond hill is a provincial gold medalist competing in the novice class at sudbury during the weekend of may 10 stratas received a trophy a plaque and four medals in competition that included the vault the bars the balance beam and the floor she captured a gold for per formance allround rolling up the highest individual score a total of 54 girls ages 10 and 11 took part my heart was pounding throughout said mary stratas alexandra stratas received a trophy plaque and four medals at provincials in sudbury her mother both she and husband paul attended the meet alexandra alex to her friends trains out of the academy of sports and fitness in richmond hill her head coach is paula johnson her assistant head coach is brenda mader she spends 23 hours in training each week the floor is alexandras spe cialty routines include tum bling acrobatics and dance shell advance to the prejunior division next year and hopes to again compete in the provin- the floor is alexandras specialty routines include tumbling acrobatics and dance rials her goal is the nationals gymnastics is a demanding sport her mother explains necessitating a commitment not unlike figure skating its not unusual for her daughter to pack her ankles and knees in ice following workouts and compe titions physiotherapy is also required from time to time one must be able to per form under pressure regardless of talent mrs stratas said a perfect performance can be ruined by one small slip despite a rigorous training schedule alexandra says shes never entertained thoughts of quitting i enjoy it too much she claims in a spectators role her par ents do also but quickly admit competition of the kind held at sudbury is hard on the nerves six girls were selected to enter the provincials from each metro region the academy of sports and fitness is locat ed in metro east alexandra says occasional ly shes asked by classmates to display her skills usually in the schoolyard thats why she always wears shorts under her skirt her mother laughs she never knows when shell be upside down