The following athletes representing the Bellerose Bulldogs, Paul Kane Blues and St. Albert Skyhawks recorded top-three placings at the Edmonton zone high school track and field finals last Saturday in the rain at Rollie Miles Athletic Park.
Niki Oudenaarden, Paul Kane: junior girls — first place in the 200 metres (26.15), long jump (5.60m), shot put (10.21m) and javelin (34.98m).
Rachel Francois, Paul Kane: intermediate girls — first place in the 800m (2:27.08) and second place in the 400m (1:00.71).
Kelly Fagan, Paul Kane: intermediate girls — second place in shot put (8.70m).
Jenn Mentanko, Paul Kane: senior girls — first place in the 400m (1:00.30).
Kim Kaplar, Skyhawks: senior girls — second place in high jump (1.45m).
Hilary Annich, Skyhawks: senior girls — third place in high jump (1.40m).
Nattiya Thatset, Bellerose: senior girls — first place in discus (22.10m).
Mitch McNamara, Skyhawks: junior boys — third place in the 200m (23.68) and discus (28.48).
Liam McNamara, Skyhawks: junior boys — first place in high jump (1.70m) and second place in discus (29.12m).
Garrett King, Paul Kane: intermediate boys — first place in the 400m (51.93) and 100m hurdles (13.96).
Aaron Weicker, Paul Kane: intermediate boys — third place in the 400m (55.00) and 800m (2:11.17).
Nick Meronyk, Liam McNamara, Mitch McNamara , Trevor Poirier: Skyhawks’ junior boys’ 4x100 relay team — first place (47.08).
The top finishers at zones qualified for the provincial championships this weekend at Medicine Hat.
Five graduating bantam AAA St. Albert Sabres earned invites to the Team Alberta U16 provincial camp in preparation for the 2011 Canada Winter Games.
Defencemen Tyler Dea and Ty Stanton and forwards Sebastien Auray, Luke Mahura and Jake Mykitiuk are among the top 80 U16 male players in the province selected to attend the July 20 to 25 tryouts at Camrose. They were evaluated and chosen from the 2009/10 club season and the 2010 Alberta Cup at Leduc in April.
From the Camrose camp, players will be shortlisted and scouted with their club teams until the final 20-man roster is finalized for the Canada Winter Games, Feb. 19 to 27 at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
In the 2010 Western Hockey League bantam draft, Mahura (2nd round, 28th overall), Dea (6th round, 119th overall) and Auray (9th round, 182nd overall) were picked by the Prince Albert Raiders. Stanton (2nd round, 36th overall) was taken by the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Named to the July 6 to 11 tryouts at Camrose were Slash defencemen Paige Foster (Slave Lake), Tegan Rose (Gibbons) and Eliza Snider (Fort Saskatchewan) and forwards Jessica Kampjes (Gibbons), Melissa Kueber (St. Albert), Angie Mason (St. Albert) and Krystal Reithmayer (Fort Saskatchewan). The Slash are the host team for the 2011 Esso Cup national female midget championship, April 17 to 23 at Servus Credit Union Place.
The U18 selection process started with two regional evaluation sessions in May, where a combined total of 160 athletes competed for 46 spots at the provincial camp. After the tryouts, players will be shortlisted and a select group will be chosen to play at an elite female tournament at Regina in September. The short-listed players will also be scouted with their club teams before the final 20-player roster is declared.
St. Albert resident Serge Lajoie was recently named the new head coach of the NAIT Ooks.
The former St. Albert Saints’ defenceman (1986-88) completed his fifth season as an assistant coach with the Alberta Golden Bears, where he was part of two CIS national championship teams (2006 and 2008). He was also the director of the Golden Bears Hockey Summer Camps.
Lajoie, 41, joined the Bears in 1988 as a freshman defender and competed at four CIS nationals, highlighted by the team’s 1992 championship victory. In 1993 he was named the Canada West and CIS player of the year and was the recipient of the Wilson Challenge Trophy as the University of Alberta’s male athlete of the year.
Lajoie would go on to play five seasons in the German first division with EC Bad Nauheim. In senior AAA hockey he skated in a number of Allan Cups. The Bonnyville product also played for the Mid-West Islanders of Paradise Hill, Sask. at the 2005 Nagano Cup in Japan.
