HIGH ACHIEVERS WEEKEND WRAP: Rideau Canoe Club captures Ontario championship on home water

By Martin Cleary

The Rideau Canoe Club prepared for the Canadian canoe kayak sprint championships later this month by registering a comfortable victory at the Ontario championships on its home course.

Rideau scored the most points in 14 different age groups, including the Bantam Cup, and finished with an unmatched 1,308 points. Mississauga Canoe Club was second at 660 and Burloak Canoe Club took third at 442.

Olivia Pucci was a quadruple winner, taking first with Alex Hoferek in open mixed K2 500 metres as well as guiding the U14 girls’, boys’ and mixed C15 war canoes to victory. Hoferek and Alessandro Busa also had wins in the open men’s K2 500 metres and formed half of the fastest men’s boat in the K4 500 metres along with Lochlen Farquharson and Spencer Robinson.

Ruby Muhl won the girls’ U16 C1 500 metres and added two more victories in the C2 500 metres with Julia Price and the IC4/C4 500 metres with Price, Abby Wojtyk and Sarah Rumscheidt.

Henrik Neuspiel counted three wins in the boys’ U16 class. He was first in the K2 500 metres with Ben Elder, the K4 500 metres with Elder, Dax Morris and Jed Hill, and the mixed K2 500 metres with Callie Loch.

Morris also was a standout in the U14 class. Not only did he win the K1 500 metres, but also he joined Alessandro Pucci with a K2 500-metre win and teamed with Pucci, Gavin Burke and Zach Wells for a K4 500-metre victory.

Mila Souilliere was first in the girls’ U18 C1 500 metres and linked with Zoe Wojtyk for a win in the C2 500 metres, and teamed with Mackenzie Haines, Anna Semeniuk and Rumscheidt to claim top honours in the IC4 500 metres.

Jeff Daniels scored wins in two men’s masters classes. He was first in the mixed C2 500 metres with Marielle Hawkes, and the mixed C4 500 metres with Erin McDonnell, Shawn McCleery and Hawkes. He also won the men’s C1 500 metres.

Hawkes also had a victory smile after the women’s masters K1 500 metres, and the K4 500 metres with Lindsay Richardson, Adrian Richardson and McDonnell. Adrian Richardson’s boat placed first in the U16 mixed C15 war canoe.

Naomi Langenbahn and Caroline Anderson were the girls’ U14 C2 500-metre winners. They later joined Madeleine Beauregard and Veronica Rumscheidt to win the C4 500 metres.

Ruby Anderson was the girls’ U12 500-metre winner and joined Katey Anderson, Juniper Code and Kinsley Daniels for a triumph in the C4 500 metres. Code and Jane Schlosser also won the C2 500 metres.

Special Olympic athletes from the Ottawa River Canoe Club were in exceptional form. Mustafa Hussein won the boys’ U14 pro men’s K1 200 metres, the touring men’s K1 200 metres and the mixed pro K2 200 metres with William Webster of Gananoque.

Kevin Tobin and Maier Mavraganis had the fastest boat in the mixed unified K2 200 metres. Fletcher Sloan was the open men’s pro K1 200-metre winner, while Ewan MacMillan and Ethan Pace were the open mixed unified K2 200-metre champions.

Sara Kelman of Ottawa River was the winner in the para mixed K1 200 metres.

BESHARAH-HREBACKA GOLDEN AT PAN AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Ottawa athletes earned two gold and four silver medals at the Pan American canoe sprint championships in Dartmouth, N.S.

Andréanne Langlois of Trois-Rivières, Que., and Toshka Besharah-Hrebacka of the Rideau Canoe Club were gold medallists by only seven-tenths of a second in the women’s K2 500 metres in 1:44.8.

Brianna Hennessy of the Ottawa River Canoe Club won the women’s VL1 200 metres in 1:04.5 and was second in the KL1 200 metres in 55.1.

The other silver medallists were: Rideau’s Gabriel Ferron-Bouius, men’s KL3 200 metres, 47.6; Cascades Canoe Club’s Sophia Jensen and Julia Lilley Osende of Mic Mac Amateur Aquatic Club, women’s C2 500 metres, 1:58.0; and Courtney Stott of Balmy Beach Canoe Club, Nathalie Davison of Rideau, Riley Melanson of Cheema Aquatic Club and Madeline Schmidt of Rideau, women’s K4 500 metres, 1:35.9.

NEPEAN KNIGHTS EYE CANADIAN JR. ‘B’ LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIP

The Nepean Knights are on a mission.

During their regular season in the 23-team Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League, the Knights dominated the Far East Conference with an eye-popping win-loss record of 18-2.

In the provincial league playoffs, Nepean was even better than that. The Knights accomplished the unheard of – sweeping four consecutive best-of-five series for a 12-0 record and winning each game by an average of 6.3 goals.

And now, the Knights’ are in pursuit of their first Canadian championship at this week’s Jr. B Founders Cup in Brampton, ON.

The Knights will begin their five-game, round-robin series on Tuesday and will play the four other Canadian regional champions plus the host Brampton Excelsiors.

Here is the Knights’ round-robin schedule with day, opponent, association, and time:

Tuesday: Nepean vs Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs (British Columbia), noon.

Wednesday: Edmonton Warriors (Alberta), 7:30 p.m.

Thursday: Saskatchewan SWAT (Saskatchewan), 4:30 p.m.

Friday: Onondaga Jr Redhawks (First Nations), noon

Saturday: Brampton Excelsiors (host team), 7:30 p.m.

The medal and classification games are Sunday – fifth-place game at 11 a.m., bronze-medal match at 2 p.m. and the championship game at 5:30 p.m.

In their dozen Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League playoff games, the Knights averaged 11.0 goals a game and only allowed 4.8 goals defensively. They also knew how to close out a series in the third game, defeating Orillia Kings 17-3, Halton Hills Bulldogs 14-3, Akwesasne Indians 12-1, and Windsor Clippers 8-1.

Nepean, which is celebrating its 30th year in the league, defeated Windsor 6-4, 11-6 and 8-1 in the provincial league championship series.

Nick Pelletier led the Nepean scorers with 19 goals, 26 assists for 45 points in 12 games. Jared Downey, the Knights’ regular-season top scorer and fourth overall in the league, counted 17 goals and 27 assists for 44 points. Sam Parent had 40 points from 20 goals and 20 assists.

During the 20-game regular season, Downey scored 26 goals and added a league-leading 70 assists for a team-best 96 points in 19 games. Parent was second in team scoring (28-36-64, 17 games), while James Donnelly was third (29-25-54, 19 games).

Thomas Kiazyic was perfect in net for Nepean, winning all 14 of his starts and posting a 4.69 goals-against average, while Dylan Young was 4-2 and 6.79.

The Founders Cup was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Calgary Shamrocks won the last national championship in 2019. Before that Ontario teams captured nine straight titles from 2010 through 2018.

Nepean’s games can be viewed via founderscup.gameonstream.com

Read More: Nepean Jr. B Knights sweep their way to Ontario title, set sights on national championship

JAMES NEWTON HELPS QUEBEC TAKE CANADIAN JUNIOR TEAM TITLE

Royal Ottawa Golf Club’s James Newton shared in one national title and challenged for another at last week’s Canadian boys’ junior golf championship at Rivershore Estates and Golf Links in Kamloops, B.C.

Newton and Jean-Philippe Parr of St-Celestine, Que., who are Canadian junior team members, and Felix Bouchard of Otterburn, Que., won the 36-hole Interprovincial team title for Quebec with a score of 407. They defeated Ontario by six strokes to defend their title from 2019.

In the first round of the 72-hole championship, Newton tied the course record and held a three-stroke lead, after shooting a nine-under-par 63. Parr responded with a 10-under 62 in the second round and Newton slipped to second place with a two-under 70 to trail his teammate by one stroke after 36 holes.

Newton remained under par in each of the final two rounds, but he couldn’t make any progress with matching one-under rounds of 71. After marking only two bogeys in his first two rounds, he had nine in his final two rounds. He also had 20 birdies spread throughout his tournament as well as an eagle in the first and fourth rounds.

In the end, Newton finished in eighth place at 63-70-71-71- 275 and earned $600.

Ellis Kinnaird of Carleton Place tied for 42nd place with a one-over-par total of 289 from rounds of 70-73-71-75.

DAVID QUIRIE, CHARLOTTE ANDERSON POST OPEN WATER FIRSTS

Ottawa’s David Quirie, who will enter his junior year at Florida State University this year, won the Riverkeeper Open Water Swim men’s four-kilometre race at Lac Deschênes in 53:04.

Alex Brown, who is five years younger than the 20-year-old Quirie, was second in 56:26, while Logan Milne, 16, took third in 56:47.

Klara Doelle won the women’s race in 1:03:05 ahead of Val Walker, 1:03:44, and Sophie Beauchesne, 1:03.59.

The respective 1,500-metre women’s and men’s champions were Charlotte Anderson, 14, in 24:16 and Robert Landriault, 57, in 24:17.

Organizers exceeded their fund raising goal of $10,000 as $13,440 had been collected as of Monday. The top individual fund raisers were Judith Holman ($1,127), and Jennifer Haughton ($1,126), while the team title went to Capital Wave Swim and Water Polo Club ($1,939).

IMAN SHAHEEN EARNS SECOND WIN AT JUNIOR WORLDS

Ottawa’s Iman Shaheen improved her record to 2-2 at the world girls’ junior squash championships in Nancy, France, on Monday.

Shaheen’s 11-3, 11-7, 9-11, 11-1 win over Switzerland’s Stella Kaufmann allowed her to reach the final for 69th place Tuesday in the women’s 128-player draw. Shaheen will play her last match against Ireland’s Hannah Megugan.

SILVER MEDAL FOR LOCAL FIELD HOCKEY PLAYER AT NATIONALS

Regan Woods of the Nepean Nighthawks Field Hockey Club helped Team Ontario earn a silver medal at the Aug. 9-14 Canadian U16 field hockey championships in Surrey, B.C.

Ontario went 2-2 in pool play, with wins over Alberta and B.C. Yellow, and 1-0 losses to both B.C. White and B.C. Blue. Woods scored the opening goal of Ontario’s semi-final match in the second minute of play to help ensure her team’s place on the podium with a 3-2 redemption victory over B.C. White.

B.C. Blue took the title with another 1-0 win in the final.

FOURTH PLACE YOUTH WORLDS FINISH FOR ARTISTIC SWIMMER

Madison Murphy of GO Capital Artistic Swimming helped Canada to a fourth-place performance at the Aug. 10-14 FINA World Youth Artistic Swimming Championships in Charlotte, N.C.

Canada placed fourth of nine in the women team free event with a final score of 77.3 points, behind host USA in third at 78.6 and co-champions Japan and Spain with 82.

The finish was particularly impressive given that Team Canada was actually Team Ontario wearing the maple leaf. With COVID disruptions earlier this year, Artistic Swim Canada decided to send the winning provincial team from a July qualifying competition in Edmonton as its representative.

GROUP STAGE EXIT FOR SOCCER PLAYER AT FIFA U20 WORLD CUP

Ottawa’s Keera Melenhorst and Team Canada won’t advance past the group stage of the Aug. 10-28 FIFA Women’s Under-20 World Cup in Costa Rica after losing their first two games.

Canada suffered a 2-0 loss to Korea Republic on Aug. 11 and a 3-1 defeat to France on Sunday. The Canadians will close out the competition Wednesday against Nigeria.

West Ottawa Soccer Club product Melenhorst now plays NCAA soccer for the University of Pittsburgh.