The Glengarry Sports Scene

Athletes from the county's high schools will be in Cornwall on Tuesday, competing in the annual SD&G track and field meet at St. Lawrence Intermediate School.

Track events are scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m., culiminating with the 4-by-400 m relays at approximately 4:30 p.m.

On the field, athletes will rotate through events that include long jump, triple jump, high jump, shot put, discus, and javelin, starting at 9 a.m.

In a repeat of the Prescott-Russell high school boys senior soccer semifinal, a game forced by a league appeal six months ago, Le Relais fell to St. Francis Xavier.

The 1-0 loss came despite Les Intrepides dominating the second half, the St. Francis goal scored on a penalty kick.

Le Relais had won the league title last October and with it a spot at EOSSAA, but St. Francis appealed the standings, winning the appeal in a meeting that was only held in December.  The school had been pegged in fifth place at the end of the season, with the successful appeal moving the team into fourth and thus a league playoff spot.

Le Relais was notified of the decision in April, ordered to redo the semifinal today in Alexandria.

With the defeat for Les Intrepides, St. Francis will go on to a new Prescott-Russell final against L'Escale, while Le Relais is left to lick its wounds.

The Alexandria school has already petitioned the EOSSAA convenor for an exception that would still allow Les Intrepides to vie for the regional title.  In the meantime, the boys are preparing for the Franco tournament to be held later this month in Toronto.

After last week's edition of The News went to press, an updated schedule was released for the SD&G high school baseball tournament to be played Tuesday, May 5.  The event will see teams from two Glengarry schools among the six competing.

GDHS and Holy Trinity find themselves in the same pool, joining La Citadelle. 

Holy Trinity's first game is slated for 10 a.m. against La Citadelle, with GDHS playing against Les Patriotes at 2 p.m.  The Gaels and Falcons will then close out the tourney with the last match of the day beginning at 6 p.m.

The winner of the pool will advance to a championship match tentatively booked for May 15.

GD's team is coached by Wayne Lapierre, Randy Larocque, and Marc Sauve, while the Holy Trinity bench boss is Jeff McAllister.

The other pool includes St. Joseph's, CCVS, and Rothwell-Osnabruck, with games on Tuesday at 8 a.m., noon, and 4 p.m.

All games will be played at Legion Park in Cornwall, located east of the Civic Complex along the waterfront.

The high school soccer season opened for regular-season action on Wednesday with games at Holy Trinity and Tagwi.

Char-Lan's junior teams, both the boys and girls Crusaders squads, seemed to enjoy playing on the Holy Trinity pitch, scoring a pair of wins. Playing conditions were pleasant for the time of year with sun and a light wind, while the field was holding up well, especially considering that a day earlier a senior rugby game was played on it in the rain.

For the Char-Lan girls, it was a 2-0 victory over the Falcons with one marker coming in each half as goalkeeper Keri-ann McNaughton-Seguin earned the shutout. 

The boys fought for a 3-1 win against a host Holy Trinity side that managed some sustained pressure at times in what was a physical match. One Falcon was sanctioned twice for rough play, as Holy Trinity was forced to play the last 15 minutes short-handed.  Brandon Rombough backstopped Char-Lan to the opening-day win, making fine saves when called upon.

Char-Lan will host the next junior soccer tournament on Friday, May 8 in Williamstown with boys and girls squads from Tagwi, GDHS, and Holy Trinity visiting.  The action will kick off at noon.

Senior soccer begins for local teams on Thursday, May 7 with games at Char-Lan, starting at 1 p.m., and GDHS, starting at 11 a.m.

Other day-one junior soccer results:  GDHS girls blanked Seaway 7-0 and Russell 3-0.  Lauren Lalonde earned the pair of shutouts in goal.  The GDHS boys split their action on the day with a 4-2 win against Seaway and a 2-0 loss to Russell.  Tagwi boys and girls scores will be posted here when made available to The News.

Glorious sunshine and a 15-degree temperature welcomed competitors in the 37th running of the Raisin River Canoe Race today as paddlers contended with low water levels on the river and a shortened course.  In all, 176 canoes and kayaks reached the finish line in Williamstown after covering the course of the race that started at Cemetary Road west of Martintown. 

Water levels and flow rate were among the lowest in the history of the race.  This forced organizers to adjust the starting line, making this the shortest ever course, though many paddlers commented they enjoyed the shorter distance and earlier finishing time.

The April 22 edition of The Glengarry News will feature a full wrap-up of the race, along with results and photos.  As well, more photos will soon be posted in our online photo gallery. 

Prints of photos are available for purchase.  For more information, click here , or call the office at 613-525-2020 to see if we have photographs of you.  Have your canoe or kayak number ready.

Check out our full photo library in our online photo gallery.

The Glengarry Soccer League has scheduled a mandatory referees' meeting to be held on Thursday, April 23.  Referees can expect to be contacted by the GSL office.  The league's referee-in-chief will conduct the meeting.  Questions should be directed to the GSL office at 613-525-0614.

With recent dry weather, river conditions on the Raisin may become an issue as organizers of the annual canoe race plan for the April 19 event which is scheduled to begin in St. Andrew's West and wind along the river through Martintown to Williamstown.

While the flow rate at last year's race was over 1200 cubic feet per second, the measurement on Tuesday was 230.  According to the Raisin Region Conservation Authority, rates can increase dramatically a couple of days after a steady rainfall, though no precipitation is forecast for the area until Sunday.

As happened three years ago, organizers can shorten the race when water levels are low.  However, doing so would create another issue, since the normal starting point in this situation is at the bridge across the river on Delaney Road.  That bridge is undergoing repairs and is closed to traffic, meaning canoes would have to be dropped off from the north side with no parking available, while cars would also need to turn around on the narrow country road.

The ideal solution would be some rain, though.  Stay tuned!

Though the county's three junior teams have hung up the skates on the season, a number of midget-aged players still have games to be played this weekend.

On Friday, the Glengarry Sports Palace will be the site of the second annual Spring Classic, a tournament that brings together midget-eligible hockey players in a format that has teams from Alexandria, Lancaster, Lochiel, and Kenyon battling it out for county bragging rights.  Coaches are Paul Meldrum, Dan Giroux, Vince Collard, and Marc Massia.

The puck drops on the action at 9 a.m., with a B final slated for 2 p.m. followed by the A championship match at 3 p.m.

A game at noon on Saturday will see two midget house squads, the #1 and #4 Glens coached by Norm Seguin and Dan Giroux respectively, square off for the league title.  The teams split two earlier hard-fought matches, so it comes down to a one-game winner-take-all.

An impressive 2008-09 Junior B hockey season could end Tuesday night in Alexandria unless the Glens can find a way to overcome the disciplined Ottawa West Golden Knights and their potent offensive attack.

The Knights grabbed a three-games-to-one lead in the EOJBHL championship series on Monday night in Ottawa with a 9-4 effort.

Game four is slated for an 8 p.m. start Tuesday night at the Glengarry Sports Palace, and the boys will be looking for your support to extend the series.