
TOP ATHLETES: Local high school athlete-of-the-year award winners that attended a recognition barbecue Monday at Bronte Creek Provincial Park included (back, left to right) Abbey Park's Daniel Mathie (the lone junior to attend), OT's Scott Asselstine, Blakelock's Stephen Saunders, Loyola's Marco Rodrigues, (front, left to right) Abbey Park's Jessica Tat, OT's Elizabeth Philp, Blakelock's Ashley Langdon, Loyola's Leah Franco and Iroquois Ridge's Jaime Johns.

TOP ATHLETES: Local high school athlete-of-the-ye...
TOP ATHLETES: Local high school athlete-of-the-year award winners that attended a recognition barbecue Monday at Bronte Creek Provincial Park included (back, left to right) Abbey Park's Daniel Mathie (the lone junior to attend), OT's Scott Asselstine, Blakelock's Stephen Saunders, Loyola's Marco Rodrigues, (front, left to right) Abbey Park's Jessica Tat, OT's Elizabeth Philp, Blakelock's Ashley Langdon, Loyola's Leah Franco and Iroquois Ridge's Jaime Johns.
Following are brief bios of the top senior athletes from Abbey Park, Holy Trinity, Iroquois Ridge, King's Christian Collegiate, Loyola, Oakville Trafalgar, St. Thomas Aquinas, T.A. Blakelock and White Oaks (information for Abbey Park senior male athlete Max Mihaichuk was not made available).
Abbey Park
The 17-year-old represented Abbey Park at OFSAA in both track and wrestling, also suiting up for the Eagles' basketball and badminton teams.
Tat won the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference titles in her wrestling division, the 400-metre hurdles event and as part of Abbey Park's open girls' 4x400m relay team.
She also flourished academically, winning the Student of Excellence Award. Tat hopes to maintain those high grades while continuing to participate in extracurricular activities next year as a Grade 12 student.
Holy Trinity
Wozniak also played ruby for the Titans this past season.
The honour roll student was named MVP of her rugby team three times during her years at Trinity, also earning an MVP award with the junior basketball squad.
She will study English and history this fall at York University.
Catterall was named a first-team all-star for the Halton AAAA champion Titans at the Referees Memorial Basketball Tournament earlier this year. He has also been the top special teams player for Trinity's senior football squads the past two seasons.
An honour roll student, Catterall will return to Trinity in the fall.
Iroquois Ridge
Winning Ridge's male athlete-of-the-year award accomplished Readshaw's athletic goal. The 17-year-old's academic goal is to obtain his bachelor of arts honours degree at University of Toronto, Mississauga, where he'll attend school next year.
Johns placed fourth at the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference badminton championships this season, despite not having played the sport until two years ago. She also tried ice hockey this season for the first time and landed Most Improved Player honours.
In addition, Johns was the Trailblazers' MVP in both basketball and softball.
Johns, 18, will attend Lakehead University in Thunder Bay next year, where she hopes to graduate with honours and also remain involved in organized athletics.
King's Christian
The 17-year-old qualified for OFSAA in cross country last fall, then helped the Cavaliers to their first Halton Division 2 basketball championship in the winter season.
He was KCC's MVP in cross country, basketball and track.
Sandhu, who aspires to be a physiotherapist, will attend McMaster University in the fall and plans to run cross country for the Marauders.
Sidrak, 17, helped KCC to a silver medal at the 2007 Ontario Christian School Athletic Association girls' basketball championships.
She will attend Albany College of Pharmacy next year and intends to suit up for the school's women's basketball team.
Loyola
Franco helped the Hawks finish fourth at the provincial girls' AAA soccer championships and was part of the Loyola team that upset the perennially-powerful Nelson Lords during the Halton girls' basketball regular season.
The 18-year-old also helped the Hawks to an OFSAA appearance in girls' volleyball.
She hopes to play for the Queen's varsity volleyball club for the next four years as she studies kinesiology and rehabilitation therapy.
He helped Loyola's badminton team to the Halton title and lists the Hawks' near-upset of the Assumption Crusaders in the regional semifinals (Loyola led for three quarters before succumbing 7-1) as one of his athletic highlights at the school.
Rodrigues, who won a silver medal at the Canada Football Cup three years ago, hopes to play CIS football with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues next year. He will also pursue a degree in physical education.
Oakville Trafalgar
She was the MVP of the field hockey team, which reached the regional final before falling to Notre Dame. She lists the Red Devils' 2-1 victory over the Irish in the 2006 final as one of her top moments in an OT uniform; the Devils went on to win bronze at OFSAA that season.
Philp, 18, plans to play field hockey and study engineering at Queen's University in the fall.
The 18-year-old was the MVP of the Red Devils' football team, also playing hockey and rugby. He earned an OFSAA rugby bronze during his time at OT.
Asselstine intends to play rugby, and possibly football, at Acadia University.
St. Thomas Aquinas
She was the MVP of Aquinas' field hockey team and was named the MVP in a Halton all-star ice hockey contest. She is also a multi-time MVP of Aquinas' soccer teams, and leaves the school having won two OFSAA soccer medals (gold in 2006, silver in '08).
Russo, 18, hopes to play both hockey and soccer at an American school and has her sights set on becoming a fitness trainer.
She was named the school's most promising female athlete in Grade 9, the junior athlete of the year in Grade 10 and the female athlete of the year in Grade 11.
Best known for her soccer abilities, Neefs helped the Raiders to three OFSAA appearances and two medals while at Aquinas. She also went to provincials once with the Raiders' basketball team and twice with the school's volleyball squad.
Neefs, 17, will study kinesiology and play soccer at McMaster University next year.
Transferring to the school this year, Williams was the point guard of the Raiders' basketball team that won OFSAA bronze. He was also part of the Aquinas football team that reached the Halton tier 2 finals, and played soccer for the Raiders in the spring.
The 18-year-old aims to play college basketball in the future.
T.A. Blakelock
The 18-year-old said the improvement of Blakelock teams over the years was her highlight at the school.
She will study health sciences at the University of Western Ontario in the fall, where she plans to continue competing in a variety of sports.
He was also the captain of the school's football team and played for the hockey team.
Saunders, 18, would like to play rugby at Queen's University -- where he will study engineering -- and intends to continue playing hockey as long as he can.
White Oaks
Kalata was also selected as the Wildcats' MVP by Barbados coaches during White Oaks' rugby tour earlier this spring.
She also played basketball and volleyball for the Wildcats.
The 18-year-old's athletic goals are much like the Participaction slogan: to keep fit and have fun. She will study concurrent education at Brock University this fall.
He also played basketball and football for White Oaks this past year.
The 18-year-old Dutkiewicz's greatest passion, however, is baseball. He hopes to land a scholarship and pursue a career on the diamonds, and will take the following year off school to sharpen those skills.

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