Island strong!
Congratulations to Alex McGraw of Aundeck Omni Kaning and Cole King (Mindemoya) and their small contingent of Troop MMA teammates who were in Montreal for the Montreal Fight League (MFL 32) on Saturday. Alex won his bout with a come from behind with a triangle choke in what his Coach Mitch Gagnon called, “truly a Rocky moment!” Alex is undefeated at 2-0!
Coach then retells how Cole’s fight went, fighting a tough first round against a brown belt. His corner was trash talking Cole, calling him a ‘white belt.’ They would soon regret their taunts in the second round when Cole landed, “a beautiful right hand that stunned his opponent to finish him with an upper-cut, improving to 2-1! Don’t poke the “Coley Bear,” right Mom?! Way to go guys! Recover and repeat!
Mustang Mountain Bikers
The Manitoulin Secondary Mountain Bike team competed at their second race at Walden on September 28 and MSS was represented by 17 riders participating.
Hats off to Trey Smith – 6th Jonah Balfe – 5th Novice Male, Isaac Quackenbush – 3rd Novice Male, Bradley Slaght – 5th Senior Male, Ryland Priddle – 10th Senior Male and all those training and participating but didn’t quite crack the top-10: Thomas Redmond, Sebastian Mara, Ayden Hartley, Jack Hagman, Tim Arabadzhyi, Kian Corbiere, Zack Bond, Patrick McCann, Kira Panamick, Jack Koehler, Connor Mandigo and Rhyis Arthurs.
This past Thursday, October 5 the team hosted the third race on Manitoulin at Mclean’s Park. Unfortunately, the Sudbury schools had their bus fall through so not all the schools were not able to attend.
However the following showed up in a big way! Isaac Quackenbush – 2nd Novice Male, Thomas Redmond, Sebastian Mara – 7th Novice Male, Ayden Hartley – 6th Novice Male, Jack Hagman – 10th, Novice Male, Trey Smith – 3rd Novice Male, Tim Arabadzhyi – 3rd Junior Male, Bradley Slaght – 1st Senior Male, Xavi Mara – 2nd Senior Male, Zack Bond and Patrick McCann – 5th Senior Male
In terms of the overall series, the final race is this week, tomorrow October 12th. It will be hosted at Kivi Park (*a change from the previous plan).
At this point the Individual Points Leaders’ stats include a few locals. In Novice – Isaac Quackenbush, Jonah Balfe, Trey Smith and Seniors – Bradley Slaght and Xavi Mara. In the team standings MSS is currently sitting second in the overall standings behind Lo-Ellen Park.
LoEllen leader!
Assiginack’s Dane Gibeault leads his LoEllen Knights and won the Junior Male category for the second straight week and had the fastest lap time of any rider. Following that up, Dane then came ‘home’ to win the race at Mclean’s Park where he honed his skills. Dane not only won his race but also recorded the fastest lap time of any level of riders. Of course, Dane sits at top of the aggregate race as well with his perfect point total! Good luck tomorrow, Dane!
MSS Mustang cross – country
The cross country team is training for their upcoming races, hoping to peak for NOSSA in order to get a chance to travel to the all-Ontario OFSAA. This past Sunday some of the runners took in the Turkey Gobbler trail race in Sudbury.
The following are the remaining meets on their schedule. Pre-NSSSAA AND NSSSAA are now being held in Elliott Lake on October 11 and then October 18. NOSSA is on October 25 in Sudbury at Kivi Park and November 4th is OFSSAA down at Centennial Stadium (Toronto).
After that, Coach Gerry Holliday may be bringing some runners to OTFA On November 12 and then the ‘Canadians’ in Ottawa on November 25. Congratulation to everyone’s hard work and dedication.
