Titans Finish Strong on the Slopes

By: Darryl Young

The Ski and Snowboard Team had a great run this year. The season started out pretty rough in November with a lot of early morning training sessions before the school days. When asked, Rachael Zerafa stated, "It's early and I want to die".

Then, the moment they had all been waiting for, the day on the slopes: however, it turned out to be a disastrous disappointment. The plans for skiing and snowboarding in Ellicottville were halted and the bus was stopped at the border due to a snowstorm in Buffalo. It was a long day, one that didn't result in any action.

Despite this setback, the ski team battled hard the entire way through. In the following weeks, they again woke up for the 6:00am bus rides to the hills.

The next week, the team went back to Ellicottville for a second round of training, but first their official one on the hills. Since only one training session is required to participate in the competition, the racers were still allowed to compete in the following weeks. The participants all performed excellently at the first meeting for GHAC qualifiers at Alpine Ski Resort in Collingwood. The HT female Ski Team consisting of Morgan O'Shea, Madeline Czechowski, Erin Heidecker, Jenna Locke and Julie Daugavietis finished second overall in GHAC, winning them some nice silver hardware. Congrats ladies!!!

The next week was for OFSAA. To put it bluntly, the conditions were rough. It was freezing out and extremely windy, causing the snow to blow everywhere. For racers, it was at times difficult to see the groves in the snow. Oh, and did I mention the ice? Overall, the team performed extremely well for the second week in a row. The girls' snowboard team consisting of Leah Chan, Shannon Charters, Alessandra Mahoney and Rachel Zerafa finished 3rd overall.

Qualifying for OFSAA is the farthest that the Titans have gotten in recent years. The meet was held at Blue Mountain Ski Resort. The team completed the races which resulted in a great experience for the girls.

Due to the first training session being cancelled, the HT Ski and Snowboard team made the executive decision to have one more competition. Since this occurred after the Halton competitions, it was deemed that this competition was going to be in the house- the team would compete to see who is the best between them. It was called the “HT Classic”. The team raced down the hill all morning with the fastest times being recorded. There were gold, silver, and bronze medals awarded for each category. The medal winners were:

Snowboarding (Female):

Gold — Leah Chan
Silver — Rachel Zerafa
Bronze — Alissandra Mahoney

Snowboarding (Male):

Gold — Luke Raczywolski

Silver — Kevin Glasek

Bronze — Blaze Cerovcec

Skiing (Female):

Gold — Madeline Czechowski
Silver — Morgan O'Shea

Bronze — Erin Heidecker

Skiing (Male):

Gold — Robin Roth
Silver — Joseph Cavalieri
Bronze — Chad Arthur

 
An honourable mention goes to Marc Monette, who had three solid runs but just missed the podium. 

If all goes well, this HT Classic might be a new addition to the ski team's season every year. Lots of fun and more school missed; it's a win­-win, right?

I think Remington "Remi" Evelyn summed it up best: "We did well this year, we had fun, did good in our competitions, and hopefully next year we'll have more support and win".

**If you would like to join the team next year, be sure to talk to Mr. Hayes and listen to the announcements around November so you can sign up. Be prepared for early morning training!

Weekly Sports Round-Up Feb. 23-Mar. 1

By: Izabela Pitula
Photo Credit: Fadi Jameel and D'Arcy Murphy

For the first week in a long time, this past week was not too busy. The only winter teams that still fought in playoffs were HT’s curling team and senior boys’ hockey team. Special congratulations go to the midget boys' basketball team who finished their season with a Halton championship! On Thursday, we celebrated all of our winter sports teams at the school pep rally.

Weekly Sports Round-Up Feb. 9-15

By: Izabela Pitula

Another great week is behind us. HT's finest winter sports teams competed to close out the regular season and began preparations or even already began the playoffs. The midget boys' basketball team won both games with high scores on Tuesday, February 5th against Robert Bateman and Burlington Central. The boys' are undefeated throughout the season as they enter the playoff run beginning this Wednesday against Bishop Reding. Come on out HT and support the boys! The junior boys' basketball team are also undefeated in the regular season. The team already began the playoffs on Thursday against Christ the King in the quarter final where they defeated the opponent by the score of 81-36. Juniors take on Bishop Reding on Thursday, February 19th in the semi final game. Let's come out together Titans and show our black and gold spirit! The senior boys' basketball team played their quarterfinal game against King's Christian Collegiate which they won by the score of 72-50. The team takes on Bishop Reding's team this Thursday in the semifinal game.

Senior boys' hockey team played Corpus on Tuesday but lost that game 5-1. The next game, the team took on Frank Hayden and won it 6-3. The boys will play this Tuesday against Nelson at the River Oaks Arena in rink B so come on out and support our team!

The junior girls' volleyball team closed out the regular season with a 2-1 win against Craig Kielburger this week as they prepare to face off Georgetown in the AAAA semifinal game on Wednesday. Good luck ladies! The senior girls' volleyball team took on Oakville Trafalgar team on Monday which resulted in another loss. On February 10th, ladies played their final game of the season against Craig Kielburger. Coming into this matchup, they were winning less. The girls wanted to win the last game of the season and for some of them the last game ever in HT's uniform with pride and dignity and they did just that. It was a hard fought battle but HT came out with a 2-1 win. This year was not good for our girls, but they never gave up and played until the last whistle in each game and we thank them for that.

The Holy Trinity swim team concluded their season with the GHAC championships. Swimmers from Trinity were able to qualify for OFSAA as they were edged out by a matter of seconds. Thanks and congratulations go to the coaches and athletes on a fantastic season in the pool.

HT's ski and snowboard team had an exciting week with three Titans advancing to OFSAA. Congratulations to Hannah, Leah, Rachel, and Shannon!

As the Titans' faithful enter the playoffs, we wish them all the best in achieving their goals as well as in representing our school well. Each game is very important therefore the support is needed from the fans. Titan fans are the best. Our spirit rises high above everyone else. Let us come to our teams' games and support them by showing our true Titan spirit!!! If you can't come to the away games then come out to the ones held at our gym. Let's celebrate together HT fam!!!

Win or lose, I'm proud to be a Titan! LETS GO HT!!

BASKETBALL

Midget Boys' 

• NEXT GAME: Wednesday, February 18th --> HT vs Iroquois Ridge

Junior Boys'

• Monday, February 9th--> HT (81) vs Christ the King (29)
• Tuesday, February 10th--> HT (67) vs Jean Vanier (33)
• Thursday, February 12th--> HT (81) vs Christ the King (36)
• NEXT GAME: Thursday, February 19th--> HT vs Bishop Reding

Senior Boys'

• Monday, February 9th--> HT (79) vs Christ the King (28)
• Tuesday, February 10th--> HT (51) vs Jean Vanier (33)
• Thursday, February 12th--> HT (72) vs King's Christian Collegiate (50)
• NEXT GAME: Thursday, February 19th--> HT vs Bishop Reding

HOCKEY

Senior Boys'

• Tuesday, February 10th--> HT (1) vs Corpus Christi (5)
• Wednesday, February 11th--> HT (6) vs Frank Hayden (3)
• NEXT GAME: Tuesday, February 17th--> HT vs Craig Kielburger

VOLLEYBALL

Junior Girls'

• Tuesday, February 10th--> HT (2) vs Craig Kielburger (1)
• NEXT GAME: Wednesday, February 18th--> HT vs Georgetown

Senior Girls'

• Monday, February 9th--> HT (0) vs Oakville Trafalgar (2)
• Tuesday, February 10th--> HT (2) vs Craig Kielburger (1)