Students have returned from break and the third term of sports is just beginning. Tryouts for competitive soccer, rugby, track and field, tennis, badminton, golf, gymnastics and rowing are taking place this week.
We had a successful Winter Sports Term starting out with Ridley playing host to the 2nd Annual National Boys Basketball Championship. Twenty schools from across the country descended on Niagara for three full days of excellent competition. Our First Boys Basketball team was full value as defending champions, losing to the eventual tournament winners from Crescent School in a hard-fought semi final. The Griffith Gym and Fieldhouse continued to play host to plenty of drama for the rest of the term as the First and U16 Boys earned silver medals in our annual Carl Dorland Tournament; in addition, the U14 Boys capped off another strong season as CISAA Champions. The First Boys then qualified for their 7th straight OFSAA championship where they were defeated in the quarterfinal by the eventual tournament winners.
Our other Ridley court sports provided plenty of excitement as well. The U16 Girls Volleyball team made it all the way back to defend their CISAA championship earning league silver at Bayview Glen, while the fledgling yet ferocious U14 Squash Tigers earned their stripes racking up ten victories en route to also winning CISAA Silver.
Tigers also soared in the air and glided through the water as the Gymnastic and Swim teams earned a total of forty CISAA placements. With no OFSAA championship in Gymnastics due to the public school extra curricular work stoppage, it was up to our six qualifying Ridley swimmers to put our mark on the provincial championship board. They did not disappoint. The boys led the way earning three gold and one silver finishing 6th overall in the province.
Tiger Arena again played host to some of the best competition in North America as our First Boys and Girls again proved they are top competitors in Prep Hockey. Our Tigers started the year winning their respective home tournaments before both captured more hardware at other provincial events. The boys’ undefeated fall launched them into what proved to be an extremely competitive CISAA and MPHL schedule where they made the MPHL semi finals for the first time in school history before losing in overtime to the eventual champions from The Edge. The First Girls fantastic fall season also proved to be an omen of things to come as the girls racked up thirty-seven wins, the most in girls hockey history. On their way back to the NAPHA championship game (for the first time since 2005) they finished with league silver before concluding their incredible campaign with another silver medal at the provincial high school championships in Orillia. All of Ridley’s developmental hockey programs had solid campaigns despite the provincial work stoppage issues. The combined group of U16 and Second Boys hockey teams reached two tournament championships, earning a gold and silver. The JV Girls finished the year on a high making the final of the Tiger Challenge Cup, losing by a goal in the final. Silver seemed to be the colour of the hockey season as the U14 Boys also finished another strong campaign with the CISAA silver medal.
The final sporting event of the season was our annual prelude to the spring Rowing season. 800 plus athletes from across the province rode the QEW to the Ridley campus on the final Saturday of term for the Ontario Ergometer Championships. In another fantastic event run by the Ridley Graduate Club, our young oarsmen and women provided plenty to get excited about with a raft of personal best times; the Ridley name appeared multiple times in multiple top tens. During the March Break the crews travelled to Sarasota, Florida for a training camp.
Congratulations and thank you to everyone that wore Orange and Black this winter adding to our storied sporting history!
Written By Mr. Jay Tredway, Director of Athletics