The Durham College athletic department hosted the 6th annual academic luncheon in honour of all the student-athletes who exemplified academic excellence throughout the 2014-15 varsity season.

It was another successful year for the Lords in the classroom as Durham College had 24 student-athletes who received OCAA All-Academic awards.

The Bert Dejeet Memorial Scholastic Award was presented to Kelsey Gallant (women’s volleyball – recreation and leisure) and Jonathan Jealouse (men’s volleyball – architectural technology) for having the top overall GPA of all varsity student-athletes at Durham.

Two athletes also received national recognition for their academic excellence, both from the men’s volleyball team. Petrus Kuypers (Whitby, Ont.) and Erik Janssen (Hampton, Ont.) were recipients of the SIRC-CCAA Academic All-Canadian awards. The CCAA award is prestigious as it recognizes excellence in academics and athletics. To achieve the honour, a student-athlete must be named to their respective provincial all-star team in a CCAA sport, and must achieve honour roll status.

“The athletic department is honoured to recognize these outstanding student-athletes,” said Durham College athletic director Ken Babcock. “It requires tremendous skill, dedication and perseverance to achieve excellence in both sport and academics. This recognition reflects how our student-athletes at Durham College strive for success in the classroom and in their respective sports.”

Along with the student-athletes, coaches, family, faculty, administration and members of the athletic department were all in attendance for the academic luncheon.

The 45th annual Durham College athletic banquet will be taking place Thursday, April 2 at the General W. Sikorski Polish Veterans Association Hall in Oshawa, Ont.

AWARDS SUMMARY

Bert Dejeet Memorial Scholastic Award (Top Overall GPA)
Male: Jonathan Jealouse – Men’s Volleyball
Female: Kelsey Gallant – Women’s Volleyball

SIRC-CCAA Academic All-Canadians
Petrus Kuypers – Men’s Volleyball
Erik Janssen – Men’s Volleyball

OCAA All-Academic Awards

Men’s Baseball
Andrew Boros (Ajax, Ont.) – Electrical Technician
Michael Chilvers (Sutton West, Ont.) – Sport Management
Jack Lang (Pickering, Ont.) – Graphic Design

Women’s Softball
Ashley Black (Waterloo, Ont.) – Police Foundations
Danielle Crosby (Whitby, Ont.) – ECE
Lydia Kalbflesich (Moorefield, Ont.) – Sport Management
Sam MacCallum (Whitby, Ont.) – Protection and Security

Golf
Adam Hobb (Bowmanville, Ont.) – Marketing

Men’s Soccer
Nicholas Axhorn (Pickering, Ont.) – Emergency Service Fundamentals
Kyle Woods (Whitby, Ont.) – Power Engineering Technician
Kevin Collins (Cedar Valley, Ont.) – Mechanical Engineering NDE

Women’s Soccer
Hayley Dow (Oshawa, Ont.) – Personal Support Worker
Cailey Giorgi (Oshawa, Ont.) – Police Foundations
Jessica Prytulka (Kingston, Ont.) – Digital Video Production

Women’s Basketball
Janina Adduru (Pickering, Ont.) – Social Services Workers
Courtney Harley (Cambridge, Ont.) – Biomedical Engineering Technology
Brittany Walters (Oshawa, Ont.) – General Arts and Sciences

Men’s Volleyball
Erik Janssen (Hampton, Ont.) – Biomedical Engineering Technology
Jonathan Jealouse (Oshawa, Ont.) – Architectural Technology
Petrus Kuypers (Haydon, Ont.) – Paramedic

Women’s Volleyball
Kayla Donahue (Ajax, Ont.) – Addiction and Mental Health
Kelsey Gallant (Whitby, Ont.) – Recreation and Leisure
Natalie Manicotto (Winnipeg, Man.) – Fitness and Health Promotion
Tess Newey (Hampton, Ont.) – Advertising

Top GPA (By Sport)
Andrew Boros – Men’s Baseball
Lydia Kalbfleisch – Softball
Adam Hobb – Golf
Kevin Collins – Men’s Soccer
Jessica Prytulka – Women’s Soccer
Dylan Pelissero – Men’s Basketball
Brittany Walters – Women’s Basketball
Jonathan Jealouse – Men’s Volleyball
Kelsey Gallant – Women’s Volleyball

It’s not often a team gets the chance to avenge a tournament loss in the same weekend.

The Durham Lords got that chance at the OCAA men’s basketball championship, and they didn’t waste it as they defeated the St. Lawrence Vikings 66-51 to win the bronze medal in front of their home fans at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Centre.

It’s the Lords’ first medal in OCAA men’s basketball competition since winning gold in 1997, and they also avenged a 69-65 loss to the Vikings on the opening night of the tournament.

From the opening tipoff, it was evident that, no matter how resilient the Vikings were, a repeat of Friday’s quarter-final wasn’t in the cards.

Durham, possibly riding the wave of support from its home fans, came out flying as they scored the game’s first eight points in a 2:18 stretch. The Lords also played tough defence to open the game, holding the Vikings off the scoreboard for the first 4:05 before Dawkins connected on a three-pointer.

The Lords had a strong finish to the opening half, closing on an 8-2 run in the final three minutes to take a 30-20 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

The Lords kept the momentum going through the fourth quarter, as they finally wore the thin Vikings roster down before closing out the game with a 9-0 run.

 

The Durham College women’s volleyball team were in the giving mood during the holidays as they held a fundraiser for YWCA Durham.
 
The YWCA Durham has been serving women and their families in Durham region since 1945 and is a trusted community leader that provides high-quality programs, services and resources that respond to the needs of women, children, youth and families.
 
“When brainstorming ideas for our holiday get-together, we wanted to do something that would benefit others,” said Durham College head coach Tony Clarke. “Rather than buying gifts for one another, our team came up with the idea of purchasing gifts for families in need. It was a great feeling for the team giving back to our community.”
 
The team donated unwrapped toys as well as non-perishable food items to the organization.
 
On the court, the women’s volleyball team finished the 2014 portion of their season with a five game win-streak to improve to 6-3. The Lords will open 2015 hosting the 27^th annual Adidas Cup from January 2-3.

Coming from two different ends of the world, Caio Reis Ramon and Jordan Edmonds have travelled thousands of miles to further their education at Durham College (DC). With just over 400 international students, Durham provides these students with not only the opportunity of learning abroad but also to be a student athlete for the Durham Lords.

Hailing from Belem, Brazil, Ramon is the newest midfielder for the men’s soccer team and Edmonds from Horsham, England takes the mound as pitcher for the men’s baseball team. Despite limited resources and opportunities, Edmonds and Ramon started playing their chosen sports at young ages and have worked hard to excel both in their athletic and educational goals. Now they are able to continue to do that in Canada.

Although they’re playing on different teams at Durham, Edmonds and Ramon have both enjoyed their experience so far, but admit that the beginning of their journeys were a little intimidating.

“I was pretty nervous, just trying to find my way around was challenging,” said Ramon about his first week at Durham College. “When I started playing with my team, I started making friends and they really helped making the whole process of coming to a new school in a different country easier.”

Coming from Brazil, which has a strong cultural connection to soccer, the sport has always been familiar to the 20-year-old Ramon. Throughout his childhood, Ramon grew up playing soccer. He has continued to be inspired and motivated to improve his soccer skills like other professional athletes from his country. Being on a variety of school teams throughout his life, it was an obvious choice for Ramon to continue to play soccer at Durham.

As the midfielder for the men’s soccer team, Ramon credits his success so far to coach Dave Ashfield and his teammates that have helped him throughout his transition, especially with overcoming language barriers. After completing his education in the Operations Management – Business Administration program, Ramon plans to return to Brazil and work, while hoping to play soccer in his spare time.

Unlike Ramon, Edmonds’ exposure to his sport was only by chance. At the age of 12, Edmonds was introduced to baseball by an American who ran clinics at a baseball club in his hometown of Horsham, England. Although the lack of participation and funding for baseball made playing in England challenging, Edmonds continued to play in the baseball club in his hometown. When the opportunity to play for the Great Britain National Team presented itself, Edmonds did not hesitate to take it. It was on that team that he met Sam Dempster, who is also the head coach for the Durham Lords’ baseball team.

Now the pitcher for the men’s baseball team and a first-year Journalism – Web and Print student at Durham College, the 19-year-old has big plans for his future. After Durham, Edmonds hopes to join a league in either the United States or in Europe to see how far he can progress with his baseball career.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Canada and when I learned that Sam Dempster was the head coach, I knew that Durham College would be a good fit for me,” said Edmonds. “My whole team gets along and we just have a really good time together so it helps us play the game that much better.”

Although they haven’t changed their personal style of play, both Ramon and Edmonds try to improve their skills and learn from practices and games. Their coaches push them hard during practice to prepare them both mentally and physically for games.

For Edmonds and Ramon, their game winning plays have been the highlight of their time here in Canada. For Ramon it was scoring the first two goals of his Ontario College Athletic Association (OCAA) career to defeat George Brown in a 4-0 victory and more recently when the team qualified as one of the final four teams for the OCAA championship for the first time since 1999. As for Edmonds, it was his first win while pitching against George Brown and finishing silver in the OCAA championship that made all of his hard work worth it.

According to Ramon, “One of the best parts of being an international student athlete at Durham is being able to travel around with my teammates and seeing parts of Canada that I would not have seen otherwise.” Edmonds adds, “Durham really has a strong sense of community both in the school and in it’s athletics programs, I love being not only a student but also an athlete for the Durham Lords.”

The Durham College (DC) Lords and University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Ridgebacks rivalry will shift from the pitch to the links as the golf teams are set to square off in an exhibition tournament.

The first DC/UOIT Presidents Cup will take place today at the Oshawa Golf and Curling Club with the first tee off time scheduled for 2 p.m.

Former teammates Tyler Martin and Will Mitchell, who combined to win eight CCAA medals for DC, have now become rivals as they are on opposite coaching staffs. Martin is the head coach of the nationally ranked Lords while Mitchell is an assistant coach with the Ridgebacks.

The event will be a good tune up for both teams as they get ready for their respective provincial championships. The OCAA championship is schedule to run from September 29 to October 1 at the Wildfire Golf Club in Lakefield, Ont. UOIT will be hosting the OUA championship at the Oshawa Golf and Curling Club from October 20-21.

DURHAM LORDS ROSTER
Adam Hobb (Marketing)
Ben Reid (Business)
Bill Irvine (Project Management)
Brent Clements (Sports Management)
Craig Conroy (Marketing)
Matthew Perras (Golf & Facility Management)

UOIT RIDGEBACKS ROSTER

Ben Kennedy (Commerce)
Brendan Edwards (Mechanical Engineering)
Brendan Wise (Communications)
Brian Newton (Marketing)
James Krantz (Mechanical Engineering)
Mackenzie Dasti (Commerce)
Nicklaus Dirk (Nuclear Engineering)
Riley Prentice (Commerce)

The Durham College men’s soccer team proved to be the top team on campus once again as they defeated the UOIT Ridgebacks 1-0 on Monday night at Vaso’s Field. The victory marked the fifth time in six years that the Lords have won the campus cup, as they have completely dominated the series.

“What a great way to end an exciting day,” said Durham College athletic director Ken Babcock. “It was amazing to see both sides perform so well while showing a lot of passion representing their respective schools. Spirit was buzzing around campus all day beginning with the pep rally at the student centre and ending with two excellent games.”

First-year forward Tevin Noel-Peterson of Whitby scored the game’s lone goal, giving the Lords the 1-0 victory. Noel-Peterson’s goal came in the sixth minute, as he put a left-footed strike off the back right post, which sent the Durham fans into a frenzy.

Although both teams had chances to score later in the game, they were unable to beat the goalkeepers, and the crossbar at times. Noel-Peterson’s early strike proved to be the game winner as the Lords celebrated yet another campus cup victory.

UOIT women win their second straight Campus Cup title

The UOIT women’s soccer team earned a 2-0 shutout victory over the Durham Lords to win their second straight Campus Cup title played in front of a packed house at Vaso’s Field on Monday night.

It was déjà vu for the Ridgebacks as they defeated Durham by the same score one year ago. UOIT now leads the campus rivalry with two titles, while Durham has just one.
 
“It was a great night at Vaso’s Field,” said Scott Barker, Manager of Intercollegiate Athletics at UOIT. “It was amazing to see all of Ridgeback spirit in the stands tonight. Both teams performed well but I was happy to see UOIT hoist the cup at the end of the game.”
 
UOIT wasted no time to take the early lead as freshman Rachel Matthews (Ajax, Ont.) scored in the eighth minute of the opening half. The Ridgebacks would follow the opening goal up with another just seven minutes later, as freshman teammate MacKenzie Barry (Ajax, Ont.) put the Ridgebacks up 2-0.
 
After some halftime adjustments, Durham had some chances to cut into the UOIT lead, but goalkeeper Melissa Linton (Cobourg, Ont.) and her defensive line stood strong as they earned the shutout victory.

For the second straight year, Canada Basketball is holding its junior women’s national team training camp at Durham College (DC). This year, the team is preparing for the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) Americas U18 Championship at DC’s Campus Recreation and Wellness Centre (CRWC). Last year, the team trained for the FIBA U19 World Championships.

Players from across the country have joined Head Coach Rich Chambers for a two-week training camp that started on July 18 and will run through to Thursday, July 31.

“I was very excited and honoured when I found out I was selected to be part of national team again this year,” said Shay Colley, who plays guard and hails from Brampton, Ont. “I first got involved with basketball when I was younger because I was tall and it was something that was popular in my community. To go from playing this sport as a little girl to now playing on the national team is a dream come true.”

The team will travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., at the conclusion of training camp and will face El Salvador in their first Group A match-up on Wednesday, August 6. The weeklong tournament will also see Team Canada take on Mexico and the United States in the preliminary rounds.

Canada’s junior women’s team is currently ranked fourth in the FIBA World Rankings and previously finished seventh in the 2013 U19 World Championships in Lithuania and third in the 2012 U17 Women’s Championship in Chile.

For more information on all the national teams and programs, visit Canada Basketball.

Durham College women’s basketball head coach Heather LaFontaine was recognized by her peers as the top college coach in Ontario as she was named the 2014 Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) coach of the year. The award was presented on Thursday morning at the championship banquet hosted by Mohawk College.

LaFontaine was one of four representatives from Durham who received an OCAA league award as student-athletes Kauri LaFontaine, Kate Mowat and Kelsey Hare, all of which are from Whitby, earned all-star recognition.

In her first year as head coach at Durham, LaFontaine led the Lords to a program high 23 overall wins and earned an automatic bye into the provincial championship after finishing in second place in the OCAA east region with a 13-3 conference record. It was quite a turnaround season for the green and gold as they ended the 2013 season with a 3-15 conference record, missing out on a berth in the OCAA championship for the seventh straight season. The Lords also had plenty of success off the court as over half of the roster finished the first semester on the honour roll.

It was also announced at the banquet that LaFontaine would be put forward as the OCAA’s nomination for the national coach of the year award.

Earning a place on the OCAA first all-star team was Durham guard Kauri LaFontaine. The project management major played a big role in the Lords success as she finished in the top ten of almost every statistical category in the OCAA. Her playmaking ability was her most impressive attribute as she led the league averaging 5.1 assists per game. She was seventh in scoring with 15.1 points per game and ninth in rebounding with 8.6 boards per game. LaFontaine recorded six double-doubles throughout the season.

Kelsey Hare, who finished the year second in OCAA all-time scoring, was named a second team all-star. The web design major focused on becoming a more well-balanced player in 2014, working on her play in the defensive zone. That work paid off as she finished 13th in the league in blocks (15) and 14th overall in steals (35). Offensively, Hare put would put up big numbers once again as she averaged 13.4 points per game and 3.4 assists per game, fifth highest in the OCAA. This was Hare’s fourth OCAA all-star of her five-year career.

Joining Hare on the second all-star team was project management major Kate Mowat. The Lords forward was one of the most consistent players for coach LaFontaine as she averaged 12.9 points per game to finish ninth in league scoring. In 11 of the Lords’ 16 games, she scored at least 10 points. She also had a large presence on the glass averaging 5.8 rebounds per game.

The Lords will open up the OCAA championship against the hosting Mohawk Mountaineers. Game time in Hamilton is 6 p.m.

For a full list of OCAA women’s basketball award winners, visit www.ocaa.com.

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE

Day 1- February 27, 2014
Game 1: St Lawrence Kingston vs. St. Clair 1:00 p.m.
Game 2: Fanshawe vs. Algonquin 3:00 p.m.
Game 3: Mohawk vs. Durham 6:00 p.m.
Game 4: Sheridan vs. Humber 8:00 p.m.

Day 2 –February 28, 2014
Game 5: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 1 p.m.
Game 6: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 3 p.m.
Game 7: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6 p.m.
Game 8: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 8 p.m.

Day 3 –March 1, 2014
Game 9: Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 6, 9 a.m.
Game 10: Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 5, 11 a.m.
Bronze: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 5 p.m.
Gold: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 7 p.m.

The Campus Ice Centre on the campus of Durham College and UOIT has received the 2013 Readers’ Choice “Diamond Award” as the best Ice Skating Facility in the Durham Region.

The Readers’ Choice Awards presented by the Oshawa/Whitby This Week recognizes the top three businesses in a variety of categories. The business with the most votes in each category receives the Diamond award, while Platinum and Gold are awarded for the second and third place.

Opened in 2005, the Campus Ice Centre includes two NHL-sized ice pads, with seating for 500 and 200 respectively, a total of 10 change rooms, a sports retail outlet, offices, administration and food and beverage facilities.

“This is a wonderful achievement and we would like to thank the readers for choosing our arena complex as the best,” said Ken Babcock, Durham College & UOIT Athletic Director. “We have always known that we have a great facility with great staff focused on customer service and excellence. This proves it.”

In addition to hosting numerous minor hockey and figure skating events, the Campus Ice Centre (operated by Nustadia Recreation) is also home to the UOIT men’s and women’s hockey programs. 

Saturday night was a very special evening for Durham College (DC) as the department of athletics held the 16th DC Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Centre.

The induction class for the Hall of Fame included the 1985-86 Durham College women’s volleyball team coached by the Stan Marchut and the 1987-88 Durham College men’s soccer team coached by Vaso Vujanovic. Both of these teams captured the first-ever CCAA National medals in Durham College history.

“It was an amazing evening as we welcomed back two teams that first put Durham College athletics in the national spotlight,” said Ken Babcock, athletic director. “It was wonderful to have such a great turnout at the event and to welcome back so many familiar faces. What a great night for everyone involved.”

Family and friends, current Hall of Famers, staff, faculty, administration, past athletes of the year, student association representatives, current and past coaches, team captains and members of the alumni association were all in attendance at the ceremony.