Alicia Easthope of the Sandpiper Golf & Country Club was in the thick of things at the Maple Leaf Junior Tour (MJT) International Team Challenge last weekend.
Easthope, 17, finished in a three-way tie for third with a 151 total score to determine the individual girls’ champion in a field of 32 at Hunters Pointe Golf Club in Welland, near Niagara Falls, Ont.
Easthope (76-75), Brooke MacKinnon, 17 of Chatham, Ont. (79-72) and Melanie Green, 14, of Medina, New York (76-75) were two shots back of Emily Ward, 16, of Niagara Falls (75-74) and Shania Remandaban, 17, of Coquitlam, B.C. (74-75).
Ward defeated Remandaban in a playoff for the title.
The 96 player invitation-only junior event featured elite players on 16 teams from across Canada and the United States, as well as the Golf Association of Ontario and top academies like the International Junior Golf Academy.
The MJT included representation from Alberta, B.C., the Prairies (Saskatchewan/Manitoba), Ontario and Atlantic Canada.
The six-player teams were made up of two junior girls, two U17 boys and two U19 boys in a daily best four of six aggregate team scoring format.
Easthope’s 151 score was the second lowest on the MJT Alberta team that placed seventh overall.
The non-profit MJT is recognized as Canada’s No. 1 junior golf tour and is the only national junior tour run exclusively by PGA of Canada Professionals and the Road to College Golf in Canada.
The St. Albert Impact has one exhibition remaining before the U14 National Cup kicks-off Wednesday in Moncton, N.B.
Saturday the Impact boys will play a team older than them at 6 p.m. at Riel Recreation Park. The name of the team was unavailable at press time.
Earlier in the day the St. Albert Soccer Association is hosting a send-off brunch for the first St. Albert boys’ team since the 1989 gold-medal winning U18 Cougars to qualify for nationals. The brunch starts at 10 a.m. at the Riel Park clubhouse.
At nationals, the Impact are in group B with Dartmouth FC of Nova Scotia, Fraser Valley of B.C., St. John’s SC of Newfoundland and Hillsborough United of Prince Edward Island.
Group A consists of the Brampton East Blades of Ontario, Bonivital SC of Manitoba, Eastside FC of Saskatchewan, FDSA of New Brunswick and the Yukon Strikers.
The first-place teams in both groups qualify for the gold-medal match and the second-place finishers compete for bronze. The rest of the teams meet in the crossover-seeding phase.
Off the field, Saturday’s pub night at The Beer Hunter exceeded expectations for the Impact with more than $10,000 raised for nationals.
The Impact have been busy fundraising since winning the Tier I provincial championship Aug. 21 in Calgary and the goal was to surpass the $30,000 mark.
The St. Albert SLAM youth development basketball club celebrates its 15th season as an association with the most players and teams in history.
The increase in players is up by 50 and an additional five teams raised the total to 21 in the Edmonton Youth Basketball Association.
SLAM was formed in 2001 and consisted of one team of girls and over the years the program has produced several provincial titles in various divisions and numerous players have represented Alberta, including six on this year’s U15 provincial team.
SLAM has also introduced the Jr. NBA program for five- and six-year-olds and the Steve Nash program for seven- to 10-year-olds.
As well, 110 players aged five to eight started learning the game at last Saturday’s clinic.
SLAM also provides the opportunity for coaches to earn their National Coaching Certification Program qualifications.
Visit www.stalbertslam.com for more information.
