OFF TO THE RACES. Approximately 150 young athletes were on hand for the 8th annual Orangeville Elementary School Cross Country Ski Races held on the trails of Mono Nordic on Wednesday morning. Laurelwoods, Mono Amaranth, St Andrews, Credit Meadows, Montgomery Village as well as both Princess Elizabeth and Margaret schools were represented at this event for students ranging in ages from grades four to eight. Photo/MIKE MALONEY Dufferin County teams again proved they are the best of the best in District 4 basketball as both the Westside Senior and CDDHS Junior squads retained their championship titles for the 2009-2010 season.

Westside Senior boys were first to lift the championship trophy when they hosted Norwell District Secondary School last Thursday afternoon, Coming into the game as definite underdogs, the Redmen were hoping to pull off another upset after having defeated second place CDDHS two days before to earn a berth in the final but Westside was not about to let this game go down with a story book ending.

OVER 100 racers from across Ontario converged on Mono Nordic both Saturday and Sunday, competing in the Ontario University Athletics Nordic Skiing championships. Eight Ontario universities as well as a team from McGill were represented at the event which saw the Lakehead Women’s team claim their 6th straight title while the Carleton Ravens dethroned Lakehead for the Men’s team title. Photo/MIKE MALONEY The Thunder smothered whatever offence Norwell could muster from the opening tip off while Orangeville's shooters seemed more than up to the challenge. Adam Craig lead the assault in the first half with 10 of his game leading 19 points while Jordan Critch and Josh Millican each drained a pair of three's on the way to a Thunder 31- 16 lead at the half.

To their credit, Norwell refused to fold in the second half and continued to chip away on the scoreboard but the much stronger Thunder continued to roll and at the final buzzer, claimed their third consecutive District 4 championship.

SHELBURNE MUSKIES find themselves on the wrong side of the playoff equation, trailing Saugeen Shores two games to one after a pair of weekend losses to the Winterhawks. Friday, the Fish dropped a 5-2 decision to the ‘Hawks in Port Elgin on Friday night then came up on the short side of a 5-3 game back in Shelburne on Saturday. Game four of this best of seven series is slated for 8:30 p.m. in Port Elgin with game five being played at 9 p.m. on Saturday night in Dundalk Photo/MIKE MALONEY Up in Shelburne on Monday however, it was the Westside Junior boys that found themselves in the role of underdogs as they took on the powerhouse CDDHS Royals.

Unbeaten in 2009- 10, the Royals had mauled their opposition throughout the season, scoring a total of 429 points in six games while allowing only 142 against.

Having defeated Westside 70-40 and 75- 45 in regular season play, the Royals knew they had what it took to win and wasted no time in setting out on that course.

Carlo Zanete would

draw first blood for CDDHS within the first minute of play as the Royals took control and never looked back from there. Riding a hot hand, Doug Costanzo was the big player for Shelburne in this game. Playing tough in his own end as well, Costanzo controlled the ball well along the boards, assisting on a number of baskets as well as leading the Royals with 26 points of his own.

Trailing 48-7 at the half, Westside knew the engravers were already started on the championship trophy and just wanted to keep the score respectable. They did admirably, holding CDDHS to just 28 points through the remainder of the game while adding 18 of their own but it was CDDHS who came out the victors by a final score of 70-25.

Both the Westside Senior and CDDHS Junior teams now go on to play St James in the CWOSSA AAA qualifier on Wednesday (results unavailable at presstime) then hopefully on to the CWOSSA Championships this weekend.