It’s probably not a surprise that Art Samson, partway through his speech at the official naming of Dundas Valley Secondary School’s new track and field in his honour, handed the microphone to someone else.

Samson has been putting others before himself for more than 50 years, and it’s the wider-community that benefits. His decades of work in local education and youth sports made Art Samson Track & Field the runaway choice for the new facility’s name.

Football players from Dundas Valley and Sir Winston Churchill lined up on the new field as speakers honoured Samson, patiently awaiting kickoff for the Gryphons home opener.

As a former football coach, I know we have to start them on time — so I’m not going to take too much time, Samson said.

  The Dundas Valley midget girls cross country team completed an outstanding season, with three major accomplishments.

   The team led Dundas Valley to the overall Hamilton team title by finishing first; their secondplace finish at SOSSA led to the school’s first overall girls’ championship, and last week they finished 11th in the province at the OFSAA cross       country championships at the Christie Conservation Area, the highest finish of all Hamilton schools.

 

  The Dundas Valley midget girls cross country team: From left, Hildy Zalepa, Cara Sealey, Emma Due, Emma Norris, Quincy Rotsaert-Smith and Sarah Merry.

Girls’ – Jessica Hils, Touch Football

Boys’ – Jack Lewis, Cross Country

HWDSB is now seeking suggestions from the community to name the track and the field located at Dundas Valley Secondary School.

The deadline to provide your suggestion is November 11, 2018, at 4 p.m.

Parents, School Council members, staff, students and members of the community are urged to respond. To provide your suggestion, go to www.hwdsb.on.ca/feedback.

More than 2,100 students raced around a course at Christie Lake Conservation Area for the Dundas Valley Meet high school cross country event on Wednesday, Oct 3rd, 2018. Competitors from as far away as Timmins competed in midget, junior, senior and para-athlete races.

 

Dundas Valley's Alison Soba is chased by an Ancaster player during the HWIAC women's touch football championships Friday, Sept 28, 2018 at Mohawks Sports Complex. Anacaster won the game 21-6.

Click on the thumbnail for a bigger picture.

Dundas Valley was the top team at the Hamilton-Wentworth Interscholastic Conference track meet May 16.

The Gryphons racked up 306 points, 88 more than runner-up Guido de Bres.

Dundas Valley was tops on the female side, with the girls team scoring 213 points. The boys were third in their division, with 93 points. Guido de Bres boys won that division.

Winning multiple events were Patrice Temush (senior girls 100 m, 200 m, 80 m hurdles, 4x100 m); Kaylee Allen (junior girls 400 m, 300 m hurdles, 4x100); Zoe Lowe (midget girls long jump, triple jump); Alec Purnell (senior boys 800 m, 1500 m); and Allyson Sober (senior girls 800 m, 1500 m). From Westdale, Declan Sutherland-Case, Sarah Cushnie, Myles Misener-Daley and Dax Chamot also won multiple events.

The top six in each event qualify for the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association meet May 24 in St. Catharines.

From there, the top five advance to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations south region meet for a chance to compete at the OFSAA championships June 7 to 9 in Toronto.

Mohawk College’s Dr. Sam Mitminger Award for consistent academic and athletic excellence by a graduating student athlete has been awarded to women’s basketball and softball star Shanien O’Neill.

The Highland Secondary School graduate averaged 85 per cent over seven semesters, including 91 per cent over her last semester. Over the past year, she managed to schedule an intensive two-year program into one year and still starred for two OCAA bronze medal-winning teams.

In women’s basketball, O’Neill was a key cog in a team which had a sparkling 17-3 record and was named an OCAA tournament all-star.

O’Neill also won an OCAA bronze medal with the women’s softball team in which she was an OCAA Athlete of the Week and was an OCAA Player of the Game against Humber for smacking two home runs.

O’Neill tied a record for most triples in a season with seven and had the highest on base percentage of .462 for her single season and her career.

[media:20181007024544584 width:0 height:0 border:1 align:auto link:1 src:tn]Evelyn Brown (3) of Dundas Valley, who scored the Gyrphons second goal Friday afternoon against Ancaster, races for the ball with Royals' Jessica Holmes (13) 

 

Dundas Valley Gryphons senior girls water polo team held on to fourth place as the regular season finished, earning a quarter-final playoff date against fifth place Waterdown on Friday, April 6.

The Gryphons finished the regular season with one win, one loss and a tie in three straight games over three days. Dundas Valley topped upcoming playoff opponent Waterdown 7-4 on March 27, lost 5-1 to first-place Westdale the next day, and tied Sir Allan MacNab 5-5 on Thursday, March 29.

Dundas Valley finished the season with a record of five wins, two losses and two ties for 12 points — four points behind first-place Westdale, three points behind second-place Ancaster and two points behind third-place Orchard Park.

Waterdown finished with a record of five wins and four losses, two points behind Dundas Valley.

Ancaster Royals and Dundas Valley Gryphons senior girls water polo teams ended a long day of play in the pool last Friday with a 2-2 tie, leaving both teams in the tight top half of the league heading into the regular season's final stretch.

Ancaster jumped to a 1-0 lead over Dundas Valley in the first quarter with a goal from Holly Connor. Strong defence, goaltending and a few missed shots on both sides kept Ancaster's lead to one heading into the second quarter.

Dundas Valley's Sierra Birthelmer scored to tie the game, and the score remained deadlocked at one apiece heading into the second half.

The Gryphons took the lead when Evelyn Brown scored in the third quarter to put Dundas Valley up 2-1. Ancaster came back in the final quarter when Saskia Simunovic found the net to tie the game again, and that's where it stayed.