A warning on SDSSAA Division B fall female sport competitors: you are swimming in shark infested waters these days.

Figuratively speaking, of course.

In a span of three days last week, the Champlain Requins (requins = shark, en francais!) junior and senior teams found themselves competing in no less than four local high-school finals, capturing the banner in three of those games.

The flag football girls set the tone, with the seniors avenging a junior final loss to the St Benedict Bears (27-8), toppling the Macdonald-Cartier Panthères 20-14 the very next evening. Just a day or two later, a whole slew of those same girls were back in action at the Ben Avery Gym at Laurentian University, part of a four game slate of championship encounters.

Sparked by the return of top-end scoring threat Malika Grenon, who missed a regular season loss to Lockerby due to work commitments, the junior Requins flipped the script on the Vikings on Friday, posting a 32-18 victory as Grenon paced the attack with a 20-point effort. Lilianne Jodouin chipped in with another five points while Kylan Batchelor was tops for LCS, netting six points.

Champlain Requins - juniors: Andrée Lefebvre, Ferryn Johnston, Sarah Soulière, Malika Grenon, Sophie Poirier, Miya Prevost, Jessica MacLean, Lilianne Jodouin, Maëlle Lamoureux and Alyssa Malafarina.

The seniors from Champlain then took to the court, completing the sweep and wrapping up an undefeated season locally with a 33-26 win over the Collège Notre-Dame Alouettes as Dalia Belanger showed the way with a 14-point performance. Marissa MacLean added another eight points while Kamryn Newell countered with nine for CND.

Champlain Requins - seniors: Jade Toner, Sophie Léveillé, Meghan Ryan, Marissa MacLean, Sophie Thurlow, Gabrielle Foreshew, Summer Vachon, Katrine Fortier, Dalia Belanger, Hailey Thurlow, Kienna Tremblay and Olivia Lachapelle

As coach of both winning teams, Eric Alarie has an appreciation for just how special things are at the moment at the school he has called home for the past four years. “Given that we have a small amount of students (just over 200), we’re very lucky to have the kids that we do have,” said Alarie, who now transitions immediately over to the boys varsity team, balanced with a busy young family at home.

“A lot of these kids are very coachable, very devoted.”

And as most coaches in similar situations will attest, having a helping hand from those kids in question that have come through the ranks is huge.

“Regardless of the sport, our athletes have really good chemistry from nine to twelve,” said Alarie. ‘The juniors walk in and the seniors act as mentors, helping bring everybody up to a higher standard.”

Throw in a similar level of cooperation between the coaches and it’s no wonder success ensues.

“There’s a good system with the school,” said Alarie. “Miguel Belanger and Dan Trepanier and I, we all understand and respect that some sports go on at the same time. We work together to see what fits where and try and prioritize all teams at the same time – not one over the other.”

"And this is a great group of girls, giving it their all.

The Junior Division “A” final turned out to be no contest as the St Benedict Bears bounced the Lo-Ellen Park Knights 103-39 behind the one-two punch of Emma DeMarchi (44 pts) and Kallie Smith (30). “Even though offense is important, defense wins everything,” noted Smith. “We did a lot of trapping on defense, pressing them hard.”

“If you can’t defend, you will never get steals, you will never get stops.”

No less than five members from the Bears' den are also members of a Sudbury Jam competitive team, with athletes often using the opportunity in high-school athletics to work on areas of their game that might be tricky to develop against top-end talent from across the province.

"You get to try different moves, work on something you've never done before, just so it prepares you if you need to use it when you are playing against rep teams," said Smith.

St Benedict Bears - juniors: Allie Vaillancourt, Azizah Abiola, Isabella Rocca, Emma DeMarchi, Kendra Nebenionquit, Sloanne Hall, Chyna Brown, Kallie Smith, Maryam Animashaun and Casyia Wilson

The senior Knights closed out the evening with a win, walking off with the “A” banner after defeating the Horizon Aigles 64-47. Top scorers included: LEP – Paige Dawson (13); Kaylee Prevost (12); Ryleigh Gainer (11); Gia Rocca (10) – and Peyton Tessier (29 for Horizon).

Lo-Ellen Park Knights - seniors: Maggie Tripodi, Tiana Thai, Gia Rocca, Aurora Circelli, Lara Gray, Kaylee Prevost, Lilly Hagen, Paige Dawson, McKenna Mende, Alyssa Amadio and Ryleigh Gainer