Five Bolton ballers haul home championship hardware from finals

February 19, 2026 · 0 Comments

56th Annual Knights of Columbus Free Throw Contest sends champs to regional finals in Toronto next month

By Jim Stewart

Five basketball players from Bolton captured their age group championship at the 56th Annual Knights of Columbus Free Throw contest in Alliston on Saturday.

Mia Hamby (Girls 9 Division), Isabel Rand (Girls 11 Division), Giulia Iorfida (Girls 12 Division), Ceilidhane Tonner-Smith (Girls 13 Division), and Aiden MacKenzie (Boys 11 Division) hauled in championship hardware and will advance to the next stage of the long-running contest: the regional finals at St. Basil the Great CHS in Toronto on March 28.

Hamby attends Holy Family School, Tonner-Smith attends Maxville Public School, and Rand, Iorfida, and Mackenzie attend St. John Paul II School.

Hamby, Rand, Iorfida, Tonner-Smith, and MacKenzie demonstrated their steely nerves at the charity stripe on Valentine’s Day against the top free throw shooters from Bolton, Orangeville, and New Tecumseth at Holy Family School in Alliston. Hamby and Tonner-Smith won hard-fought divisions where extra five-shot tie-breakers were deployed to crown the champs.

17-year-old Michael Murad of St. Thomas Aquinas CHS in Tottenham accrued the highest free throw percentage in the regional competition. Murad shot 84 per cent from the line during a stellar 21/25 performance.

14-year-old Isaiah Manuel of St. Thomas Aquinas School in Alliston had the second-highest success rate —making 80 per cent of his three throws in an excellent 20/25 performance on Saturday.

It is the 56th year that the Knights of Columbus have convened this event for school kids in Central Ontario and across the province.

The results of this regional contest in Alliston are below with age, name, town, school, and score of the competitor:

Girls

• 9 Mia Hamby, Bolton, Holy Family, 5/25+1/5+3/5

• 10 Amanda Cruz, Tottenham, F.X. O’Rielly, 7/25

• 11 Isabel Rand, Bolton, St. John Paul II, 16/25

• 12 Guilia Iorfida, Bolton, St. John Paul II, 9/25

• 13 Ceilidhane Tonner-Smith, Bolton, Maxville Public, 17/25+5/5

• 14 Eva Williamson, Alliston, Banting Memorial, 7/25

• 16 Miranda Morrison, Alliston, St. Thomas Aquinas, 16/25

Boys

• 9 Bentley Butler, Essa, Baxter Central, 15/25

• 10 Keaton Brooks, Orangeville, Princess Margaret, 16/25

• 11 Aiden MacKenzie, Bolton, St. JohnPaul II, 17/25

• 12 Alessio Raimondo, Tottenham, Monsignor Ronan, 16/25

• 13 Tomas Carriere, Alliston, St. Paul’s, 9/25

• 14 Isaiah Manuel, Alliston, St. Thomas Aquinas, 20/25

• 15 Dashaun Marcelin, Alliston, St. Thomas Aquinas, 16/25

• 16 Landon Cuddy, Alliston, Banting Memorial, 14/25

• 17 Michael Murad, Tottenham, St. Thomas Aquinas, 21/25

The Caledon Citizen wishes Mia Hamby, Isabel Rand, Giulia Iorfida, Ceilidhane Tonner-Smith, and Aiden MacKenzie the best of bounces and the sweet sound of string music from the free throw line in Toronto on March 28.