OFSAA 2013 - Sudbury

National Capital athletes turned in some outstanding performances at the 2013 OFSAA Cross Country Championships in Sudbury.  Holy Trinity’s Owen Day (Junior Boys) and Longfields-Davidson’s Shona McCulloch (Midget Girls) won gold and Glebe’s Claire Smith earned silver in the Senior Girls event.  The Glebe Midget Girls and Junior Boys also placed second in their repective races, while the Glebe Junior Girls and Senior Girls both placed fourth in their races, helping Glebe defend their Overall Girl's Team Championship.  Canterbury picked up the bronze medal in the Senior Girls race. The Glebe Boys placed third in the Overall rankings.

The day started off with a bang for NC athletes as McCulloch quickly surged to the front of the wet muddy course.  A small group of 5, with all the pre-race favorites remained tightly bunched for the first half of the race, but up the “Wall” McCulloch and Kylee Raftis of Bishop Strachan began to pull away. The two stayed stride for stride over the second half, with McCulloch pulling away in the final metres for a stride and half victory.  Both girls were timed in 10:24.  Keili Shepherd led the Glebe girls with a 9^th place finish, while her teammates, Cassidy Grimes (29^th), Kendall Saravanamuttoo (36^th) and Anna Larkin (75^th) combined for 149 points, 20 points shy of Toronto’s Lawrence Park.

The Junior Girl’s race was marred by the largest pile up of the day as over 30 girls went down in the first 30m of the race, including three Glebe athletes (Pouw, Millar and Greene).  Glebe’s Katherine Marshall managed to hurdle the mess and although fell back a bit early was able to work her way through the field to finish 6^th overall.  Behind her, Ali Pouw managed to pick herself up and work her way up to 57^th  and along with Erika Rupar (95^th) and Kate Millar (126^th) were able to scored 278 points, just seven points shy of third.

In the Junior Boys race, Day ran with last year’s Midget Boys champion Edward Hayfron (Birchmount Park) and Riley Tell (Father Leo Austin) through the first 4K when Tell fell off the second time up the “Wall.”  Day made his final move with one kilometre left to go, just before the second major hill on the 3 kilometre loop, affectionately known as the “Beast.”  By the top of the “Beast” Day had opened up a 40m lead and he continued to widen the gap over the final 600m to win by a comfortable 20 second margin.  Glebe’s Darion Dillabaugh started conservatively and was 60^th at the 1K mark but worked his way through the field to place 20^th overall.  His teammates did the same, all picking up valuable spots over the second half of the race as Teagan Harris finished 37^th, Jake Weston 40^th and Andrew Burney 100^th to capture the silver medal, 13 points shy of champions Father Redmond. 

In the Senior Girls race Claire Smith and Charlotte Prouse (London Central) ran together with a punishing pace that separated them from the field by the first trip up the “Wall.”  Prouse made her move on the second loop up the same hill to open up a small lead, but  Smith closed the gap on the flats and caught up with Prouse by the base of the “Beast.”  Prouse pulled away again up the “Beast” and strode to a nine second victory.  Olivia Robertson (Brookfield) followed in the second chase pack and moved into fourth with just over 500m to go, but was caught again in the homestretch to finish fifth.  Alex McGowan led the Canterbury girls’ with a 23^rd place finish and was followed by Erinn Stenman-Fahey (53^rd), Lia Codrington (74^th) and Sydney Currier (103^rd)  to capture the bronze medal only six points out of  second and another six points up on Glebe.  Glebe’s Smith was followed by Alexa Livingstone (67^th), Emma Barrett 86^th and August Sibthorpe 104^th as Glebe placed fourth, one point up on Centre Wellington (Guelph).  

Results, video, and post race interviews can be found on www.runnerspace.com

Top NC finishers were:

Midget Girls

Shona McCulloch (Longfields-Davidson)  – 1^st

Keili Sheppard (Glebe)  – 9^th

Samantha Dickson (Earl of March) – 14^th

Glebe Collegiate - 2^nd (149)

Midget Boys

Reilly McCann (Franco-Cite) – 20^th

Joshua Nowlan (Glebe) – 75^th

Simon Gaudert (Colonel By) – 83^rd

Glebe Collegiate – 14^th (472)

Junior Girls

Katherine Marshall (Glebe) – 6^th

Sophie Rodenburg (Earl of March) – 10^th

Talia Brennan (Franco Ouest) – 55^th

Glebe Collegiate – 4^th (278)

Junior Boys

Owen Day (Holy Trinity) – 1^st

Darion Dillabaugh (Glebe) – 20^th

Tom Saville (Carine Wilson) – 22^nd

Glebe Collegiate – 2^nd (197)

Senior Girls

Claire Smith (Glebe) – 2^nd

Olivia Robertson (Brookfield) – 5^th

Alex McGowan (Canterbury) – 23^rd  

Canterbury – 3^rd (253)

Senior Boys

Farah Abdulkarim (Gloucester) – 6^th

Alex Bernst (Glebe) – 23^rd  

Brendon Howard – 73^rd

Glebe Collegiate – 11^th (433)

Results can be found at www.chiptimeresults.com

NC Championships

The Glebe Gryphons won the Girls, Boys and Overall Aggregates at the 2013 Cross Country Championships at Green's Creek.  Glebe won 5 of 6 team titles, just missing going 6 for 6 as the Canterbury Senior Girls edged out the Gryphons by a mere two points.

Midget Girls
Shona McCulloch (Longfields) bolted to the lead and ran unchallenged over the hilly Green's Creek course.  Behind McColloch a chase pack of 5 followed with Dickson (Earl of March) out ahead of Shepherd (Glebe), Scotten (Sir Wil), and Rossi (Gisele Lalonde).  Kiana Gibson, third at the West last week, had to pull out of the race due to an accident causing 16 stitches to her lower leg.  Shepherd caught Dickson in the final stretch to claim the silver, 45 seconds back of McCulloch, while Dickson held onto the bronze.

Shepherd's teammate Grimes closed hard over the final K to move up to 5th, as Glebe placed all 4 scorers in the top 11, with Saravanamuttoo 8th and Anna Larkin 11th for 26 points.  Franco Cite, on the strength of two in the top 10, Borrens 7th and McLean 9th, defeated Colonel By (47-58) to claim the second qualifying spot.

Midget Boys
Turcanu (Bell) led the Midget Boys race for the first 2K with only McCann on his heels, while Gaudert (Colonel By) ran alone in third, as the top three distanced themselves from the field quite early.  Turcanu and McCann clipped each other coming out of the back loop and McCann took over the lead shortly thereafter and opened up a small gap which he continued to widen until the final stretch, running to a 10 second victory.  Gaudert closed strong over the final K but could not catch Turcanu and had to settle for the bronze.

Glebe got strong runs from Grall (4th) and Kealey (5th) with Salvino (10th) and Nowlan (13th) only 30 seconds back to clinch the boys title with 32 points.  Nepean's top runner Martire had an off day, placing 14th, but his teammates had strong runs with Jande (9th), Cheney (15th) and Burton (21st) to take the the second OFSAA spot (59-83) over East Champs Osgoode.

Junior Girls
For the first three and a half kilometres the Junior Girls race looked to be a repeat of last weeks West final.  Marshall (Glebe), Gaudet (Nepean) and Rodenburg (Earl of March) formed a lead pack that distanced themselves from the rest of the field.  Unlike last week however, Marshall was unable to pull away over the final stretch and Rodenburg used a powerful kick to win in the final 150m.  Marshall hung on to second with Gaudet taking the bronze.

The Glebe Girls looked impressive with Pouw (5th) and then another 5 girls within 11 seconds led by Millar (11th) then Greene (14th), Rupar (15th), Smith (16th) and Aiello (17th) to win the race.  Earl of March got strong runs from their next three behind Rodenburg's win (MacAskill - 12th, DeAveiro - 13th and Shearman - 21st) to steal the second OFSAA qualifying spot from Nepean (47-50), scoring a single lower at the NC meet then they did at the West, despite the larger field.

Junior Boys
Day (Holy Trinity) led early and ran comfortably to post a comfortable 21 second victory over East runner up Dionne (Lycee Claudel).  Dionne distanced himself from the chase pack in the first two K and ran solo in second most of the race.  Saville (Carine Wilson) held onto his bronze medal position from last week out kicking East Champ Abanto-Enns (Lisgar) down the stretch.

Louis Riel held a slight lead on Glebe at the 2K mark, but lost #2  Campbell to an ankle injury shortly thereafter.  Glebe runners led by Dillabaugh (6th), Harris (7th), Weston (10th) and Uhthoff (13th) all moved up in the second half to secure a comfortable 36-59 win over the Rebelles.

Senior Girls
Smith (Glebe) and Robertson (Brookfield) ran stride for stride over the first three and a half K, similar to last weeks West final, before Robertson made a move on the hill to open up a small gap.  Smith responded over the top of the hill to catch and pass Robertson and then continued to surge and widened the gap over the final 1500m to claim the gold in 17:23, 30 seconds up on Robertson.  The chase pack caught East Champ McGowan in the final stretch as St. Joseph's Adams sprinted by to claim the bronze.

McGowan was also caught by teammate Stenman-Fahey before the line, but that made little difference in the team scores as Codrington finished 7th and Currier was 17th to give Canterbury a narrow 2 point victory over Glebe (33-35).  Behind individual champ Smith, Glebe packed  5 runners in just over 20 seconds and 6 places with Livingstone (10th), Sibthrope (11th), Wong (13th), Barrett (14th) and Ridley (15th).

Senior Boys
Very little changed after the first few hundred metres in the Senior Boys field as Gloucester's Abdulkarim (aka Mo Farah) took the lead followed by Bernst (Glebe) and Richardson (Colonel By).  Abdulkarim ran 23:42 over the hills at Green's Creek to beat Bernst to the line by just under a minute.  Richardson held off a late charge from Howard (AY Jackson) to claim the bronze.

The tight battle expected between Glebe and Lisgar never really emerged, but another interesting battle took place over the second half of the course.  Glebe, led by Bernst, won the title with 54 points, with Zechel (12th) and Rupar (15th).  Patrick Marhsall's return to form helped Glebe secure the win as he placed 25th.  Lisgar had to hold off a late charge from Woodroffe over the final couple of K.  While Lisgar runners held their spots, Woodroffe's back 3 improved 9 places over the final K, but the Lords managed to hold on to second, defeating the Tigers 79-86.

NC Blogger would like to thank Gary Monsour, Ashley Richard and Simone Wilson for a great day of racing and wish all NC athletes the best of luck at OFSAA next weekend in Sudbury.

Full results are available on the Glebe XC page

NC Preview

The National Capital Region's depth in Cross Country has grown considerably in the past few years as NC teams and individuals have consistently challenged for podium spots at OFSAA.  This year will be no exception.  Several NC individuals will challenge for podium spots, with 4 or 5  teams (Glebe MG, Glebe JG, Glebe JB, Canterbury SG, Glebe SG) all having a chance at a podium finish.  Glebe will look to defend it's OFSAA Overall Girls title and is the heavy favorite to win the Girls, Boys and Overall Aggregates this week at the Hornet's Nest.  

Midget Girls

Glebe looks to be the class of the field heading into the NC Meet.  The Gryphons have won all four meets (Trinity Invite, Gryphon Open, Pirates Invite and West) they have participated in this year.  Glebe has a great 1-2-3 punch in Shepherd, Grimes and Saravanamutto, with another 3 solid potential scorers only a small ways back in Larkin, Welburn and MacKay.  The battle for second should be a repeat of the East showdown between Franco Cite and Colonel By.  Only 6 points separated these two teams at the East, with each Faucon scorer about 10 seconds up on their Cougar counterpart.  Only Earl of March has a chance of upsetting one of these two teams for the second OFSAA spot.  Second in the west, but with a 4th scorer well back, if they can get a good run from #4, they stand a chance of taking the second qualifying spot.

Individually, expect to see a repeat of the West final.  Shona McCulloch (Longfields) is the hands down favorite, having won both the West and Gryphon Open by gaps of 1:04 and 47 seconds respectively.  Second and third should be a battle between Shepherd (Glebe) and Kiana Gibson (Merivale).  Each athlete has taken a turn beating the other this year, with Gibson taking the Gryphon Open and Shepherd the West.  East Champ Marin Scotten (Sir Wil) might have more in the tank to challenge for a podium spot and should book her ticket to the Big Nickel as Shepherd should qualify as a member of the Glebe team.  That will leave the 4th qualifying spot as a tight battle between Gisele's Jenna Rossi and the Earl's Samantha Dickson.

NC Blogger's Pick
1.  Glebe (35)  2.  Franco Cite  (59)  3.  Colonel Boy (61)
1.  McCulloch  2.  Shepherd  3.  Gibson

Junior Girls

We can expect a repeat of the West meet and last years NC Midget Girls race, with some slight changes.  Glebe, Nepean and Earl of March should hold onto their spots from the West meet.  Led by West Champ Marshall, Glebe may place all four scorers in the top 15, with a back up crew of 3 more a few spots back should someone have an off day.  Nepean turned the table on the Earl, who beat them at last years NC meet, and it will be very close again this week on the hills of Green's Creek.

Individually, Marshall (Glebe), Gaudet (Nepean) and Rodenburg (Earl of March) should take the medal spots.  With two of these three likely to qualify on a team, and Pouw (Glebe) and Roziak (Nepean) not far behind, a top 8 finish could be enough for the individuals to qualify.   Brennan (Franco Ouest) will likely earn the second individual qualifier, but Anna Greene (St. Pius) who won on the Haw-X course two weeks ago, Howard (AYJackson), Marina (Woodroffe) and East Champ  Alie (Sir Wil) will fight it out for the final two spots.

NC Blogger's Pick
1.  Glebe (28)  2.  Nepean (48)  3.  Earl of March (50)
1.  Marshall  2.  Gaudet  3.  Rodenburg

Senior Girls

The Canterbury Senior Girls turned in a dazzling performance last week and is favoured to repeat the task this week as NC Champs.  Only Glebe has a chance of unseating the Chargers, but it will take some big runs to do it.  Canterbury's only weakness is that there is a large gap between their 4th scorer and their 5th, so if one runner has an off day, they could be vulnerable, but it's a big IF.  An off day for one of their top 4, might mean a minute and 5 or even 10 places, which they should have to spare.  Glebe can match Canterbury upfront, but has to close a rather large gap with #3 and #4 if they hope to pull off the upset.

Smith (Glebe) has looked impressive all season with big wins (and course records) at the Trinity Invite in Port Hope, the pre-OFSAA Meet in Sudbury and at the Pirates Invite in Brockville. Robertson (Brookfield) hung close for half the race at West before dropping back a bit, but had just run and won a US College race on the weekend, her only other race of the fall.  These two girls should be able to distance themselves from East Champ McGowan (Canterbury), although she has yet to be challenged in her two wins this year so there may be more left in the tank.  With 3 of the next 4 runners likely belonging to the two OFSAA teams (Stenman-Fahey and Codrington from Canterbury and Livingstone from Glebe), a top 9 finish could secure an OFSAA qualifying spot.  Schuenert (Garneau), Adams (St. Joseph), Grimes (Hillcrest) and Gibson (West Carleton) all have a shot at earning three of the final four individual spots.

NC Blogger's Pick
1.  Canterbury  (26)  2.  Glebe  (36)  3.  Earl of March (80)
1.  Smith  2.  Robertson  3.  McGowan

Midget Boys

Despite losing their top runner to their Junior Boys team, Glebe hopes to do exactly what their Midget Girls did last year and win anyway.  With medal favorite Harris moving up to run with the Junior Boys, the Glebe Midget Boys still scored a very low 22 points to win the West.  With all 4 scorers in the top 9 and plenty of back up less than a minute back, Glebe is the team to beat.  The battle for second will be a tight battle between  West runner-up Nepean and East Champ's Osgoode.  Nepean will score a low single digit with their top runner (Martire) and then a minute back have three in a tightly bunched pack (Jande, Burton and Cheney), while Osgoode will counter with Fishwick and Smith, who should place in the top 10, and then teammates Onno and Desroches just over a minute back.  Osgoode's hopes rest on getting their top two, as close to Martire as possible and their back 2 close to Nepean's pack.

Individually this race will be a battle between East Champ McCann (Franco Cite) and West Champ Turcanu (Bell).  McCann was about 30 seconds faster than Turcanu's Haw-X winning time, but Turcanu got the best of McCann in their only head to head battle this year at the Gryphon Open.  Colonel By's Gaudert should claim the bronze, although Glebe's Grall may challenge for the last spot on the podium.  With the top three runners being unattached to a top two team, only one more individual will earn a spot on the NC bus, and that will likely be a battle between Ashbury's Daly and St. Mark's Dennison.

NC Blogger's Pick
1.  Glebe (40)  2.  Nepean (56)  3.  Osgoode  (65)
1.  Turcanu  2.  McCann  3.  Gaudert

Junior Boys

With the addition of Harris, Glebe not only looks to win the NC Championships, but improve upon their 4th place finish at last years OFSAA Championships.  Led by Dillabaugh, Glebe placed 5 runners in the top 10 at the West, demonstrating both upfront talent and depth.  Louis Riel, led by duo Campbell and Robillard, have a strong hold on second place.  So, while nothing in sport is 100% certain (hence the reason we don't hand out the medals until after the race) these two teams have a solid hold on the OFSAA qualifying spots.

Last years OFSAA silver medalist, Day (Holy Trinity) is the clear favorite coming into the race and should win by a healthy margin.  After that things get real interesting.  East Champ Abanto-Enns, East runner up Dionne (Lycee Claudel) and West runner up Dillabaugh should have a tight battle for the other podium spots.  Dillabaugh beat Abanto-Enns at the Trinity Invite, but Abanto-Enns returned the favour the following week at the Gryphon Open.  The exact same thing happened with Dionne as Dionne got the better of Abanto-Enns at the Haw-X race, but their order was reversed at the East Champs.With only Dillabaugh likely to qualify on a team, only one spot remains for those with OFSAA aspirations.  Louis' Robillard or Glebe's Harris and Weston might be next to the line, leaving the final spot as a battle between Saville (Carine Wilson) and Kirkham (Earl of March). 

NC Blogger's Pick
1.  Glebe (32)  2.  Louis Riel  (75)  3.  Lisgar  (105)
1.  Day  2.  Abanto-Enns  3.  Dionne

Senior Boys

Let's save the closest battle for the final race of the day - the old Ottawa Collegiate showdown.  Just as last year, where Nepean and Glebe tied for the team title, with Nepean winning on the tie-breaker (higher finishing 4th scorer), it should be a very tight battle this year between the old Ottawa Collegiate Institute campus' - West Champs Glebe and East Champs Lisgar.  Both teams scored similar scores at their Conference Meets (34 and 29 respectively).  Both team were without there usual fourth (Issac Alexander-Cook for Lisgar and Marshall for Glebe) at the Conference Meets (as both walked just to finish).  That aside, the teams match up very well with tight battles for every spot (Bernst - Kinahan, Rupar - Nussbaum, Zechel - Julian Alexander-Cook).  The race will largely depend on the 4th runner.  If Isaac Alexander-Cook or Patrick Marshall are not on form, the race will likely go to the whichever school can get a big run from Caufield (Lisgar) or Kerzner (Glebe).  Woodroffe is the only team with a chance of upsetting one of these two.  Woodroffe was ahead of Glebe at the halfway point in the West Meet, but faltered over the second half.

Farah Abdulkarim looks strong and is certainly considered the favorite for the individual title having won all four of his races this year (Cookie Run, Pirates, Haw-X, and East).  His only competition might come from his training partner, Colonel By's Richardson, but Richardson had to walk the Conference Meet due to injury and might not be back to form yet.  After these two, look for Glebe's Bernst to battle for the bronze with Kinahan, while Howard (AY Jackson) and Gagnon (Earl of March) look like solid contenders to claim the final two spots, with Morel Banville (Garneau), Venne (Franco Cite) and Motuma (Woodroffe) on the outside, looking to steal a spot.

NC Blogger's Pick
1.  Glebe and Lisgar  (60) - coin toss for the 4th runner and tie-breaker  3.  Woodroffe  (85)
1.  Abdulkarim  2.  Richardson  3.  Bernst

NC Blogger would like to wish all competitors the best of luck, and if you think we've got it wrong, feel free to comment below, or better yet....prove it with your feet!

Results from all previous race and information about the NC Champs can be found on the Glebe XC page

East Conference Championships

The Canterbury Senior Girls were the story of the day as they scored a near perfect 12 points to capture the team title.  Led by individual Champ Alex McGowan, Canterbury swept the podium with Erinn Stenman-Fahey second and Lia Codrington third.  Sydney Currier was only 33 seconds back of Codrington to place all 4 scorers in the top 6.

Gloucester's Farah Abdulkarim (aka Mo Farah ) won his third straight race of the season, taking the Senior Boys race, finishing almost 2 minutes up on his nearest competitor, Marcus Nussbaum of Lisgar.  Nussbaum was followed to the line by teammate Sam Kinahan, and Lisgar placed 3 in the top 8 to win the Senior Boys team title. 

The respective wins, were enough to propel both Canterbury and Lisgar to Overall Girls and Boys titles.  Lisgar won the Overall Aggregate. 

Other winners (individual / team) were:

Midget Girls - Marin Scotten (Sir Wil) / Franco Cite
Midget Boys - Rielly McCann (Franco Cite) / Osgoode
Junior Girls - Elise Alie (Sir Wil) / Beatrice Desloges
Junior Boys - Nick Abanto-Enns (Lisgar) / Louis Riel

Full results are posted on the Glebe XC page

West Conference Championships

Glebe Collegiate went 6 for 6, winning all six races en route to capturing the Boys, Girls and Overall Aggregates at the West Conference Championships at the Arboretum.

Shona McCulloch (Longfields) got the day rolling with a blistering fast pace in the MG race.  Shona lead almost from the gun and ran to the largest margin of victory (1:04) of any race of the day over the shortest course, covering the 3300m course in 11:29.  Keili Shepherd ran with Merivale's Kiana Gibson before pulling away down the homestretch to lead the Gryphons to the team title.  Glebe placed 6 runners in the top 13 to take the team title over runner up Earl of March (24 - 61).

Bell's Philip Turcanu almost matched McCulloch's margin, winning the Midget Boys (5300m) race in 19:27, 1:03 up on Glebe's Pierre Grall.  Grall's teammates packed all four scorers in the top nine to win 22  - 36 over runner up Nepean, who was led by bronze medalist Jacob Martire.

Katherine Marshall (Glebe) led a tightly bunched lead group with Olivia Gaudet (Nepean) and Sophie Rodenburg (Earl of March) through 3K,  but pulled away over the final K to post an 8 second victory, with Gaudet second and Rodenburg third.  Marshall's teammates managed to finish with 7 runners in the top 17 to take the team title from Nepean 26 - 41.

Owen Day (Holy Trinity) got off to a conservative start, but by the 2K mark had worked his way to the front to run alongside Glebe's Darion Dillabaugh.  Day made his move up the first little hill and ran to a comfortable victory, covering the 6,000m course in 20:59.  Dillabaugh was runner up in 21:38.  Teagan Harris, also of Glebe was third and Glebe packed 5 runners in the top 10 to win the team title with the lowest team score of the day and largest margin of victory over runner up Sir Robert Borden (19 - 80).

Claire Smith (Glebe) and Olivia Robertson (Brookfield) quickly separated themselves from the field in the Senior Girls race, opening up a sizable 400m lead by the midpoint of the race.  Over the second half Smith pulled away from Robertson as well to cover the 5300m course in 19:24.  Robertson placed second while Smith's teammate Alexa Livingstone used a strong final 1500m to finish comfortably in 3rd.  Glebe's girls won the team title 24-51 over Earl of March.

The Senior Boys lead pack stuck together for the first couple of K, but then slowly started to string out.  The lead changed hands a couple of times, but Glebe's Alex Bernst lead the break and stayed up front over the second half of the race to win, covering the 7100m course in 24:03, eight seconds up on runner up Brendon Howard (AY Jackson).  Nicholas Gagnon (Earl of March) came from about 50m down over the last two K to claim the bronze.  Bersnt's teammates ran well enough over the second half of the race to take the team title from early leaders Woodroffe (34-53). 

Results are available on the Glebe XC page 

Conference Meets

The West Conference is all set to go Wednesday, Oct., 16th at the Arboretum followed by the East Conference Meet on Oct 17th at the Hornet's Nest / Green's Creek.  Check back here or the Glebe XC page for results following the meets.

Meet information can be found on the Glebe XC page.

HawX and Turkeys

NC athletes competed on back to back days in fowl-themed events this week.  On Wednesday, athletes got their first look at the NC Championship Course at the Haw-X Invitational at the Hornet's Nest / Green's Creek.  The following day, St. Michael's in Kemptville hosted their annual Turkey Trot.

At the Haw-X Meet, Farah Abdulkarim (Gloucester) made it two course records in two weeks (23:48) as he ran to a comfortable victory in the Senior Boys race, 1:39 up on runner up Sam Kinahan (Lisgar). Lycee Claudel won the Overall Team title, placing all 5 of their finishing teams in the top 4, winning the Midget Girls and placing 2nd in the Senior Girls and Junior Boys.

In Kemptville, Colonel By turned in the NC regions top finishes with Adam Richardson taking home the Turkey for the Senior Boys.  Colonel By also took the Midget Girls team title.  Kingston Collegiate won the overall team title. 

Full results can be found on the Glebe XC page

Pirates Invitational

National Capital Athletes won three of six races at the 2013 Pirates Invitational, hosted by Thousand Islands Secondary School in Brockville on Friday, Oct 4th.

The day started off with a bang as Farah Abdulkarim (Gloucester) made a strong move coming off the second hill on the first loop and opened up a small gap on the field.  He continued to press and widened the gap slowly over the second half of the race.  Abdulkarim crossed the line in 22:06 lowering double OFSAA Gold Medalist Yves Sikubwabo's course record by 6 seconds.

Glebe's Claire Smith followed up in the Senior Girls race with the largest margin of victory for the day and smashed the 17 year old course record  in the process.  Smith ran with the lead group to the first hill but pulled away on the downhill and surged away quickly from her pursuers, running to a 1:19 victory, covering the 5K course in 17:07, taking 1:22 off Tracey Robertson's (Gloucester) course record from 1996 (18:29).

Although the outcome was the same, the method was quite different for Holy Trinity's Owen Day.  Day, the 2012 OFSAA silver medalist ran side by side with last years bronze medalist Cameron Linscott (KCVI) for almost 5.9K before using his powerful kick to pull away over the last 100m.

Glebe's Katherine Marshall (Junior Girls) and Keili Shepherd (Midget Girls) also picked up silver medals, placing second in their respective races.

Glebe Collegiate won the overall meet title, capturing the Midget Girls and Junior Boys races, and placing second in the Midget Boys and Junior Girls, while the Senior Girls (5th) and Senior Boys (6th) also picked up points.  Colonel By's Midget Girls were the only other NC team with a podium finish, placing 3rd.

Full results are available on the Glebe XC page

Smith (Glebe) wins pre-OFSAA

Glebe's Claire Smith won the Senior Girl's race at pre-OFSAA in Sudbury. Smith ran in the lead group through the first half of the race but pulled away over the second half to beat Centennial's (Guelph) Sarah Wismer to the line by 22 seconds.

Results available at www.chiptimeresults.com or visit the Glebe XC page.

Glebe wins Gryphon Open

Canterbury sweeps Senior Girls Medals

Glebe Collegiate captured all six high school races on a beautiful sunny day at Mooney's Bay, but it was the Canterbury Senior Girls that were the story of the day as they swept the podium in the Senior Girls race.  Alex McGowan led teammates Lia Codrington and Erinn Stenman-Fahey to the finish line.  McGowan's winning time of 20:07 was almost a full minute ahead of the rest of the field.  Unfortunately, Canterbury did not bring a 4th scoring runner, which allowed Glebe to complete the sweep of all six races.

Full results are available on the Glebe XC page.
** apologies to all Int. Boys as the brand spanking new timing equipment froze and we were not able to get times for the Int. Boys race.  Although the winning time is accurate, all subsequent times are not.

Cookie Run

Over 10 NC schools saw action in the 2013 Louis-Riel XCookie Meet on a sunny, warm day.  The meet played host to 600+ athletes coming from 23 schools who came to run and experience the Hornet’s Nest trails.


St. Michael CHS (Kemptville) came prepared to run with their 69 entries.   The Mustangs took control of the meet taking both (exhibition) Intermediate divisions and the High School Girls.  However, their High School Boys ran out of gas as Louis-Riel took the honors finishing 3rd, 4th, 7th & 8th.  The Rebelles had a strong showing at their home meet, winning the Overall and Boys Titles and finishing in 2nd, just 2pts ahead of Sir Wilfrid Laurier in the HS Girls division.

Results have been updated as of Sept 24th  Click on the Glebe XC page for full results

Trinity Invitational

Glebe Captures three of six races at Trinity Invite

The Gryphons won the Midget and Senior Girls  races along with the Junior Boys title to place second overall to Thousand Islands (Brockville) at the 2013 Trinity Invitational in Port Hope.

Glebe's Midget Girls led by Cassidy Grimes (5th) placed all 4 scorers in the top 14 to easily outscore Thousand Islands (34 - 65).  Keili Shepherd (6th) Kendall Saravanamutto (9th) and Anna Welburn (14th) rounded out the scoring for Glebe.

The Junior Boys were paced by Darion Dillabaugh (6th) and followed up with Jake Weston (11th), Teagan Harris (14th) and Andrew Burney (36th) to take the title over St. Michael's (Toronto) by a score of 66 - 88.

The defending OFSAA Junior Girls Champions got their season off on the right foot winning the Senior Girls race in record fashion.  The Glebe Girls, Claire Smith (Gold), Katherine Marshall (Bronze), Alexa Livingstone (7th) and Emma Barrett (17th) scored a meager 28 points to nearly double up on runner-up Thousand Islands of Brockville.

Smith followed early race leader Nicole Armstrong (Sydenham) through a blistering first K in 3:15 as the two quickly opened a gap on the rest of the field.  Smith and Armstrong continued to widen the gap and Smith took over the race just past the half way mark.  Armstrong hung on until the base of Mount Trinity as Smith pulled away up the hill and ran to a 46 second victory, setting a new course record of 16:10.1, eclipsing last years winner Jamie Phelan's (St. Mary's Kitchener) time of 16:11.6.

Lisgar Collegiate was the only other NC school to compete at the meet, with Sam Kinahan being the top NC athlete in the Senior Boys race, placing 13th, covering the 6.6K route in 22:30.  Kinahan's teammate, Nic Abanto-Enns was 7th in the Junior Boys race.

Full RESULTS are available through the Glebe XC page 

2013 Cross Country Season

Welcome to the 2013 Cross Country Season. Please visit the 2013 Glebe XC page for information about the following meets, or click on the meet name to go directly to the meet website (if one is available).

Wednesday Sept 18th - Trinity Invitational (Port Hope) - Results
Thursday, Sept 19th - Cookie Run (Hornet's Nest)
Wednesday Sept., 25th - Gryphon Open (Mooney's Bay)
Friday Sept., 27th - Pre-OFSAA (Sudbury)
Friday, Oct., 4th - Pirates Invitational (Brockville)
Wednesday, Oct., 9th - Haw-X-Country Invitiational (Hornet's Nest)
Thursday, Oct., 10th - Turkey Trot (Kemptville) 
Wednesday, Oct., 16th - West Conference Championships (Arboretum)
Thursday, Oct., 17th - East Conference Championships (Hornet's Nest)
Thursday, Oct., 24th - NCSSAA Championships (Hornet's Nest)
Saturday, Nov., 2nd - OFSAA (Sudbury)