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