2015 OFSAA Report

Glebe Collegiate won their 4th Consecutive Girls Aggregate capturing the Senior Girls race for the 2nd year in a row, and claiming bronze in the Midget Girls race and Antique Bronze (4th) in the Junior Girls race at the 2015 OFSAA Cross Country Championship in Duntroon.

National Capital athletes had some very strong performances on a very tough, hilly, muddy and at times treacherous course.

The Glebe Midget Girls started the day off on a good note.  Lead by Teagan Shapansky's 8th place finish, the Gryphons scored 287 points to edge East Northumberland by 5 points in a tight batle for the bronze medal that saw third through 6th separated by only 21 points.  Shapansky was followed by teammates Rosayln Barrett (34th), Sarah MacIntosh (61st) and Taya Davison (184th).

Glebe's Midget Boys tried to equal the performance of the girls and came very close, finishing in a tie for 5th, but winning on the tiebreaker (higher 4th place finisher).  National Capital Champion Brady Johnston-Neilson (Sir Robert Borden) ran a strong race to capture antique bronze, while Jack Pensom led the Gryphons with a 5th place finish and was followed by Henry Morris (53rd), Tom Lane (100) and Aidan Westdal (101).

In the Junior Girls race, Glebe's Mei Mei Weston found herself getting dropped early by heavy favorite Jocelyn Chau (Toronto - De La Salle) who, up the first two major climbs gave herself a very comfortable 25 second lead.  Weston kept tracking her and started gaining quickly on the final downhill section of the course.
A scary fall for Weston might have been the end of her comeback attempt, but she bounced up quickly and continued her pursuit, and when Chau had a fall of her own Weston pounced.  Chau took considerably longer to get back up and moving and it wasn't long afterward that Weston went charging by and ran unchallenged over the last few hundred metres to the finish line.  Weston's teammates Mzia Lee Pottie (87), Suzannah Barrett (89) and Lauren Mouser (126) secured yet another podium finish for the Gryphon Girls.

Philippe Turcanu (Bell) put his poor race at the NC meet behind him in a big way.  Turcanu, ran brilliantly up and down the hills of Highlands Nordic to capture antique bronze, finishing 20 seconds ahead of National Capital Champion Jonathan Rioux (Louis Riel) who placed 8th.  Sir Robert Borden managed to crack the top 10, placing 10th overall lead by Devon Pegrum (54th) with teammates Jared Poole (78), Lucas Zanetti (105) and Jacob Price (184) rounding out the scoring for the Bengals.

The Glebe Senior Girls have been dominant over the past two seasons and were one of a few of the favorites that performed as expected on the unpredictable terrain.  Glebe packed all four scorers inside the top 40.  Glebe had a tight pack upfront in Katherine Marshall (10th), Ali Pouw (11th) and Keili Shepherd (16th) who all finished within 25 seconds of each other, with Cassidy Grimes (40th) less than a minute back.
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A bad fall unfortunately put an end to Shona McCulloch's undefeated streak as she was unable to finish the race.  McCulloch ran side by side with Champion Maddie Ghazarian for most of the race until about 1K to go when McCulloch started to encounter some difficulties, eventually collapsing with about 600m to go. All NC athletes and coaches wish her a speedy recovery and hope to see her tearing up XC courses again soon.

Franco Ouest ensured that the NC Region put a team in the top 10 in every single race as they finished 8th in a very deep, competitive Senior Boys field, extracting a measure of revenge for their loss to Glebe at the NC Championships.  Nicholas Roberts (30), Michael Mather (83), Noah Bouma (131) and Justin Bullock (191) tallied for the Vikings.

Hamam Quider (Woodroffe) was the lone NC competitor in the Para race, placing 10th overall.

NC Blogger would like to once again thank everyone for a great season and congratulate all teams on their success.  Full results can be found on www.trackdatabase.com    

National Capital Championships

Glebe Collegiate captured the Girls, Boys and Overall Aggregates at the 2015 NCSSAA Cross Country Running Championships on a beautiful fall day at Green's Creek.  Glebe harriers swept the Girl's team races and won the Midget Boys and Senior Boys titles as well.  The NCSSAA became the first association in Ontario to offer equal distances for both boys and girls this fall, setting a precedent they hope to see spread across the province.

Cross Country is an individual sport with a huge team component, and it's not always the top runner that determines the success of the team, but the third and fourth runners that do not run for personal glory!  Third and fourth runners figured large in a few races at the Championships this year.  Although there were few surprises in who advanced, there was a little drama that played out on the trails of the Hornet's Nest.

Midget Girls

Teagan Shapansky (Glebe) shot to the front, and although the gap did not get as big as it has for her in some races this season, Shapansky looked comfortable and in control the entire way.  Valentine (Woodroffe) who ran with Shapansky at West until the mid point before falling back to fourth, hung on much longer this time, never allowing Shapansky out of her sight and claimed the silver with a comfortable margin over Swyer (John McCrae) who earned the bronze.  Barrett (Glebe), second at the West last week, found herself well back earlier in the race, but stayed calm, didn't panic and worked her way through the field to finish fourth.  Her teammates Macintosh and Burger placed 16th and 17th respectively to give Glebe the team title over West runner up All Saints.  MacAskill (Earl of March), Galbraith (Franco Ouest) and Touliopoulos (Sir Robert Borden) earned the final individual qualifying spots for OFSAA.

Midget Boys

Brady Johnston Nielson (Sir Robert Borden) took a little while to work through the pretenders who took off from the line for their brief moment of fame at the front of the Midget Boy's field.  By the time they navigated themselves down the and up the steep hills across Green's Creek however, Johnston Nielson had worked his way to the front and kept pushing on from there.  Only Pensom (Glebe) was able to stay remotely close, but in the end, Johnston Nielson ran to a comfortable 27 second victory.  Jones and Cox (Colonel By) did the most they could to help their Cougar teammates punch their ticket to Duntroon, placing third and fourth, but it was Glebe's tight pack of four that finished within 5 places and 17 seconds of each other (Lane, Morris, Westdal and Conboy) that carried the day for the Gryphons as they ran to a sizeable 35-64 victory over the Cougars.  Shimizu (Merivale), Gould (Merivale), Martin (Lisgar) and Toukalen (John McCrae) finished 5th through 8th to nab the final qualifying spots.

Junior Girls

"The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet!" (Damon Runyan).  The smart money on the Junior Girls race was on Glebe's Mei Mei Weston, and she did not disappoint!  (**NC Blogger does NOT condone betting on High School Sport**).  Weston played it cool for the first half of the race, running along side Rossi (Gisele Lalonde) until they arrived at the "HILL."  Weston surged over the top quickly opening up a gap that she continued to widen as she ran to the largest margin of victory of the day (1:03).  East Champ Rossi unfortunately encountered some difficulties before collapsing late in the race (we wish her a speedy recovery) and did not finish.  Lea (Carine Wilson) was able to turn the tables on Soroczan-Wright (Colonel By) from a week ago and beat her to the line for the silver.  Gibson (West Carleton) and the Bell duo of Sheridan and Banks rounded out the individual qualifiers for OFSAA next week.  Glebe got strong runs behind Weston from Barrett, Lee Pottie and Mouser to reverse their fortunes and steal the title from West Conference Champs Nepean (42-54), who were lead by Witherspoon's 8th place finish.

Junior Boys

Turcanu (Bell) bolted to the front and strung out the Junior Boys field rather quickly as he tried to run away from the field.  East Champ Jonathan Rioux was patient, trailing Turcanu early by about 40m, but had caught him as they headed down to the base of the toboggan hill.  Rioux looked strong, powered up and over the top of the hill and quickly began to distance himself from Turcanu.  He ran unchallenged over the final 3K to an 18 second victory.  Turcanu struggled over the final K and was caught by a charging Nico Pedersen (Merviale).  Zanetti (Sir Robert Borden) nipped Finn (Beatrice Desloges) and lead his teammates to close 4 point victory over last years defending champs Ashbury (55-59).  Holton (Lisgar) secured his spot on the OFSAA starting line with a 6th place finish.  Graham led the Colts with an 8th place finish, but the real race was going on behind as the Bengals and the Colts placed 6 runners within 8 spots(14th - 21st) in the battle for the team title.

Senior Girls

The Glebe Senior Girls are defending OFSAA Champions and their upfront talent and depth showed in the Senior Girls race.  The Gryphons top three finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th behind defending OFSAA Champ Shona McCulloch (Longfields-Davidson).  McCulloch, hampered by a stitch over the final half of the race, had built up a sizeable lead by the mid-point, and although the trio of Gryphons (Marshall, Shepherd and Pouw) closed the gap over the second half, the outcome was never in doubt.  In only her second race of the fall, Marshall led the Gryphon squad who packed 6 runners in the top 11 places, with only 21 seconds separating the front three. Behind this trio, Dickson (Earl of March), Scotten (Sir Wilfrid Laurier) and Gibson (Merivale) took the next three spots ahead of Gryphons Grimes and Larkin.  Gaudet (Nepean) finished 10th as the 5th individual qualifier.  Canterbury may not have had a anyone up front, but the team running tactics paid off for the Chargers as they claimed the second qualifying team spot with Leckie (13th), Dolin (14th), Wilson (16th) and Wong (24th).

Senior Boys

Nicholas Roberts and Mather did everything they could to help Franco Ouest repeat their West Conference defeat of Glebe in the Senior Boys race.  Working side by side, they pushed hard as the lead pack moved through the 2K mark and started to distance themselves from the field.  Only Alie-Lamarche (Gloucester) was able to keep in touch over the next few kilometres. Glebe's Dillabaugh and Harris hung on to the back of the chase pack before Dillabaugh made a break just past the 4K mark.  In the final K, Mather started to fall off and Roberts surged home to victory.  Alie-Lamarche went past Mather and ran comfortably to second place, while Dillabaugh caught Mather as well coming out of the woods with only 400m to go.  Mather hung on and was able to use a strong finishing kick to get back past Dillabaugh for the bronze. Carine Wilson's Thomas Saville finished 5th while Harris (Glebe) came home in 6th.  Unfortunately for Roberts and Mather their gap on the lead two Grpyhons wasn't enough as Glebe's back end (Perrault and Grall-Johnson) was able to get far enough ahead of Vikings Splinter and Bouma to steal the race from the favoured Vikings 43-45.  Robilard (Louis Riel), Abanto-Enns (Lisgar) and Nshiyimana (Rideau) punched their ticket to the big show finishing 7th - 9th.

NC Blogger would like to thank Sebastien Lalonde and his crew for hosting the 2015 Championships, as well as all the harriers and coaches for a great XC season.  Best of luck to all our teams as they represent our region at the OFSAA Championships, Nov 7th at Highlands Nordic in Duntroon.

Full results are available on the Louis Riel NC Championships Page or the Glebe XC Page

NC Preview

With the Conference Meets completed, it's now time for the annual National Capital Championship Preview.  Next Thursday, harriers from across the city will descend on Green's Creek, vying for a birth at OFSAA and looking for bragging rights as the 2015 National Capital Champions.  This year two teams and the top 5 individual runners not on a qualifying team will be able to represent the NC Region on the trails of Highland Nordic in Duntroon.

Glebe Collegiate will look to defend it's Girls, Boys and Overall titles again this year at Green's Creek.  With three teams as heavy favorites and two more with strong holds on second, Glebe looks to have the depth to pull it off again.

Midget Girls

The Glebe Midget Girls have had a strong season winning the Trinity Invite and were the top NC school at the Louis Riel Invitational.  Shapansky and Barrett also contributed to Glebe's 2nd place finish in the AA Varsity race at the McQuaid Invitational in Rochester, NY.  The Gryphon's have a great 1 - 2 punch that could take the top two spots and the depth to back it up.  Second place may be a tight battle.  East Champs Lisgar, who got a very strong run from Leighten, placed all 4 scorers in the top 10.  All Saints who were runner up to Glebe in the West also placed third at the Turkey Trot in Kemptville without their top 4.  In Kemptville All Saints got three scoring runners in before East Champ Downey (Osgoode), so they appear to have the depth to challenge for the second OFSAA qualifying spot.

Individually, Shapansky looks strong enough to hold off all challengers, winning twice at Green's Creek this fall (Cookie Run and Louis Invite) and hoping for a third.  Her teammate Barrett and Swyer (John McCrae) will likely follow in behind, although Galbraith (Franco Ouest) may also challenge for a podium spot.

NC Blogger's Pick:
Teams - 1. Glebe 41, 2. All Saints 77,  3. Lisgar 92
Individuals - 1. Shapansky (Glebe), 2. Barrett (Glebe), 3. Swyer (John McCrae)

Midget Boys

Glebe's Midget Boys are near perfect so far this season placing 2nd to St. Mike's in Port Hope, and winning the Gryphon Open, the Louis Riel Invite and the West Meet.  Their only loss against NC competition came to the Louis Riel Senior Boys at the Cookie Run to begin the season.  Pensom lead the Gryphons with a second place finish at the Cookie Run and with a win down in Port Hope, but has not raced since, just completing the Conference Meet to be eligible for NC's.  He will add to an already strong and deep team that placed 5 runners in the top 14 in the West and have a tight pack of three runners (Lane, Morris and Westdal) that have been very consistent.  East Champs Colonel By have a great front running duo in Jones and Cox with another trio (Monteith-Pistor, Bhindi and Wang) about 90 seconds behind that should be enough to secure second.  The final podium spot will be a battle between East runner up Lisgar, Holy Trinity and Bell, the latter two tied for 2nd at the West, with Trinity getting the nod due to the higher 4th place scorer.

Individually, Johnston Nielson (Borden) has looked very strong the past couple of weeks, winning the West by over a minute.  Pensom should be able to keep it close as the gap between them and their closest pursuers has been very similar, although over different courses.  Jones and Cox will battle with a tight group of three from the West - Shimizu (Merivale), Rogerson (Holy Trinity) and Gould (Merivale) for the bronze medal.

NC Blogger's Pick:
Teams - 1. Glebe 40, 2. Colonel By 60, 3. Lisgar 85
Individuals - 1. Johnston Nielson (SRB), 2. Pensom (Glebe), 3. Jones (Colonel By)

Junior Girls

Last year's OFSAA Silver medalists have a very different look this year.  Glebe lost several key members of last year's team and that set the stage for Nepean's depth to carry them to victory over the Gryphons at the West Meet, behind Witherspoon's 4th place finish.  Nepean's 2 through 5 have been consistently one minute (or less) apart all season, giving them an advantage over Glebe's large gap between Weston and her teammates.  It's unlikely that any other team has a chance to earn seats on the bus ahead of these two teams.  Bell will hope their two top girls (Sheridan and Banks) can keep their front end score as low as possible to help them hold off challenges from east Champs Carine Wilson and a very close runner up Beatrice Desloges.

Weston (Glebe) is certainly the class of the field.  Last year's OFSAA bronze medalist placed 2nd to McCulloch (Longfields) by a mere 12 seconds to kick the season off, then followed that up with a 2nd place finish in Rochester, NY, before coming back to Ottawa to win the Louis Invite and the West meet by huge margins.  Rossi (Gisele Lalonde) has been strong and consistent this season, winning the Gryphon Open and the East Champs and placing second to Weston at the Louis Riel Invite.  The battle for third will be tight with Soroczan-Wright (Colonel By), Lea (Carine Wilson) and Gibson (West Carleton) all having legitimate shots at claiming the bronze.

NC Blogger's Pick:
Team - 1. Nepean 53, 2. Glebe 58, 3. Bell 115
Individual - 1. Weston (Glebe), 2. Rossi (Gisele Lalonde), 3. Soroczan-Wright (Colonel By)

Junior Boys

Coach d'Arras managed to find his Bengal team another Junior runner and it's made quite the impact.  Borden only fielded three Midget's that would have otherwise challenged for a top 2 spot at NC's last year.  This year, with the addition of Price, Bengals Zanetti, Pegrum and Poole look to be a team that can hold off all challengers for the NC title.  Defending Champs Ashbury just might have something to say about that.  Although Borden defeated Ashbury (26-32) at the Louis Riel Invite, Midget Johnston Nielson ran up at that meet.  It certainly caught Ashbury by surprise, as Coach Holman was heard to exclaim, "Where did these guys come from!" but without Johnston Nielson in the race, the Colts would have outpaced the Bengals 28-31.  Nepean finds themselves on the outside looking in, but have yet to have their top runner from last year (Walsh) run hard this year.

Louis' Rioux has been strong all season, often racing up with the Senior Boys to find some good competition.  His 45 second victory at the East (and over a minute up on his nearest Junior competitor at the Louis Invite) make him the favorite, although Turcanu (Bell) has yet to be challenged this year.  The battle for bronze should be interesting with Steele (West Carleton), Zanetti (Borden), Pederson (Merivale), Finn (Beatrice Desloges), Holton (Lisgar), Giddings (Franco Ouest) and Fournier (Franco Cite) all having legitimate chances at claiming bronze, as all have taken turns beating one another at some point during the season.

NC Blogger's Pick:
Team - 1. Ashbury 53, 2. Sir Robert Borden 55, 3. Nepean 80
Individual - 1. Rioux (Louis Riel), 2. Turcanu (Bell), 3. Steele (West Carleton)

Senior Girls

Defending OFSAA Champions Glebe lost 3 of their top 4 scorers from last year's team, but got ample replacements from last year's OFSAA Silver medalist Junior squad.  The Gryphons need to take care of business here in the NC though before looking ahead at defending their provincial title.  The Gryphons packed 8 runners in the top 15 at West and are heavy favorites to win this coming Thursday.  Led by Shepherd's 2nd place finish at the West, Gryphon runners placed 4th through 6th as well with Marshall (8th as a SG at OFSAA last year), Pouw and Grimes.  East Champs Canterbury have had great success not only here in the NC, but at OFSAA as well, placing 3rd and 4th the past two seasons and know how to prepare for the big races.  Earl of March has the better front end (Dickson and Egli), but will need a big run from their 3 and 4 (MacAskill and Smith) in order to unseat the Chargers packed who all scoring runners within 1:15 of each other at the East.

McCulloch (Longfields-Davidson) has been, once again this season, unstoppable.  She won the Trinity Invitational and set a course record at McQuaid in Rochester, NY, before winning the West by almost one minute.  Behind McCulloch an interesting battle could ensue between Gryphon teammates Shepherd and Marshall.  Shepherd beat Marshall quite handily at the West, but it was Marshall's first race of the fall.  The saavy veteran has a history of racing well when it counts placing 11th, 6th and 8th in three trips to OFSAA.  Dickson and East Champ Scotten may try to disrupt the the duo of Gryphons as they all follow in McCulloch's wake.

NC Blogger's Pick:
Team - 1. Glebe 20, 2. Canterbury 60, 3. Earl of March 65
Individual - 1. McCulloch (Longfields-Davidson), 2. Marshall (Glebe), 3. Shepherd (Glebe)

Senior Boys

Last year Glebe and Franco Ouest runners accounted for 10 of the top 19 spots at the NC Championships in the Junior Boys race.  They continued the battle at the Senior level this year taking 11 of the top 14 spots in the West.  This year however, Franco got the best of the Gryphons and every Gryphon scorer was beaten to the line by his corresponding Viking, for a narrow 5 point win.  The larger field at NC's may help the Vikings even more if West Champ Roberts can get a few insurance placers between himself and Dillabaugh.  Harris has to find his medal form from 2014 and Perreault has to find another gear to catch Bouma if the Gryphons are to turn the tables.  Last year's Junior silver medalist Mather could also help pad the gap with a strong race at Green's Creek.   There is no other team with the up front strength, but more importantly the depth to seriously challenge these two, but Robillard (Louis Riel) will try to score low and rally his Rebelle teammates to challenge for a podium spot.

The loss of McCann (Franco Cite) has really opened up the Senior Boys race this season.  East Champ Alie-Lamarche (Gloucester) and West Champ Roberts (Franco Ouest) have to be the favorites heading in, but things get very muddy after that.  Alie-Lamarche was beaten by TISS's Rafuse to win the Louis Invite, but Robillard (Louis Riel) had beaten Rafuse quite handily the previous week in Brockville at the Pirates Invite.  Only Roberts remains undefeated and therefore gets the nod.  Dillabaugh (Glebe) the top returning Senior from last year's championships, Saville (Carine Wilson), Abanto-Enns (Lisgar), Harris (Glebe) and Mather (Franco Ouest) have all taken turns beating up on each other this fall.  Harris beat all NC runners (including West and East runner's up Dillabaugh and Abanto-Enns) at the Trinity Invite, while Saville (3rd at the East) beat both Gryphons at the Louis Riel Invite with a strong finishing kick.  Look for a tight pack for almost the entire duration of the Senior Boys race, as it will likely be less than 30 seconds that will separate the top 10 boys in this year's race.

NC Blogger's Pick:
Team -  1. Franco Ouest 39, 2. Glebe 44, 3. Louis Riel  70
Individual - 1. Roberts (Franco Ouest), 2. Alie-Lamarche (Gloucester), 3. Abanto-Enns (Lisgar)

Best of luck to all athletes as they prepare for the NC Championships!

East Conference Championships

Colonel By won the Overall Aggregate at the 2015 East Conference Championships capturing the Girls Aggregate as well, while Lisgar captured the Boys Aggregate.  No school was able to win more than one race as Lisgar, Carine Wilson and Canterbury took the midget, junior and senior Girls titles, while Colonel By, Ashbury and Louis Riel capture their respective boys races.

Downey (Osgoode), Rossi (Gisele Lalonde), and Scotten (Sir Wil) captured the Girls individual titles, while Jones (Colonel By), Rioux (Louis Riel) and Alie-Lamarche (Gloucester) won the boys individual honours.

Full results are available on the Louis Riel NC Championships Page.

West Conference Championships

It's nice to go out on top!  Glebe Collegiate defended their West Conference Cross Country Title for the final time,  having won 5 Conference Titles in a row, and 11 in the last 12 years.   Glebe will be moving to the East Conference next year to even out the size of each Conference.  The Gryphons won the Midget Girls, Midget Boys and Senior Girls team titles and placed 2nd in the Junior Girls and Senior Boys.  Nepean won the Junior Girls title, Sir Robert Borden the Junior Boys and Franco Ouest took the Senior Boys title, in a very tight, exciting battle with Glebe that saw Viking and Gryphon runners account for 11 of the top 14 places, including 1st through 6th, in the race.  Teagan Shapanksy (Glebe), Mei Mei Weston (Glebe), Shona McCulloch (Longfields), Brady Johnston Nielson (Borden), Phil Turcanu (Bell) and Nicholas Roberts (Franco Ouest) took individual honours in each race.

Full results can be found on the Glebe XC page.

Louis Riel Invite and Turkey Trot

National Capital runners were busy at the Hornet's Nest, site of the 2015 Championships, and down in Kemptville for St. Michael's annual Turkey Trot.  Unfortunately this year, no NC runners were able to win dinner, with Hollyann Shields (All Saints) and Nico Pederson (Merivale) coming the closest, placing 2nd and 3rd in the Midget Girls and Junior Boys races.

Glebe Collegiate had strong performances to win the Overall Title at the Louis Riel Invitational, winning the Junior Girls, Senior Girls, Midget Boys and Senior Boys titles and placing 2nd in the Midget Girls to Thousand Islands.

Results are available on the Glebe XC page.

McCulloch wins McQuaid

Shona McCulloch (Longfields-Davidson) won the Varsity Girls AAA race at the McQuaid Invitational in Rochester on Saturday.  McCulloch pulled slightly ahead of Abbey Wheeler (Elmira, NY) with 200m to go and maintained the gap all the way down the final stretch to hold on to a four-tenths of a second victory.

Photos Courtesy of Colin Harris

A large lead pack pushed through the first mile in 5:35, but that pack had been whittled down to 3 by the 2 mile mark.  Wheeler and McCulloch started to pull away with 800m to go, trading leads as they pushed each other over the final stretch.  McCulloch covered the final mile in 5:20 to win the 3 mile race in 16:35.7, lowering the previous course record by just under 8 seconds.

In the AA Varsity Girls race the Glebe Gryphons placed 2nd overall, lead by Mei Mei Weston's 2nd place finish, with teammate Keili Shepherd placing 6th.

Full results are available on the McQuaid Wesbite

Pirates Invitational

Louis Riel captured the Senior Boys race at the Pirates Invitational, hosted by Thousand Islands Secondary in Brockville on Friday.  The Rebelles had all 4 scorers in the top 14 lead by Junior Jonathan Rioux in 4th place followed closely by Felix Robillard in 6th.  Moricz (12th) and Adeya (14th) rounded out the scoring for the Rebelles (36 points) who almost doubled up on runner-up host Thousand Islands (67).  The Rebelles will now get prepared to host the NC on their home course at the Hornet's Nest this coming Thursday, Oct 8th - the final meet prior to Conference week and the first chance for athletes to test themselves on this year's NC Championship course.

Results are available on the Pirates website.

Gryphon Open

The Nepean Knights won the 2015 edition of the Gryphon Open at Mooney's Bay Park on a cool, windy afternoon.  The Knights captured the Midget Girls, Junior Girls and Junior Boys races, placing 4th in the Midget Boys and 6th in the Senior Girls to claim the title from the host Gryphons.  The Gryphons won the Midget Boys and both the Senior Girls and Senior Boys races.

Franco Ouest turned in an impressive 1-2-3 finish in the Senior Boys race (Roberts, Bouma, Splinter), but were without a fourth scoring runner.

Results can be found on the Glebe XC page.

Limestone Invitational

The John McCrae Bulldogs were the lone NC school to compete at the 2015 Limestone Invitational in Kingston. Bulldog runners ran well taking second place in the Junior Girls team competition and their boys followed suit, placing second in the Junior Boys, lead by Will Driscoll's silver medal finish.

Results

Trinity Invitational

The Glebe Gryphons kicked off their season on a winning note, defending their Trinity Invitational title – capturing the cutest Trophy in all of sport.  The defending OFSAA Champions captured both the Midget Girls and Senior Girls races, while their boys placed 2^nd in Midget Boys and Senior Boys.

Shona McCulloch (Longfields-Davidson) kept her perfect High School record alive, opening with a comfortable (12 second) victory over last year’s Midgets Girls bronze medalist Mei Mei Weston (Glebe) who lead a strong group of Gryphons that placed 5 runners in the top 11.  McCulloch went to the front early and ran mostly unchallenged over the new, lengthened Trinity College course that hopes to host the OFSAA Championships in 2016.  Glebe’s depth was apparent in the results as Glebe’s 5^th – 8^th runners captured 3^rd place in the race – which uses multiple, dynamic team scoring.

Jack Pensom (Glebe) was the class of the Midget Boys field, running comfortably with a large pack through the first 3K.  Attrition slowly took its toll on the lead group and Pensom found himself hounded by only a single St. Michael’s runner by the base of Mount Trinity.  Pensom slowly pulled away up the hill and onto the flats and was able to hold off a late charge to seal the win.

Last years NC Midget Boys Champions, Ashbury, ran a solid team race to claim second place in the Junior Boys race.

Full results are available on the Trinity XC page.

Conference Entry Procedures

Entry packages are now available for the East and West Conference XC Championships.

Entry files (.xls) can be found on both the Louis Riel XC site and the Glebe XC page.

Registration is as easy as 1 - 2 - 3.
1. Download the excel file.
2.  Fill out the "yellow" fields on the excel file (School, athletes names, DoB)
3.  Save the file using your school name (eg. 15ncssaaxc - glebe) and send the East entries to Seb Lalonde, the West entries to Kirk Dillabaugh.

Cookie Run

Louis Riel kicked off the Cross Country season on Thursday hosting the Cookie Run at the Hornet's Nest.  The Rebelles proved tough to beat on their home course taking overall meet honours - winning both the Intermediate and High School Boys races.

Midget runners ruled the High School girl's race taking 3 of the top 5 spots including finishing 1 - 2 with Shapansky (Glebe) leading Galbraith (Franco Ouest) to the line.

Results

Welcome to 2015!

Welcome to the 2015 Cross Country season.  Please note for the next two years the NCSSAA will be piloting new XC distances.  All Midgets will run 4K, Juniors 5K and Seniors 6K.

This year OFSAA will be hosted at the Duntroon Highlands Nordic Ski Club.  Information about the meet can be found on the OFSAA Cross Country Site.

Please check the Glebe XC Page for more information and meet results, or click on the meet name below for a direct link to the meet website - if available.

XCookie Run - Thurs., Sep 17th - Hornet's Nest
Trinity Invitational - Wed., Sep. 23rd - Port Hope ON
Pre-EOSSAA (Limestone Invitational) - Thurs., Sep 24th - Fort Henry, Kingston, ON
Gryphon Open - Wed,, Sep. 30th - Mooney's Bay
Pirates Invitational - Fri., Oct 2nd - Memorial Park, Brockville, ON
McQuiad Invitational - Sat., Oct 3rd - Rochester, NY
Louis Riel Invitational - Thurs., Oct 8th - Hornet's Nest
Turkey Trot - Thurs., Oct 8th - Kemptville, ON
West Conference XC - Wed., Oct 14th - Mooney's Bay
East Conference XC - Thurs., Oct 15th - Hornet's Nest
Pre-OFSAA (Sinclair Highlands Invitational) - Fri., Oct 16th - Duntroon, ON
National Capital XC - Thurs., Oct 22nd - Hornet's Nest
OFSAA XC - Sat., Nov 7th - Duntroon, ON