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.
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
