National Capital Preview

Midget Girls

Glebe looks to be the strongest heading into the NC Meet.  They have had three different Gryphons lead the way (Bialowas, Heffernan-Wilker and Gardiner) at different times during the season and have great depth  to back up their front running trio.  West Champs Nepean also have a great upfront trio (Lawson, Brosseau, Whitewolf) who went 3-4-5 at West.  Glebe was second at pre-OFSAA and beat West Champs Nepean at the Gryphon Open as well as placing 3 scorers in the top 8 of the Capital XC Challenge Junior Varsity race.  East and West Runner's Up Garneau and Mother Teresa have similar strengths with 3 runners likely to be in the hunt for a top 20 placing, with one each hunting for a top 8, but too large a gap back to #4 to seriously threaten for an OFSAA spot.  Whichever team can get a bigger run from #4 is likely to come out on top.

Individually, there is no clear cut favorite as no one comes into the NC race undefeated this season.  Stevens (Ashbury) was the top NC finisher at the Gryphon Open and the top midget at the XC Challenge, placing 2nd in both races, and had a huge margin of victory (1:30+) at the West Conference Champs.  She was beaten to the line by Heffernan-Wilker and Bialowas (Glebe) on the hills at pre-OFSAA, and both Glebe girls were beat by teammate Gardiner at the Gryphon Open.  West Champ Semeniuk (St. Pius X) nipped Heffernan-Wilker at the XC Challenge and looked in fine form at West. 

NC Blogger's Picks
Teams - 1. Glebe 22, 2. Nepean - 37 3. Mother Teresa - 80
Individuals - 1. Stevens (Ashbury), 2. Bialowas (Glebe), 3. Semeniuk (St. Pius X)

Midget Boys

The Glebe Midget Boys have been undefeated against NC competition all year and have taken down some of the top teams in the province as well.  Glebe started off the season with a win at the Trinity Invite over perennial powerhouses St. Michael's College from Toronto, and Thousand Islands of Brockville and were very close to topping St. Michael's again at the pre-OFSAA meet in Petawawa, despite not having their #1 and #3 runners (Pensom and Lam) in the lineup.  West Champs Borden could pose a threat with the best 1-2 punch in the city in West Champ Porter and Sjolund, but just have too great a gap back to their #4 to seriously challenge for the top spot on the podium. If they can get a big run from Ma, they may be able to punch their ticket to Petawawa.  Conversely, if they are unable to get the big run from Ma West runner up Nepean and John McCrae (3rd at West), along with East runner up Garneau all have legitimate shots at unseating the Bengals.  While the gap between their front runners will be significant, if these teams can get three runners in ahead of Borden's 3rd (Forzley), they could relegate the Bengals from a spot in the O-Show.

Individually, West Champ Porter has looked impressive all season.  He won the Gryphon Open and was the top Midget Boy at the XC Challenge placing fourth.  Pensom (Glebe) has been closest to Porter, only 3 seconds back at the XC Challenge, but was beaten by Sjolund early in the season.  East Champ Clemons has only raced once this fall, but if he can run up to his reputation could challenge for a podium spot.

NC Blogger's Picks
Teams - 1. Glebe 28, 2. Borden 85, 3. Nepean 90
Individuals - 1. Porter (Borden), 2. Sjolund (Borden), 3. Pensom (Glebe)

Junior Girls

Last year South Carleton placed 2nd at NC's but gave up their spot at OFSAA due to a conflict that left them without enough runners to field a team.  This year they took a major step to bolstering their line up by bumping up a strong grade 9 in Spencer.  That move looks to make South the team to beat heading into next weeks NC Championships as they turned the tables on last year's Midget Girls Champs Nepean at West (40-53).  With All Saints not far behind (55 at West) and a duo of competent East teams in Lisgar and Beatrice Desloges, the Junior Girls race looks to be the tight for the second OFSAA spot.  Expect Nepean to up their game at Green's Creek, as Chadwick was a little further back than she expected to be at West after placing 4th at the Gryphon Open and being the 2nd Junior at the XC Challenge, less than a minute back of Pellerin (St. FX).  All three of these teams have a low stick upfront Betty (Lisgar), Reid (All Saints), Bolduc (Beatrice Desloges), but the secret to their success really lies in their third and fourth.  There are awfully big gaps in the time differentials, which can mean some big tallies if the back end has an off day.  For this reason, the nod goes to Nepean, who seems to have the most consistent top 4 (unfortunately, they only have 4, so they better all have a good day)!

Individually there are four girls who are head and shoulders ahead of the field. Pellerin and Reid put themselves over a minute and a half ahead of the West field, while Newlove (St. Peter) and Betty managed more than two minutes on their closest competitor in the East.  Newlove is the only one undefeated this season against NC competition, while West Champ Pellerin has been the busiest (1st - Cookie Run, XC Challenge, Turkey Trot and Pirates Invite, 2nd - Grpyhon Open, 3rd - Trinity Invite and 4th - pre-OFSAA).

NC Blogger's Picks
Team - 1. South Carleton 66, 2. Nepean 84, Lisgar 88
Individuals - 1. Newlove (St. Peter), 2. Betty (Lisgar), 3. Pellerin (St. FX)

Junior Boys

Ridgemont had the most dominant showing at the Conference Meets, putting up a paltry 15 points behind defending OFSAA champ Joe Fast.  Behind Fast, Omar Ali, Luqman and Anvari kept a respectable gap and will certainly be the team to beat next week.  Louis Riel put in a mighty impressive showing with two athletes on each side of Anvari at East and look to have a stronghold on the second qualifying spot.  Only Paul Desmarais has a chance of unseating Riel, but it's a big ask as their front duo of Da Costa and Jetten, may find themselves battling Louis' 3rd and 4th , Ducharme and Pollock.  They will all need to step up and knock off a few Rebelles if they hope to pull it off.

Individually, it's Fast, Sanger (Glebe) and Meredith (De La Salle).  Fast and Meredith were 1-2 at OFSAA XC last year.  Between the three of them, they own six OFSAA XC and Track medals.  Fast won XC and the 1500, placing 2nd in the 800.  Meredith was second in XC and 3rd in the 800, while Sanger picked up bronze in the 3000.  Sanger has upped his game this year and became the only NC athlete to ever best Fast (Trinity Invite), but Fast has returned the favor many times since.

NC Blogger's Picks
Teams - 1. Ridgemont 38, 2. Louis Riel 55, Paul Desmarais 82
Individuals - 1. Fast (Ridgemont), 2. Sanger (Glebe), 3. Meredith (De La Salle)


Senior Girls

The Glebe Senior Girls will take a crack at being perfect at the NC Meet.  Glebe boasts the top three runners in the NCSSAA with Weston, Barrett and Shapansky, while their fourth Whitford outkicked West Champ Gaunt (Merivale) and Soroczan-Wright (Colonel By) at pre-OFSAA.  Roy (Louis Riel) turned the tables on Soroczan-Wright at East, after being beaten by her at the XC Challenge the previous week, and all three of them should be crowded around Whitford.  West Champs All Saints could battle it out with Canterbury for the second qualifying spot.  Canterbury looked to be the stronger of the two teams, but suffered a blow when their top runner, Wong, went down within site of the finish line at the East Meet.  Without her the nod goes to All Saints, but the Chargers will try and make it close.

Weston is the heavy favorite, having won the Trinity Invite and placing second at pre-OFSAA.  She has not had any NC competitors within a minute of her all season (the exception being East, where due to a lockdown, she arrived on site after the SG race had started and began her race over 15 minutes behind her competitors).  Barrett and Shapansky have been her closest pursuers with Barrett second at Trinity, then Barrett 6th / Shapansky 7th at pre-OFSAA, and then they went 1-2 at the XC Challenge, 30 seconds ahead of Soroczan-Wright and a minute up on East Champ Roy. 

Teams - 1. Glebe 10, 2. All Saints 75, 3. Canterbury 88
Individuals - 1. Weston (Glebe), 2. Barrett (Glebe), 3. Shapansky (Glebe)

Senior Boys

Best for last, as the most exciting team competition of the day will come in the Senior Boys race which will be a three-way battle for the two spots to OFSAA.  At last weeks XC Challenge, only 2 points separated Glebe (49), Sir Robert Borden (49) and Nepean (51).  By the end of the race, the gap had widened only slightly with Glebe (48) coming out on top over Nepean (55) and Borden (60).  Borden got Nepean back at West, edging them 38-39 for the team title.  Each team boasts different strengths.

While Glebe has no top individual contenders they will pack very tightly, with likely less than a 30-40 second spread between #1-#4 (which can change on any given day between Perrault, Black, Pensom, and Cunningham).  Borden will counter with West Champ Zanetti but then consistent but sizeable gaps back to 2-3 (Pegrum and Price), then another large gap to their #4 (Poole).  Finally Nepean will post a small gap between front runner Morgan and Thebaud, then a fairly large gap to a tighter packed 3-4 Nicole and Linehan.  Expect to see both Borden and Nepean with two runners in ahead of Glebe's 1st, but then four Gryphons before another Bengal or Knight crosses the line.  The key is, how many bodies get in between Glebe's 4th and Borden and Nepean's 3rd.

Individually there are lots of things that can happen up front.  Zanetti bested Alie-Lamarche (Gloucester) at the Gryphon Open, but Alie-Lamarche got the better of him on the hilly pre-OFSAA course.  Steele (West Carleton) has lurked at the edge of the podium in most of his races this fall, but was a little further back at West.  Fournier (Franco Cite) has had a few up and down races, running brilliantly at East, patiently biding his time before moving through the field.  He was the second NC runner at the pre-OFSAA race, edging out Zanetti along the Kitchissippi Ridge.  Rioux (Louis Riel), Cox (Colonel By), Morgan (Nepean) and Pedersen (Merivale) all have top 5 potential on any give day.  Better bring your A game next week boys.  With only one of these boys (possibly two) likely to qualify on a team we can expect an epic battle for the remaining OFSAA spots.

NC Blogger's Pick
Teams - 1. Glebe 63, 2. Sir Robert Borden 64, 3. Nepean 70
Individuals - 1. Zanetti (Borden), 2. Alie-Lamarche (Gloucester), 3. Fournier (Franco Cite)

Results from all season meets, along with information about the NC Championships, can be found on the Glebe XC Page.  NC Blogger would like to wish good luck to all competitors this coming week and we look forward to cheering you on next week!