2017 OFSAA Report

An excellent season of Cross Country has wrapped up.  NC athletes produced some outstanding results, and the weather for every event this fall was excellent - including the OFSAA Championships, at least right up to almost the very end!  Once again the NCSSAA demonstrated it's strength and depth, earning the title of "Toughest Region in Ontario" for Cross Country.  Glebe was not able to capture their sixth consecutive Overall Girls Title, placing second overall in a tight battle with Leaside (Toronto), but were able accumulate enough points to capture the Overall Aggregate.

Midget Girls

The Glebe Midget Girls got the event started on the right foot for the NC Region with a convincing victory.  The Gryphon quartet of Bialowas (19), Gardiner (21), Heffernan-Wilker (32) and Buckle (96) outscored their closest rival, Leaside of Toronto, by 64 points (168-232) to capture gold.  The front running trio stayed tightly bunched and while Heffernan-Wilker struggled a bit over the final 400m, Gardiner moved up from 37th to 21st in the last kilometre as all three finished within 16 seconds of each other.  NC Champ Stevens (Ashbury) ran well and placed 24th overall, putting three NC athletes in the top 25.

NC Teams - 1.  Glebe, 14. Nepean

Midget Boys

Not to be outdone, the Glebe Midget Boys, Pensom (21), Newman (26), Lam (67) and Mason (125) made a solid bid to match their female counterparts, but ran into a tough Uxbridge team who bested them for the gold (183-239).  Porter (Borden) led all NC athletes placing 15th overall, as the NC Region put 4 boys in the top 30 with Allan (Ashbury) finishing 28th.

NC Teams - 2. Glebe, 16. Sir Robert Borden

Junior Girls

The tables were flipped, but a trio of NC athletes put on a dazzling performance in the Junior Girls race.  Betty (Lisgar) was the only one brave enough to try and hang with eventual winner Boston (St. Max Kolbe), but a nasty fall on the final downhill took it's toll and she fell back to 4th place, just missing the podium by 1.5 seconds.  Right behind Betty came Newlove (St. Peter) with NC Champ Pellerin (St. Fx) right on her heels.  Bolduc (Beatrice Desloges) placed 25th putting four NC athletes in the top 25 of the field.

NC Teams - 11. Lisgar, 21. Glebe

Junior Boys

Joe Fast (Ridgemont) joined a select group of multiple OFSAA XC Champions by capturing the individual title for the second year in a row.  Fast played it cool, sticking with a large group of 10 athletes that also included Sanger (Glebe) for the first half of the race, until they made the long trip back along the hills of the Kitchissippi Ridge.  In their isolation, Fast made a move that only Lampard (Crescent) could match, but it was all he could do to keep Fast in sight as Fast ran to a comfortable 12 second victory.  Fast's teammates, Omar Ali (57), Anvari (108), and Luqman (130)  ran well behind him, although they struggled with the cooling temperatures, placing 4th overall.  Sanger hung on to the lead group to finish 8th, while last years silver medallist Meredith (De La Salle) placed 14th giving the NC region three top 15 finishes.

NC Teams - 4. Ridgemont, 34. Louis Riel

Senior Girls

The Glebe Senior Girls put up a brave fight, despite losing their top runner, Weston, who sat out due to injury.  Led by Barrett (24) and Shapansky (31), Glebe rounded out their scoring with Whitford (66) and Macintosh (173) to finish only two points back of 6th, good for 7th place overall, and only 28 points shy of the margin needed to retain their Overall title.

NC Teams - 7. Glebe, 31. All Saints

Senior Boys

NC Champion Alie Lamarche (Gloucester) made a bold move at the mid point of the race as he tried to hang with the lead group.  It proved to be a little more than he could handle once he reached the Ridge, as he struggled a bit over the final kilometre as Fournier (Franco Cite) lead all NC finishers to the line, placing 27th.  Alie Lamarche (30) was also nipped in the stretch by Pedersen (Merivale), who placed 29th.

NC Teams - 15. Glebe, 24. Sir Robert Borden

Full results are available on the Windsor Timing website.

NC Blogger would like to thank all the NC athletes for representing our Region so well.  For analysis on the "toughest region in the province" please see the following thread (Post #29)