2018 OFSAA Report

After losing the title last year to Leaside (Toronto), the Glebe Gryphon Girl's Cross Country Team regained their OFSAA Overall Aggregate in 2018, winning their 6th title in the last seven years.    The battle was very tight with Glebe edging defending Champions Leaside 38-37, with Theriault (Timmins) in third with 36 points.  Glebe picked up points from the Junior Girl's Championship (20), Senior Girl's Bronze (16), and the small, but obviously very important contribution from their Midget Girls, who finished 14th for 2 points.  Leaside picked up 7, 18 and 12 points in the Midget, Junior and Senior Girls races respectively.

The Boys did their best to match the Girls with the Midget Boys 10th (6), Junior Boy's Gold (20) and Senior Boys 6th (10), but came up short, placing second to perennial powerhouse St. Michael's College (Toronto) who won the Boy's Overall Aggregate over the Gryphons 52-36.

Race videos are available on AthleticsCanada.tv.  Videos will be free for a short time, but will remain available On Demand.

Midget Girls

The day started with a bang (literally - a gun started the races) for NC athletes as Glebe's Cara MacDonald was part of a small breakaway pack of four runners that separated themselves quickly from the field in the Midget Girls race.  Heading up the one long, significant climb in the solitude of the forest trails, Aysha Maurice made her break and MacDonald and Abbot (Collingwood) were the only ones to keep her in sight by the top of the hill.  MacDonald and Abbot stayed together until the final 600m stretch where MacDonald slowly widened her gap on Abbott who faded to 6th.  Karina Hageltorn (Paul Desmarais) was 18th at the halfway point, but progressed through the field over the second half to place 10th, while Zoe May (Immaculata) rounded out the NC's top 3, placing 30th.

NC Teams - 14. Glebe (496), 17. Paul Desmarais (548)

Midget Boys

NC athletes continued to find a way to hit the podium in the Midget Boys race as De La Salle's Yannick Meredith put himself in contention right from the gun.  Meredith was the only one to follow McAllister's break and although he was caught by a group in the late stages, used his great finishing speed to hang on to the bronze medal.  Jorian Donovan (South Carleton) 28th and Kyle Porter (Sir Robert Borden) 40th were the 2nd and 3rd NC athletes to follow Meredith to the line.

NC Teams - 10. Glebe (419), 13. South Carleton (463)

Junior Girls

After sweeping the podium at the NC Meet, the Glebe Girls had high expectations for OFSAA and they more than exceeded those in Dundas.  While both Heffernan-Wilker and Bialowas put themselves in top 20 contention from the early stages of the races, Gardiner continued her tradition of being conservative in the early stages, being as far back as 40th just past the mile mark of the race.  With a kilometre to go Heffernan-Wilker was 12th, Bialowas 17th and Gardiner 20th, but that all flipped down the stretch as Gardiner charged through to 11th, while Bialowas and Heffernan-Wilker fought each other to the line with Bialowas edging out her teammate for 14th place.  Behind them, teammate Teagan Stewart did everything she need to do and more, placing 108th to give the Gryphons a comfortable 49 point victory over Leaside, who placed two girls in the top 5, with twins Sophie (3rd) and Chloe (5th) Coutts.

Nepean also flipped their top three with Abbey Brousseau (44th) leading the way for the Knights ahead of teammates Gruson (46th) and Lawson (66th).  Smith rounded out the Knight's squad finishing 118th, giving Nepean 274 points; good for 5th and only 7 points shy of a podium finish.

The NC Junior Girls depth showed in the race as Stevens (Ashbury) was 27th, Wojtyk (Lisgar) 34th, Spencer (South Carleton) 73rd, DaSilva (Mother Teresa) 74th and Semeniuk (St. Pius) 88th, putting 11 girls from the NCSSAA in the top 90.

NC Teams - GOLD Glebe (148), 5. Nepean (274)

Junior Boys

Cross Country is a team sport.  Although runners run for individual glory, it is often those who toil in obscurity deep in the pack who determine the fate of their team score.  The Glebe Boys showed this year that running as a team, working and supporting each other can pay off.  While Glebe did not have an individual upfront they worked very well together as a team.  Allan (Ashbury) continued to lead all NC athletes, as he has done all season placing 19th while Fillion (Louis Riel) was 22nd and NC bronze medalist Porter (Sir Robert Borden) 40th.  Right behind Porter came the Gryphon squad.  The Glebe boys packed all five runners within 11 seconds and 13 places of each other lead by Pensom (46th) and followed by Newman (52), Cino (56), Cole (57) and Mason (59) to tally 211 points and edge out Oakridge (London) with 227 and Guelph Collegiate 237, of which, both teams had an individual in the top 10, but 1:30 and 1:56 gaps back to their final counter.

NC Teams - GOLD Glebe (211), 22. John McCrae (634)

Senior Girls

In a race with a overwhelming favorite, the athletes in the field are often hesitant to take the lead and are conscious of and looking for the favorite to set the pace.  Such was the case in the Senior Girl's race, but Cameron Ormond, who had won OFSAA XC in her first three consecutive years of high school and was fresh off representing Canada at the Youth Olympics, was more than content to sit and wait - and a huge contingent of the field stayed with her.  A large group of close to 20 athletes stayed closely bunched through much of the early going, with NC athletes Pellerin (St. FX), Betty (Lisgar) and Barrett (Glebe) all taking turns up at the front.  It wasn't until just past the mid-point that Ormond displayed her dominance and at that point the field started to spread out quickly.  NC Champ Barrett stayed close, much closer than last year, where she finished just over 2 minutes behind Ormond.  Barrett improved upon her 24th place finish of a year ago to crack the top 10, overtaking a few runners down the stretch to finish 7th, only 40 seconds back of Ormond.  Behind Barrett, Pellerin was 19th and Betty 22nd, putting three NC athletes in the top 25.

Barrett's teammates ran well enough behind her to land themselves on the podium with a third place finish with Shapansky 78th, Macintosh 103 and Moore 105.  Betty's teammates also helped Lisgar to a top 10 finish.

NC Teams - Bronze Glebe (294), 10. Lisgar (467)

Senior Boys

Just like the girls, there was a heavy pre-race favorite in the Senior Boys race.  Evan Burke (London South) also recently represented Canada at the Youth Olympics where he set a Canadian U18 record in the 3000m (8:14.99).  Unlike Ormond however, Burke was not content to wait and set a blistering pace from the beginning, which, unsurprisingly, few were able to stay with for long.  NC Champ Sanger (Glebe) tried to stick with the lead chase pack, but the attempt might have been a little two aggressive as he faded to 22nd over the last 2k while Cox (Colonel By) and Robertson (Bell) were a little more conservative and moved through the field throughout, with Robertson reaching the finish line a couple seconds ahead of Cox for 10th place.

NC Teams - 6. Glebe (371), 23. Ridgemont (564)


Congratulations once again to all our athletes that ran so well at OFSAA and throughout the season and to the coaches who have spent countless hours coaching and preparing so their athletes could enjoy the experience that is High School XC!  See you next year.