The Invitational and Open Meets have wrapped up and we are ready to jump into the OFSAA qualifying meets. Several teams have shown some promise this season, but many schools have also been conspicuously absent from the early season meets.
Teams to watch heading into Conference week include both Glebe Senior teams, which look strong, but in very different ways. While the boys likely pack the best 1-2 punch in town, with Strachan and Melinz-Dupuis placing as the top 2 NC individuals at the Capital XC Challenge, the girls will likely prevail through their depth as demonstrated by placing 6 in the top 15 at the same meet.
The Glebe Junior Boys have a similar 1-2 punch with Taler and Heins, but defending Novice Champs Immaculata led by Smith and Padoin-Castillo looked strong at Capital XC winning with a healthy margin, despite not running some of their top dogs, 2021 Bronze Medalist McGregor and Meehan. On the girls side, defending Champs Nepean looked strong in their only showing this fall, winning the Turkey Trot in Kemptville with a solid score, while 2021 Runner Up Canterbury took the Capital XC Junior race with a combination of Novice and Junior runners.
Two teams stand strong in the Novice categories, with Nepean's Novice girls being utterly dominant at the Turkey Trot, placing three in the top 5 to win by a huge margin. Those Novice runners also bested all the Junior competition the following week at the Louis Riel Invite. Likewise, the Colonel By Novice boys also captured the Turkey Trot in convincing fashion, and to one up the Nepean Girls, scored 3 Novice Boys in winning the Open division at the season opening XCookie Run.
The NC has not teams or individual runners at OFSAA XC since 2019, so the athletes will be hungry to earn spots on the starting line at the Dagmar Ski Resort in Uxbridge, ON, the first week of November.
Best of luck to all athletes competing this week and we'll see you on the trails!
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