The 2023 OFSAA XC Championships were held on a beautiful fall day at Centennial Park in Etobicoke, ON. Although the morning began with rain, by the time the gun sounded to start the Novice Girl's race the weather began to co-operate and some very fast conditions were available for all the races. National Capital runners had some outstanding performances throughout the day and earned the honour of being the 3rd toughest region of the 18 associations from across Ontario. The day culminated for the NC Region with a Senior Boys Team Title for the Glebe Gryphons.
For starters, a big shoutout to Noah Lamoureux, who became the first NC athlete to participate in the OFSAA Para race in the Intellectual division. Noah, guided by South Carleton Coach Carolyn Connell, placed 20th overall and 16th in the ID category.
NC Novice Girls Champ Laila Lebel (Colonel By) once again led all NC athletes placing 12th in the Novice Girls race. Behind Lebel, Riley Daniels (The Element) had an exceptional race, overtaking NC silver medalist Dahlia Loreti down the stretch. Colonel By used Lebel's low score to turn the tables on the NC Champion Nepean Knights, who were without their top runner, Hume.
NC Summary:
12. Lebel (Colonel By), 26. Daniels (The Element), 28. Loreti, (Pierre Savard)
14. Colonel By (487), 30. Nepean (698)
Immaculata also turned the tables in the Novice Boys race, besting NC Champs Earl of March. Mitchel Skelton (Immaculata) was the top NC finisher, placing 22nd overall. As Daniels had done, Luke Van Brabant (Earl of March) improved from 4th at Cities, to be the NC's second best finisher in Etobicoke, by besting Anik Bonilla (Holy Trinity) by less than a second.
NC Summary:
22. Skelton, Immaculata (22nd), 2. Van Brabant, Earl of March (32nd), 3. Bonilla, Holy Trinity (34th)
14. Immaculata (509), 18. Earl of March (549)
The Junior Girls race produced the first top 10 finish for an NC Team when last year's Novice OFSAA silver medalists from Nepean, placed 9th overall. Little changed in terms of individual performances as the top 6 NC runners finished in similar order to the NC Championships a week ago, led by Kyra Lauter (Franco Ouest), who placed 17th.
NC Summary:
17. Lauter (Franco Ouest), 21. Van Wesenbeeck (Glebe), 28. Davies (Immaculata)
9. Nepean (419), 22. Glebe (626)
In the Junior Boys race Colonel By's make up may have changed slightly, but the results were very similar to last year when they captured the silver medal in the Novice division. In fact, there was only a 9 point difference in the team score from one year to the next (241-250)! Talk about consistency! Led by Owen Siderius, the Cougars placed 3 scorers in the top 40 of the 270 athlete field. Siderius continued his year long battle with Hillcrest's Charlie Mortimer as there was little to chose between them as the crossed the line with less than a second between the two. Evan James Rebane (Louis Riel) kept the order of finish the same as the NC Champs and was the 3rd NC athlete to cross the line. Not to be left out, John McCrae made the Junior Boys race the only race with two NC teams in the top 8, with a 7th place finish, led by Jackson McKercher's 51st place finish.
NC Summary:
9. Mortimer (Hillcrest), 10. Siderius (Colonel By), 24 James Rebane (Louis Riel)
2. Colonel By (250), 7. John McCrae (377)
Grace Streek (Peak Academy) has dealt with abdominal pain while running all fall. It hampered her in some of her races so much she ran the last k of several races almost doubled over. At the Turkey Trot, it hurt so badly, she finished almost 2 minutes behind race winner Hamilton (Holy Cross Kingston), whom she bested by 43 seconds at OFSAA. While the pain was still present, Streek stayed tall and sprinted past NC Champion Lauren Alexander down the final straight to lead all NC athletes to the finish line. Jocelyn Giannotti (Holy Trinity) and Kate Johnston-Zemer (aka KJZ - Ashbury) also placed in the top 20, making the Senior Girl's race the best finish of any of the races for NC athletes. Alexander's teammates ran well enough behind her to help the Gryphons place 6th overall.
NC Summary:
12. Streek (Peak Academy), 14. Alexander (Glebe), 15 Giannotti (Holy Trinity)
6. Glebe (419), 14. Ashbury (525)
The final race of the day saw both the best individual performance and the best team performance of the day for NC athletes and teams. Saul Taler (Glebe) latched on to the back of the lead group and simply refused to let go. Taler's 7th place finish helped lead his team to victory in the Senior Boys race in a highly anticpated battle with last year's Champions, London Central. Central had the edge with Individual Champ McAllister and their 2nd, Royce one spot up on Glebe's #2 man Heins, but as we all know so well, it's 4 to score and Glebe's Derek Strachan and Kiefer Melinz-Dupuis, both put themselves infront of Central's third scorer to seal the deal for the Gryphons. It was the first Senior Boys team title for any NC Team at the OFSAA Championships. Louis Riel's Daniel Cova was the NC's second finisher, while Heins rounded out the top 3.
NC Summary
7. Taler (Glebe), 12. Cova (Louis Riel), 29. Heins (Glebe)
1. Glebe (193), 26. Immaculata (627)
NC Blogger would like to thank all athletes, coaches and parents for an outstanding season and look forward to next year when the NC Region will host the best at Mooney's Bay for the 2024 OFSAA XC Championships!
