Pre-OFSAA and Rebelles Invitational

Many National Capital athletes headed up the Valley to Petawawa to take advantage of the OFSAA course preview meet, the Kitchissippi Ridge Invitational.  For the second consecutive year, OFSAA will be hosted within a reasonable distance enabling many NC teams a chance to see the course. 

NC athletes put in some strong performances, beginning with the Midget Girls, in which Glebe placed a close second to Theriault (Timmins), lead by Anna Sierra Heffernan-Wilker (4th) and Ivy Bialowas (6th).  Ashbury's Isabelle Stevens also cracked the top 10, finishing 7th.

Not to be outdone by their female classmates, the Glebe Midget Boys, led by Keito Newman's third place finish, placed second to provincial powerhouse St. Michaels' College from Toronto.  Glebe had got the best of St. Mike's at the season opener, Trinity Harriers Invitational in Port Hope, but St. Mike's returned the favour on the OFSAA course; however,  Glebe was without their top man from Trinity and the Gryphon Open Owen Pensom and #3 Torin Lam.

In the Junior Girls, NC athletes were led by Katie Newlove (St. Peter) who claimed silver, behind last year's OFSAA bronze medalist, Anna Workman of Kingston CVI.  Skye Pellerin (St. Fx) placed 4th (her 5th top 4 finish this year).  Skye has been all over (and around) the podium in her five races this fall, winning both the Pirates Invite and Louis' Cookie Run, second at the Gryphon Open, third at the Trinity Invite and fourth in Petawawa.  Veronique Bolduc (Beatrice Desloges) placed 7th and Lauren Reid (All Saints) placed 10th, putting four NC athletes in the top 10.  Glebe edged All Saints by a mere 5 points, to be the top NC school, finishing 5th overall. 

Joe Fast (Ridgemont) and Adam Sanger (Glebe) gave the NC a 1-2 finish in the Junior Boys race, repeating their finish order of a week ago at the Gryphon Open.  Glebe's Junior Boys finished in a 5th place tie with St. Mike's, but were placed 6th on the tie breaker (higher finishing 4th runner).  Longfields-Davidson's Junior Boys were 8th.

The Glebe Senior Girls got a good look at last year's Junior Girls Champions from Northern Secondary (Toronto) and runner up Theriault.  Both schools had scored impressively low last year and looked to pose a threat for the podium this year.  Glebe, placed all four scorers in the top 15 (and three in the top 7) to easily outpace both schools.  Mei Mei Weston captured silver, Rosalyn Barrett was 6th, Teagan Shapansky 7th, and Nina Whitford 15th, giving Glebe the top 4 individual NC athletes in the race. 

A trio of NC athletes finished within 9 seconds of each other in the Senior Boys race.  Andre Alie-Lamarche (Gloucester) made a valiant effort to hit the podium, staying in the top 3 until late in the race, but faded a little over the final kilo to lead all NC runners placing 7th.  Shortly behind Alie-Lamarache, Fournier (Franco Cite) placed 9th, just ahead of Gryphon Open Champ Lucas Zanetti (Sir Robert Borden), who lead his team to 7th place, the only top 8 finish by an NC team in the Senior Boys race. 

Full results are available at WindsorTiming.com

For those schools that didn't want to make the trip up the Valley, the Rebelles hosted their Invitational, the first chance for athletes to get a look at the NC Championship courses on the trails of Green's Creek.  Nepean won the Overall Title capturing the Varsity Boys and Girls races and placing 2nd in the Junior Varisty Girls race. 

Full results available here

Wild Weather Swings highlight Gryphon Open

The anticipated heat was late arriving at the 2017 Gryphon Open.  After environment Canada issued another heat advisory, it was decided each event would be shortened to help athletes manage the heat better, but overcast skies and a refreshing breeze kept the temperature bearable for the first few races.  As the day progressed, the heat started to rise as a few athletes struggled with the temperatures which peaked during the senior boys race.  Several Senior Boys never made it to the finish line, but it wasn't the heat the prevented them from getting there, but "The Storm."

Within seconds, the sky became overcast again, the wind picked up, and within seconds of the first drop falling, the heavens opened.  Rain pounded down reducing visibility to next to nothing.  Lightning struck a large willow located just a few metres from the start line, ripping the tree in half.  Fortunately, no runners were injured and all made it to shelter from their various spots out on the course. 

Hosts Glebe Collegiate captured the Overall Aggregate taking titles in the Midget Girls, Midget Boys, and Senior Girls Divisions.  The Glebe Girls demonstrated their strength and depth by winning the Senior Girl's race despite not racing their four scorers who won the Trinity Invitational the previous week.  Sir Robert Borden established itself as a contender for the NC title with a solid performance in winning the Senior Boy's race led by individual Champion, Lucas Zanetti.

Bishop Smith (Pembroke) and Beatrice Desloges captured the boys and girls Elementary races.  Ottawa Citizen photographer, Wayne Cuddington, was on hand to capture a few shots of the action.  You can check out his photos here.

Full results are available on the Glebe XC page.

 

Ashbury Edges Louis at Inaugural XC Relays

Ashbury College edged out host Louis Riel at the Inaugural Louis Riel XC Relays on the trails of Green's Creek.  The Open HS Sections saw three runners each complete a 2 kilometre loop.  The Colts claimed 1st, 3rd and 6th in the Girls event, 2nd and 4th in the Boys event as well as a 2nd place finish in the Mixed Event to claim the title 45-42 over the host Rebelles.

Results are available on the Glebe XC page or the Louis Riel Athletics Page

Glebe defends Trinity Harrier Title

Glebe Collegiate defended it's Overall Title at the 2017 Trinity Harrier Invitational in Port Hope, capturing the "cutest trophy in all Sport" for the fourth consecutive year.  Glebe won the Midget Boys, Junior Girls and Senior Girls Team titles, while placing 5th in the Senior Boys race.

The National Capital region was well represented on the podium with Glebe athletes Mei Mei Weston running to gold in the Senior Girls race, followed to the line by teammate Rosalyn Barrett.  Fellow Glebites Adam Sanger (2nd Junior Boys), Ivy Bialowas (3rd Midget Girls) and Owen Pensom (3rd Midget Boys) also captured hardware for the Gryphons.  Skye Pellerin (St. FX) and Joe Fast (Ridgemont) also captured bronze medals in the Junior Girls and Junior Boys races.

Full results are available on the Glebe XC page.

XCookie Run

The 2017 XC season got underway this past Friday with Louis Riel's XCookie Run on the trails of Green's Creek.  The meet hosted combined age categories for the the HS school sections, as well as Intermediate sections.  Junior Skye Pellerin (St. FX) and Senior Jonathan Rioux (Louis Riel) won their respective races.  Full results are available on the Glebe XC, or Louis Riel XC site.

2017 Cross Country Season

Welcome back!  The 2017 Cross Country season is just around the corner.  Some things to look forward to already are:

Cookie Run                  Friday, Sept 15th              Hornet's Nest

Trinity Invitational            Wednesday, Sept. 20th            Port Hope, ON

Louis Riel XC Relays  Thursday, Sept. 21st         Hornet's Nest
Gryphon Open                  Wednesday, Sept. 27th            Mooney's Bay        Maps    Registration

Pirates Invitational            Friday, Sept. 29th                  Brockville, ON
pre-OFSAA                       Thursday, Oct. 5th                  Petawawa, ON
Louis Riel XC Invite         Thursday, Oct. 5th                  Hornet's Nest
North Dundas Invite         Friday, Oct 6th                        Winchester, ON
Turkey Trot                       Wednesday, Oct. 11th             Kemptville, ON
Capital XC Challenge     Friday, Oct. 13th                      Mooney's Bay

West Conference            Thursday, Oct. 18th                Bell HS
East Conference             Wednesday, Oct. 19th             Hornet's Nest

NCSSAA XC                Thursday, Oct. 26th                 Hornet's Nest

OFSAA XC                  Saturday, Nov. 4th                     Petawawa, ON

Registration information, results and more will be located on the 2017 Glebe XC Page , or click on the links above!  

OFSAA Review

The Glebe Collegiate Girls Cross Country team won their 5th consecutive Overall Girls Title, tying with Loretto Abbey (Toronto).  Glebe won bronze in the Senior Girls race and placed 5th in the Junior Girls race.  The Glebe Boys out did their female counterparts, placing 3rd in the Senior Boys and 4th in the Junior Boys, but placed second in the Overall Aggregate to Holy Names (Windsor).

Midget Girls

Katie Newlove (St. Peter) played it patiently, started conservatively and moved up through the field to place 10th, the top finish for any NC athlete.  Emma Betty (Lisgar) was 19th, Lauren Reid (All Saints) 25th and Grace Veldkamp (AY Jackson) 26th, with the NC placing 4 athletes in the top 30.

NC Teams - 20. Lisgar, 27. Nepean

Midget Boys.

His name is FAST.  Joe Fast and he's living up to it.  The Ridgemont runner stalked early race leader Goguen (Sir William Mulock) until just past the halfway point before striking out on his own.  No one could cover his break.  Fast powered up the hill to run to a comfortable 11 second victory.  Meredith (De La Salle) made it 1 - 2 for NC athletes as he used his finishing speed to pull away over the final 200m to claim silver.  Sanger (Glebe) also had a top 30 finish, placing 23rd.

NC Teams - 13. Ridgemont, 25. Louis Riel

Junior Girls

Teagan Shapansky (Glebe) improved upon her 8th place finish of a year ago, placing 7th in the Junior Girls race.  Teammate Barrett also improved to 19th (34th in 2015), while Wilson (Woodroffe) was 22nd and Roy (Louis Riel) 30th as NC athletes again put four finishers in the top 30.

The Glebe Junior Girls placed 5th overall, with Macintosh and Moore rounding out the scoring for the Gryphons.

NC Teams - 5. Glebe, 13. All Saints

Junior Boys

Ryan Cunningham (Glebe) was the top NC finisher in the Junior Boys race.  Cunningham and Cox (Colonel By) overtook NC Champ Pensom (Glebe), just before the 4K mark and pushed each other over the final 2K.  Cunnigham's teammates ran well enough behind him to improve Glebe's performance over last year as Glebe finished 4th (up from 5th in 2015).

NC Teams - 4. Glebe, 12 Colonel By

Senior Girls

Shona McCulloch (Longfields-Davidson) ran stride for stride with Martha MacDonald (Havergal) until only 150m to go when McCulloch ran into some difficulties and stumbled.  McCulloch, was a living example of this year's OFSAA slogan, "Finish on Empty" as she staggered and stumbled her way down the homestretch, getting nipped for the silver just before the line by Johnston (Hammarskjold).  Shepherd (Glebe) placed 8th in leading her Gryphon teammates Grimes (51st), Millar (110th) and Welburn (116th) to the bronze medal.  Unfortunately for the Gryphons, their leader all season, Weston started strong, but had to withdraw from the race due to injury.

NC Teams - 3. Glebe, 16. Canterbury

Senior Boys

The Glebe Senior Boys were the pleasant surprise of the day.  Teagan Harris led the Gryphons and all NC finishers placing 26th and his teammates packed the next three scorers within 15 seconds of each other (Perrault - 96th, Grall - 111th, Nowlan - 115th) to capture the bronze medal. Nico Pedersen (Merivale) was the lone other NC finisher to place in the top 30, placing 30th.

NC Teams - 3. Glebe, 16. Franco Ouest

NC Blogger would once again like to thank all coaches and athletes for an outstanding season.  Looking forward to 2017 already.  Next years OFSAA Championships will be held close by in Petawawa.