Conference Week is Here!

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!

XC 2022 is Underway!

The 2022 XC Season kicked off this past week with Glebe competing at the Trinity Invitational in Port Hope and Louis Riel hosting the XCookie Run at the Hornet's nest.

Saul Taler (Glebe) was the class of the field in Port Hope, capturing the Junior Boys race in rather convincing fashion.  Taler hung back from the lead group over the first k before moving to the front alongside Bill Crother's Liu (Unionville, ON).  Taler made his move just before Mt. Trinity and gapped Liu by over 35 seconds in the final kilometre.  Taler's teamates, Whike, Carney and Craig ran well behind him as Glebe's Junior Boys finish 3rd.  

Taler's teammates also had success findng the podium in Port Hope as Julia van Wesenbeeck (Novice Girl) and Lauren Alexander (Senior Girl) captured silver and bronze their respective races.  Glebe's Senior Girls team of Alexander, Waddington, Thomas and Welburn placed second in the Senior Girls race.  

The following day saw Junior Girl Adrienne Fraserswalls (Franco Cite) best the field in the Varsity Girls race at the XCookie Run.  Colonel By's Soran Ghazal captured the Varity Boys race, which saw Colonel By place 4 grade 9's in the top 8 of the field, making them a very formidable team and stating their intention to capture the City Title in late October.  

Up next week is the Capital XC Challenge at Mooney's Bay.  The Friday afternoon races will feature Junior and Senior Divisions at shorter race distances and the XC season slowly gets underway. 

Results and Meet Information can be found on the Glebe XC site  

Best of luck to all this season and as always, Happy Training! 

Conference Wrap Up and NC Preview

Well, not much going on this year, so it will be difficult to predict what might happen at the NC Meet, but we'll give it a shot!

The Conference Meets wrapped up showcasing some new talent, as both Novice and Junior runners had not had a chance to strut their stuff at the High School level over the past two years, so lots of new faces to enjoy.  It was also obvious that some talented athletes spent time during the pandemic to log some miles and get ready.  Look for some new faces to figure prominently in the Senior races as well.

Nepean and Glebe had very strong showings at their respective Conference Meets, winning 4 races, with Nepean sweeping the Girl's races at the West, along with the Senior Boys, while Glebe captured the Junior & Senior Girl's and Boy's titles in the East.  Look for them to butt heads for the Overall Aggregate on the 28th over the trails of Green's Creek.

Novice Girls

Usually the Novice runners are the most unpredictable, but this year's Novice girls may be an exception.  Chiumera (St. Pius) and Streek (Merivale), perhaps the most aptly named runner since Ridgemont's Joe Fast, are clearly the class of the field.  Chiumera has had a comfortable margin of victory over their two battles this fall and will toe the line as the clear favorite.  East Champ Lyons (Glebe) had a strong showing against West bronze medalist McDonnell in their only head to head meeting this fall, but both were well back of the favoured Chiumera.

Nepean looks to be the class of the field, capturing the West with a comfortable 20 point margin over Merivale.   Nepean packed 6 runners within a minute at West, while Streek and Chen gave Merivale two low sticks to keep them in the hunt.  They will need a big run from their back end, who finished almost 2 minutes behind Nepean's 6th if they hope to pull off an upset.  East Champs Colonel By have too large a gap to seriously challenge either of these two, but, they are Novice runners, so anything can happen.  South Carleton's tight grouping might be enough to nab the final spot from the Cougars for a West sweep of the team podium.

NC Blogger's Picks:

1. Chiumera (St. Pius), 2. Streek (Merivale), 3, Lyons (Glebe)

1. Nepean (72), 2. Merivale (96), 3. Colonel By (111)

Junior Girls

The West featured a tight battle between four girls, Delaney (St. FX), Hegan (Nepean), Pascali (Nepean) and Sarai (West Carleton) that all finished within 8 seconds of each other, while East Champ Alexander (Glebe) had a comfortable 30 second margin of victory over teammate Waddington, but outside that, these girls have not faced each other this season, so there is much left to guesswork here.

Nepean packed four scores within 90 seconds at West and Glebe swept the podium in the East with a similar 1 - 4 gap.  Glebe's #4, Audet-Wilke had a comfortable victory over Nepean's #4 in their only head to head meeting this fall, the Capital XC Challenge and will need to keep that gap and more if Glebe hopes to prevail.  It might come down to who has the higher fourth place finisher, in which case Glebe may get the nod.  

NC Blogger's picks:

1. Alexander (Glebe), 2. Delaney (St. FX), Hegan (Nepean)

1. Glebe (35), 1. Nepean (35), 3. Ashbury (125)

Senior Girls

A lot has changed since the break in XC due to the pandemic at the Senior level.  Several strong runners graduated without a chance to show what they could do in their final year and a few Junior and Novice runners have put in some excellent work to improve their game heading into their Senior season.  

Van Brabant (Earl of March) has been dominant in her two outings this fall, capturing the West title by almost two full minutes over 6k, and the Capital XC Challenge by a minute over the shorter 5k distance.  Fellow first year Senior and newcomer to the XC scene, Baggley (Gloucester) also had a convincing victory in the East over a much improved Vroom (Sir Wilfrid Laurier), who had placed 6th in the Junior race back in 2019.  The other contender looking to mix things up missed the Conference Champs but looks to be back in form for the NC Meet.  Never to be counted out, Glebe's MacDonald can produce in the big races when it matters most.  The 2018 OFSAA silver medalist will look to put in a strong showing on the 28th.

Glebe has held the Senior Girl's Title since 2013 and it does not appear that they are ready to relinquish the crown. They have the upfront talent in MacDonald to counter Nepean's Hegan and then look to get their next three, 2019 Novice Champ Gormley, Hurst and Bennett in before Nepean's 3rd, West, and possibly before their #2 Gruson.  After that things get really interesting.  Both Colonel By and Franco Cite tied for 2nd at East, while Merivale was not far behind Nepean in the West.  

NC Blogger's picks: 

1. Van Brabant (Earl of March), 2. Baggley (Gloucester), 3. Hegan (Nepean)

1. Glebe (34), 2. Nepean (61), 3. Merivale (101)

Novice Boys

Cova (Louis Riel) was the top Novice finisher at the Capital XC Challenge, running against the Junior Boys, and he finished comfortably ahead of West bronze medalist Daniels (Nepean).  Daniels however was well behind West Champ and runner-up Sankey (Merivale) and Adamson (Earl of March).  Cova had a comfortable victory in the East and knows the terrain, running on Louis' home course which might help him in his quest for gold.

Next to the Junior Girls, the team battle in this race will likely be the tightest, with both Merivale and Immaculata running to solid victories in their respective Conference Championships.  Immaculata put all four scorers in the top 7 at East with only a 57 second gap between them.  Merivale will likely have three scorers in before Mac's #2, but their fourth (Tong) may be well over a minute back, which may open the door for Mac if he struggles.  The only team with a remote chance of unseating either of these teams is the home team, Louis Riel.  They will likely be even with Mac after three runners, but need a huge improvement from their #4 Domiati, if they hope to play spoiler.

NC Blogger's picks:

1. Sankey (Merivale), 2. Adamson (Earl of March), 3. Cova (Louis Riel)

1. Merivale (42), 2. Immaculata (45), Louis Riel (70)

Junior Boys

West Champ Sanders (Mother Teresa) was the top NC individual at the Capital XC Challenge, but was only trailed to the line by East runner-up Melinz Dupuis (Glebe) by 14 seconds.  East Champ Strachan (Glebe) bested his teammate by just over 20 seconds at Green's Creek over the slightly longer, more challenging course, so the battle between the two Conference Champs could prove very tight.  These three boys should be able to secure a podium spot, with the only outside threat coming from Woodroffe's Mohamud.

The Glebe Junior Boys put 6 in the top 12 at East and ran to a very comfortable victory, amassing a paltry 13 points.  West Champs Mother Teresa have a great 1-2 punch in Sanders and Grant, but a full three minute gap back to #3 and #4 will likely be too much to overcome.  The battle for them will likely be for the second podium spot with East runner up Lisgar.  While Lisgar only has a single low stick in Krnjevic, they will likely score all four before Mother Teresa's #3.  Mother Teresa's back end needs to make sure that gap stays small if they hope to finish second.

NC Blogger's picks:

1. Strachan (Glebe), Sanders (Mother Teresa), 3. Melinz Dupuis (Glebe)

1. Glebe (30), 2. Lisgar (105), 3. Mother Teresa (112)

Senior Boys

Sikka (St. Paul) was the West Champ and the top NC finisher at the Capital XC Challenge and heads to Green's Creek as a solid favorite.  Legare (John McCrae) was bested by East runner-up Fairhead (Glebe) at the Capital XC Challenge, but beat East Champ Waddington (Glebe) in the same race.  Legare had made a bold move, pushing the pace early in the race and it came back to haunt him.  Don't expect him to make the same mistake at the NC Meet.  Just over 15 seconds back of Sikka at the West, Legare has been his closest pursuer and looks to have a safe hold on the second podium spot.  West Bronze Medalist Del Rio Reategui (St. Joseph) will likely battle Waddington and Fairhead for the bronze.

Like their female counterparts, the Glebe Senior Boys have enjoyed a long string of success, finishing on top of the podium 9 times in the past 10 years.  In 2012, Glebe shared the top spot with Nepean, but lost on the tie-breaker (they higher fourth place finisher).  They once again have the upfront talent in Waddington and Fairhead, along with a much improved Barrett (4th at East) and Strachan not far behind.  Look for Glebe to put three in the top 10 and all four scorers in the top 15 to run to a comfortable victory.  Nepean may have been downplaying their strength at Conference, with there back 3 all crossing the line together mid-pack at West.  If they've got more in the tank, they could make it closer, but with Glebe likely packing three in front of Nepean's top finisher from the West, Mason, it will likely be too big a gap to overcome.  Either way, Nepean should have enough to stay comfortably ahead of East runner up Ridgemont.  

NC Blogger's picks:

1. Sikka (St. Paul), 2. Legare (John McCrae), 3. Waddington (Glebe)

1. Glebe (29), 2. Nepean (95), 3. Ridgemont (151)

Best of luck to all athletes competing at the Hornet's Nest / Green's Creek next week.  We look forward to some great competition. 

2021 XC Season Info - Coming Soon!

Welcome back for another exciting year of XC.  While the OCDSB has unfortunately put a hold on all extra-curriculars, it looks like the other school boards will allow XC, among other things, but honestly, is there really anything else?

OFSAA has announced their Fall Championships will run.  You can check out the announcement on their homepage.  

Not much information to share yet, but please check out the Glebe XC page for updates and information about the fall season.

COVID CRUSHES XC 2020

 Welcome NC Harriers and sorry for the delay in posting.  

OFSAA has Officially Canceled all fall Championships, including XC.  As a result, the NCSSAA has done the same.  

There are still a few scattered opportunities for those in the region to train virtually and even toe the line in some local races.  Sadly, there will be no NCSSAA XC Championships, although we still hold out hope for a virtual event.

Please Check out the Glebe XC page for details.

OFSAA Recap

NC Runners had outstanding performances at the 2019 OFSAA XC Championships, in cold, snowy and icy conditions at Kivi Park in Sudbury.  Glebe Collegiate was 2nd in the Girls Aggregate and 3rd in the Boys Aggregate to claim the unofficial crown of top XC program in the province, edging out St. Catherines' Sir Winston Chruchill by a single point (61-60).

Joe Fast (Ridgemont) turned in the top individual performance of the day for NC athletes placing 5th in the Senior Boys race.  Cara MacDonald was 7th (Junior Girl), Adam Sanger was 8th (Senior Boy),  and teammates Caitlin Gormley and Zoe Wojtyk (Glebe) were 8th and 9th in the Novice Girls, putting 5 NC athletes in the top 10 in their respective races.

Several NC teams found their way into the top 8 in the province with Lisgar Senior Girls(8th), Glebe Junior Boys (8th), Glebe Junior Girls (7th), Glebe Senior Girls (5th), Glebe Novice Girls (4th), and the Glebe Senior Boys team of Sanger, Callum Saravanamuttoo, Sebastien Cino, Owen Pensom and Ben Rundle, who captured the silver medal in the Senior Boys race.

Congratulations to all NC athletes on their performance at OFSAA and thank you once again for another great year of Cross Country!

Full results available at www.trackdatabase.com

NCSSAA Championships

Glebe Collegiate swept the Girl's races while taking the Junior and Senior Boys races as well en route to the Overall Aggregate at the 2019 NCSSAA XC Championships at the Hornet's Nest.  Footing was sloppy but despite a brief shower during the Novice Girls race, the weather held and was a beautiful fall day for Cross Country.  Isn't every day a beautiful day for XC?

The Novice Girls kicked things off with a tight three way battle between the pre-race favorites, teammates Gormley and Wojtyk (Glebe) and Nepean's Hegan.  Gormley and Hegan traded the lead throughout with Wojtyk content to let the other two push the pace as the trio separated themselves from the pack pretty quickly.  It as Gormley who struck first, just past half way, coming down off the ridge, but the gap never got big enough and she was caught shortly after.  Hegan tried to break things up through the back, twisty, muddy loop behind the Dome, but was unable to shake her pursuers.  Once back out onto the soccer fields Gormley and Wojtyk finally broke away, with Gormley just pulling away from her teammate in the final 50m.  The leading Gryphons were followed by Bennett (11th) and McColgan (16th) to take the team title with 30 points, well ahead of second, East Champs Beatrice Desloges (109) who were lead by 5th place individual Lortie.

Colonel By was considered the pre-race favorites in the Novice Boys and they did not disappoint, placing 5 runners in the top 21, behind their leading duo of Loganathan (4th) and Lacasse (5th), but the battle for the second spot behind them was very heated.  As expected it was the workhorses that often toil in obscurity in the middle of the pack that made the difference in the end.  Four teams, John McCrae, Mother Teresa, Immaculata and Paul Desmarias all finished within 7 points (89-96).  Immaculata placed 2 in the top 10, individual silver medalist Vrankovic and Padoin-Castillo (9th), while McCrae had individual Champ, Legare and Mother Teresa had bronze medallist Kennedy.  While Demarais' top duo was 13th and 14th, Vivas-Moncado and Ledain, their 3rd and 4th, Jalbu (29) and Watt (33) were able to help them capture the team title with a score of 89 points, with Mother Teresa and Immaculata tied for 3rd (94) and John McCrae 5th (96).

Legare pushed hard from the gun and only Kennedy was able to stay close until about 1k, when up the first steep accent to the top of the ridge, he lost his footing and went down.  From then on, Legare was alone out front.  Vrankovic managed to keep him in sight, but Legare was never seriously threatened throughout the race.

The Junior Girl's race saw a tight battle between West Champ Murchison (Mother Teresa) and MacDonald (Glebe) who separated themselves pretty early from their only real pursuers Porter (Franco Cite) and May (Immaculata).  Murchison made several attempts to shake MacDonald but was unable to do so throughout the early going. With only 400m to go, MacDonald went to the front in a bid to steal the race, but Murchison refused to let her go and charged back past MacDonald in the final 100m to take the win.  Porter was able to pull away from May to claim the bronze.

Behind MacDonald, her teammates ran well and secured the victory for the Gryphons ahead of Colonel By, who was once again led by East Champ Ginther, who placed 7th.

Glebe captured the Junior Boys race in expected fashion, with only 37 seconds separating their 1st through 5th runners.  Led by Welburn's 4th place finish, the Gryphon's tallied 40 points, while John McCrae, 3rd at West, had strong runs behind their top finisher, Sendybyl (5th), to turn the tables on Nepean and Sir Robert Borden to nab the second qualifying spot.  Borden's Porter did his part, pushing hard from the front for almost the entire race.  A rather large lead pack stayed closely bunched behind out to the Hill and back, but Porter started to pull away before heading up to the ridge, with only Meredith (De La Salle) able to cover his move.  Meredith waited patiently until the finishing stretch before unleashing his kick to sprint to a small three second victory, but the duo where well ahead of the chase pack in which Beatrice Desloges' Trudel won the race for bronze.

The Senior Girls race saw a lead trio establish themselves quite early in the race with Betty (Lisgar), Pellerin (St. Francis Xavier) and Newlove (St. Peter) setting a quick pace and putting early daylight between themselves and the field.  Heading into the mud maze behind the Dome the three stayed tightly bunched, but when they emerged it was just Betty and Newlove left to duke it out over the final 600m.  Newlove made the first move as they passed the start line area, but Betty found another gear and pulled away over the final loop around the fields.  Pellerin ran solo the final k to capture the bronze.  Bialowas (Glebe) ran solo for much of the entire race, behind the lead trio but ahead of the rest to lead her Gryphons to a comfortable victory.  Just over a minute separated her from Glebe's 4th, Heffernan-Wilker (10th) and Glebe was able to take the win with 29 points over East Champs Lisgar (39), despite Wojtyk's strong performance that put two Lisgar runners in the top 5.

Gryphon teammates Saravanamutto and Sanger set a blistering pace from the gun and opened a 10 second lead over the first kilometre of the race.  Fast (Ridgemont) was patient and waited until the Hill to move his way back into contention.  Cresting the Hill, he and Sanger started to pull away.  Coming down off the ridge a mile later, Fast moved again and from then on, it was him against the clock and Sanger was left in no man's land for the remainder of the race.  Allan (Ashbury) hauled in Saravanamuttoo through the maze but the early quick pace didn't take too much out of the Gryphon as he was able to hold off Allan down the stretch to claim the bronze.  Behind the two medalists, the Gryphon's ran well with Cino (7th) and Pensom (14th) to post the lowest team score of the day (26).  Louis Riel showed off their stuff on their home course putting together a strong team performance to edge out Ridgemont (76-79) for the second OFSAA qualifying spot.  Led by Fillion (5th), the Rebelles 2-4 stayed within 30 seconds of each other with Lejeunesse (20th), Ducharme (24th) and Pollock (26th), which was enough to steal the race from Ridgemont, despite Ridgemont having three (Fast, Omar Ali and Luqman) in before the Rebelles second scorer.

Thank you to NC hosts Ken and Sebastien from Louis Riel for an excellent day of racing and best of luck to the NC athletes heading up to Sudbury to represent their respective schools and our region at the OFSAA XC Championships.

Full Results can be found on the Glebe XC site or louisrielathxc.com








Teresa