While the weather may have been cool, the numerous Lions competing at last weekend’s OFSAA Track and Field Championships in Oshawa laid down some pretty hot performances on the track and in the field. Headlining the list of accomplishments was Charifa Labarang, who can now officially be called the fastest high school girl in Ontario as she claimed gold in both the senior 100m and 200m. After setting a new personal best of 11.88 seconds in the 100m prelims, Labarang returned to the finals with her second best performance ever, 11.93, to win over Rebecca Murray by 0.04 seconds. Charifa’s time in the prelims now moves her up to number four all-time in club history. Not to be outdone, the senior at Omer-Deslauriers followed up that performance with another life time best in the 200m, 24.56 seconds, to edge out triple World Youth medallist, Christian Brennan of St. Mary’s in Hamilton. Her 200m time moves her up a notch to number eight in club history.
In the field, grade 11 student Zach Kerr was looking for not only a third straight OFSAA gold in the pole vault, but also a new personal best that hopefully punch his ticket to Donetsk, Ukraine for this summer’s IAAF World Youth Championships. The Hillcrest Hawk did not disappoint in either vein. Kerr, who was the last to the enter the competition, at 4.05m, made quick work of his first three heights and clinched gold with a 4.30m clearance. He struggled at 4.40m, using all three attempts to successfully clear the barrier, before clearing the world standard 4.55m on his second attempt. With his new personal best, Kerr now moves up a couple notches to fourth on the club all-time list.
The final gold came from hurdler Geoff Lawson who triumphed in the junior boys 100m hurdles. His winning time of 13.54 seconds was nearly a half second improvement over his previous best entering the competition and just 0.2 seconds off the OFSAA record. For Lawson, an accomplished hockey player, this was his second career OFSAA medal after having won silver in last year’s midget boys 300m hurdles.
In the middle distance and distance races, Lions runners turned in a number very impressive performances. Chief among those was Claire Smith who broke the previous OFSAA record in the junior girls 3000m but still only finished third in 9:55.95. Smith’s previous best in the event had been 10:13.00 set back in May. In the senior girls 3000m, Olivia Robertson annihilated her previous best, dropping more than 25 seconds off her personal best as she crossed the line finish line in 9:46.77 for bronze. In the junior girls 800m, Erinn Stenman-Fahey knocked more than six seconds off her best to claim bronze in 2:12.29. In the midget boy’s category, Owen Day added to his OFSAA XC silver from the fall, winning another silver in the 1500m and picking up a bronze in the 800m. In both races, Day improved his personal best by more than six seconds.
Rounding out the list of medalists were Ashley Connell who finished second in the senior girls shot put with a personal best heave of 13.18m. The most decorated Lion of the weekend was Wade Embury who picked up a silver and bronze in the 200m and 400m respectively before leading his school to silver in the 4x400m. Also grabbing a relay medal were Alex Telford and Clara Phillips who lead Brookfield HS to silver in the senior girls 4x100m.
