Cross country running may commonly be thought of as individual effort, but the team atmosphere is very strong in this sport. For the Glebe Gryphons senior boys, the team effort meant an OFSAA gold medal Saturday afternoon. The quartet of Lions runners Saul Taler, Russell Heins, Derek Strachan, and Keifer Melinz-Dupuis put up a modest 193 points to best London Central by 22 points.
Taler was the top finisher for Glebe as the grade 11 student cracked the top-10 with his 7th place finish. Heins would follow in 29th, while Strachan and Melinz-Dupuis rounded out the scoring in 73rd and 84th respectively.
The win by Glebe was the school’s 20th team medal and 7th team title under the tutelage of head coach Kirk Dillabaugh, who also coaches all four boys with the Lions.
City champion Daniel Cova of Louis-Riel placed 13th overall in the six-kilometre race in 19:08.39.
Ottawa’s only other team to make the medal podium in Etobicoke was the Colonel By Cougars junior boys team, which took home OFSAA silver for the second year in a row. The Lions’ Austin Walker was the Cougars second scorer, finishing 26th overall in a time of 15 minutes and 45.18 seconds over the five-kilometre course.
Hillcrest’s Charlie Mortimer ninth place finish, was the best among Ottawa area athletes in the junior boy’s race.
The senior girls race featured four Lions among the top-20 finishers, led by 2022 junior girls bronze medalist Grace Streek. In her first year competing at the senior level, Streek placed 12th overall on the six-kilometre course in a time of 22 minutes and 35.80 seconds. Club training partners Lauren Alexander of Glebe (14th) and Jocelyn Giannotti of Holy Trinity (15th) finished closely behind. Ashbury’s Kate Johntson-Zemek rounded out the group in 20th.
Also cracking the top were Laila Lebel in the novice girls and Kyra Lauter in the junior girls race. Lebel, a student at Colonel By, placed 12th while Lauter, running for Franco Cité was 17th.
Luke Van Brabant was the top Lion in the novice boy’s race, placing 32nd.
Below is a full break down of the Lions results:
Novice Girls (4km)
Laila Lebel (Colonel By) 12th – 15:03.44
Riley Daniels (The Element) 26th – 15:34.53
Dahlia Loreti (Pierre Savard) 28th – 15:35.89
Novice Boys (4km)
Luke Van Brabant (Earl of March) 32nd – 13:48.79
Yusuf Elmasry (John McCrae) 98th – 14:40.38
Junior Girls (5km)
Kyra Lauter (Franco Cité) 17th – 18:15.00
Sofia Lefaivre (Louis-Riel) 58th – 19:16.38
Maya Allibon (John McCrae) 66th – 19:24.08
Junior Boys (5km)
Charlie Mortimer (Hillcrest) 9th – 15:15.20
Austin Walker (Colonel By) 26th – 15:45.18 (Team Silver)
Conlin Burnett (Lisgar) 78th – 16:41.23
Senior Girls
Grace Streek (Peak Academy) 12th – 22:35.80
Lauren Alexander (Glebe) 14th – 22:38.38
Jocelyn Giannotti (Holy Trinity) 15th – 22:47.67
Kate Johnston-Zemek (Ashbury) 20th – 23:05.86
Waverley Lyons (Glebe) 101th – 25:13.54
Quinn Coughlin (Opeongo) 144th – 26:23.58
Senior Boys
Saul Taler (Glebe) 7th – 18:52.88 (Team Gold)
Daniel Cova (Louis-Riel) 13th – 19:08.39
Russell Heins (Glebe) 29th – 19:38.13 (Team Gold)
Noah Smith (Immaculata) 47th – 20:02.75
Derek Strachen (Glebe) 73rd – 20:29.71 (Team Gold)
Kiefer Melinz-Dupuis (Glebe) 84th – 20:37.69 (Team Gold)
Barrett Goold (Sir Robert Borden) 87th – 20:40.89
Cohen Kaye (Louis-Riel) 98th – 20:50.17
Matteo Padoin-Castillo (Immaculata) 105th – 20:58.74
Full results from OFSAA XC can be found here.