When the final performance was recorded Friday afternoon in Belleville an impressive 50 Lions athletes had qualified for the pinnacle of high school track and field in Canada – the OFSAA Championships. In total, Lions athletes qualified in 77 individual events over the two-day event, winning an impressive 24 events and setting one new meet record.
A total of four athletes qualified in the maximum of three individual events led by first year senior competitor Grace Streek. The grade 11 student continued her record run in the open girls 2000 metre steeplechase as she nearly broke the 7-minute barrier with her 7:00.04 clocking. The performance is the sixth fastest in Club history. Streek also took top spot in the senior girls 3000 metres and added a silver at 1500m.
Gisèle-Lalonde’s Tahlia Aird-Greaves sped her way into her first OFSAA Track and Field appearance. The grade nine student nabbed gold in the novice girls long jump event with a leap of 5.03 metres (#5 U16) and picked up a pair of silvers in both the 100 metres (12.48w) and 80 metre hurdle (12.12w) events.
Rounding out the quartet of triple qualifiers were Sir Robert Borden’s Eli Mordel and Colonel By’s Laila Lebel. Mordel took top spot in the junior boys pole vault with a leap of 3.50 metres and added silver and bronze in the 300 and 100 metre hurdles respectively.
Lebel successfully qualified in all three of the novice girls distance races from 800 through 3000 metres. Over the longest distance, the grade nine student won convincingly in 11 and 10.00 seconds – a full 12 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. Lebel took home silver over 1500 metres (5:01.78) and was fourth at 800 metres (2:27.82).
Three other Lions were double gold medal winners at the regional championship – Quinn Coughlin, Zachary Jeggo, and Taisei Tan.
Coughlin and Jeggo each took home gold in the senior 400 metre and 400 metre hurdle events. Coughlin, a grade 11 student at Opeongo High School, set a new personal best of 1:01.90 in the hurdles and also ran a seasonal best 57.21 in the flat 400. Coming off personal bests at the City Championships, Jeggo posted times of 48.19 and 55.46 in the flat and hurdle events respectively.
Rounding out the double gold medalists, Taisei Tan took home top spot in both the junior boys sprint (13.71w) and intermediate hurdles (40.53).
Lions complete list of OFSAA individual qualifiers:
Gold – Bianca Arabackyj Novice Girls 1500m – 4:54.43 (De La Salle)
Gold – Laila Lebel Novice Girls 3000m – 11:10.00 (Colonel By)
Gold – Tahlia Aird-Greaves Novice Girls Long Jump – 5.03m (Gisèle-Lalonde)
Gold – Shannon Dewar Junior Girls 400m – 1:00.40 (St. Francis Xavier)
Gold – Quinn Coughlin Senior Girls 400m – 57.21 (Opeongo)
Gold – Grace Streek Senior Girls 3000m – 10:23.87 (Peak Centre)
Gold – Quinn Coughlin Senior Girls 400m Hurdles – 1:01.90 (Opeongo)
Gold – Waverley Lyons Senior Girls High Jump – 1.56m (Glebe)
Gold – Kaiya Woodcock Senior Girls Long Jump – 5.21m (Sacred Heart)
Gold – Sadie Gilbert Senior Girls Shot Put – 10.98m (Paul-Desmarais)
Gold – Grace Streek Open Girls 2000m Steeplechase – 7:00.04 (Peak Centre)
Gold – Luke Van Brabant Novice Boys 800m – 2:07.30 (Earl of March)
Gold – Zachary Benfaida Novice Boys 300m Hurdles – 43.00 (Merivale)
Gold – Ange-Mathis Kramo Junior Boys 200m – 22.33 (Paul-Desmarais)
Gold – Taisei Tan Junior Boys 100m Hurdles – 13.71 (Béatrice-Desloges)
Gold – Taisei Tan Junior Boys 300m Hurdles – 40.53 (Béatrice-Desloges)
Gold – Eli Mordel Junior Boys 300m Hurdles – 3.50m (Sir Robert Borden)
Gold – Zachary Jeggo Senior Boys 400m – 48.19 (Louis-Riel)
Gold – Timeo Atonfo Senior Boys 110m Hurdles – 14.24 (Gisèle-Lalonde)
Gold – Zachary Jeggo Senior Boys 400m Hurdles – 55.46 (Louis-Riel)
Gold – Liam Davis Senior Boys Shot Put – 16.56m (Opeongo)
Gold – Daniel Cova Open Boys 2000m Steeplechase – 6:08.86 (Louis-Riel)
Gold – Maxime Chartrand Novice Boys Pole Vault – 2.75m (Louis-Riel)
Gold – Balqis Chouikhi Senior Girls Pole Vault – 3.25m (Wilfrid Laurier)
Silver – Tahlia Aird-Greaves Novice Girls 100m – 12.48 (Gisèle-Lalonde)
Silver – Bianca Arabackyj Novice Girls 800m – 2:24.76 (De La Salle)
Silver – Laila Lebel Novice Girls 1500m – 5:01.78 (Colonel By)
Silver – Riley Daniels Novice Girls 3000m – 11:12.12 (The Element)
Silver – Tahlia Aird-Greaves Novice Girls 80m Hurdles – 12.12 (Gisèle-Lalonde)
Silver – Abby MacLeod Junior Girls 1000m – 12.63 (Tagwi)
Silver – Shannon Dewar Junior Girls 200m – 26.33 (St. Francis Xavier)
Silver – Kaiya Woodcock Senior Girls 100m – 11.88 (Sacred Heart)
Silver – Jocelyn Giannotti Senior Girls 800m – 2:20.84 (Holy Trinity)
Silver – Grace Streek Senior Girls 1500m – 4:40.42 (Peak Centre)
Silver – Luke Van Brabant Novice Boys 1500m – 4:23.80 (Earl of March)
Silver – Zachary Benfaida Novice Boys 100m Hurdles – 15.43 (Merivale)
Silver – Ange-Mathis Kramo Junior Boys 100m – 10.81 (Paul-Desmarais)
Silver – Eli Mordel Junior Boys 300m Hurdles – 41.11 (Sir Robert Borden)
Silver – Stephan Balson Senior Boys 400m – 48.49 (Lisgar)
Silver – Saul Taler Senior Boys 800m – 1:56.78 (Glebe)
Silver – Saul Taler Senior Boys 1500m – 3:58.48 (Glebe)
Silver – Daniel Cova Senior Boys 3000m – 8:45.21 (Louis-Riel)
Silver – Simon Salisbury Senior Boys 110m Hurdles – 14.32 (Notre Dame)
Silver – Kyle London Senior Boys 400m Hurdles – 56.72 (Wilfrid Laurier)
Silver – Timeo Atonfo Senior Boys Long Jump – 6.60m (Gisèle-Lalonde)
Silver – Derek Strachan Open Boys 2000m Steeplechase – 6:12.89 (Glebe)
Bronze – Riley Daniels Novice Girls 1500m – 5:02.31 (The Element)
Bronze – Roxy Gardiner Novice Girls High Jump – J1.48m (Sir Robert Borden)
Bronze – Abby Lorz Novice Girls Javelin – 31.21m (AY Jackson)
Bronze – Salome Kuemmerle Junior Girls High Jump – 1.45m (Brookfield)
Bronze – Sophia McIntyre Senior Girls 400m – 1:00.72 (St. Francis Xavier)
Bronze – Jocelyn Giannotti Senior Girls 1500m – 4:42.26 (Holy Trinity)
Bronze – Connor England Junior Boys 100m – 11.16 (North Dundas)
Bronze – Connor England Junior Boys 200m – 23.11 (North Dundas)
Bronze – Charlie Mortimer Junior Boys 3000m – 9:04.50 (Hillcrest)
Bronze – Eli Mordel Junior Boys 100m Hurdles – 14.12 (Sir Robert Borden)
Bronze – Stephan Balson Senior Boys 200m – 21.98 (Lisgar)
Bronze – William Sanders Senior Boys 400m – 49.18 (Mother Teresa)
Bronze – Safwan El Mansari Senior Boys 800m – 1:57.16 (De La Salle)
Bronze – Jonah Gratton Senior Boys 110m Hurdles – 14.47 (La Citadelle)
Bronze – Eric Zielonka Senior Boys 400m Hurdles – 58.02 (Brookfield)
Bronze – Sophia Procter Novice Girls Pole Vault – J2.30m (Ashbury)
4th – Laila Lebel Novice Girls 800m – 2:27.82 (Colonel By)
4th – Dahlia Loreti Novice Girls 1500m – 5:05.97 (Pierre Savard)
4th – Meredith McCabe Junior Girls 400m – 1:02.44 (Lisgar)
4th – Naomi Olberg Junior Girls Long Jump – 5.02m (Lisgar)
4th – Amy LeBlanc Senior Girls 200m – 25.54 (St. Francis Xavier)
4th – Lauren Alexander Senior Girls 1500m – 4:47.15 (Glebe)
4th – Waverley Lyons Senior Girls 400m Hurdles – 1:07.41 (Glebe)
4th – Andromeda Bromwich Senior Girls High Jump – J1.50m (Colonel By)
4th – Katie Purves Senior Girls Shot Put – 10.06m (Franco-Citea)
4th – Brennan Lee Junior Boys 800m – 2:03.34 (Mother Teresa)
4th – Noah Smith Senior Boys 3000m – 9:01.40 (Immaculata)
4th – Mason Brennan Senior Boys 110m Hurdles – 14.79 (Colonel By)
4th – Jonah Gratton Senior Boys 400m Hurdles – 58.31 (La Citadelle)
4th – Kyra Dobson Takoff Junior Girls Pole Vault – J2.45m (Sir Robert Borden)
4th – Maxime Chartrand Novice Boys 300m Hurdles – 44.70 (Louis-Riel)