The Ottawa Lions turned in another strong showing Saturday at the Ontario U20 and Open Championships in Windsor, piling up medals and personal bests to remain firmly in the hunt for provincial titles. After two days of competition, the Lions sit atop the U20 team standings with 86 points—six ahead of Speed Academy and Project Athletics—while the Open division squad sits third overall, just eight points shy of top-ranked Royal City Athletics Club.
Sprinters once again led the charge, with Zachary Jeggo taking gold in the U20 men’s 400 metres in 47.37 seconds. He was joined on the podium by Ayoub Shangai, who claimed bronze in 48.05, while Ange-Mathis Kramo narrowly missed the medals in fourth at 48.08. William Sanders (7th, 49.44) and Kyle London (8th, 49.61) rounded out a strong Lions presence in the final.
In the U20 women’s 100 metres, Jorai Oppong-Nketiah secured silver with a wind-assisted 11.46—another podium performance for the young sprint standout.
Middle-distance veterans added to the medal count as Stephen Evans (3:50.83) and André Alie-Lamarche (3:52.43) went 2–3 in the Open men’s 1500 metres, while U20 runner Saul Taler ran a personal best 3:54.90 for fourth in his division. On the women’s side, Tessa Knight placed fourth in the U20 2000m steeplechase with a time of 7:39.79.
In the field, Jessica Gyamfi added a second medal to her weekend tally, throwing 40.93 metres to capture bronze in the Open women’s discus. Liam Davis impressed in both the hammer and shot put, setting personal bests in each. He finished sixth in the hammer (46.96m) and claimed silver in the shot put (15.90m), a mark that ranks him sixth all-time in club history. Connor Fraser took bronze in the same event with a throw of 15.52m.
The podium finishes by Davis and Fraser mark the first time two Lions have stood on the senior shot put podium at the Ontario Championships since 2001, when Brennan Jack (gold) and Ryan Rowat (bronze) accomplished the feat.
In the U20 men’s high jump, Fallo Douramodou cleared 2.00 metres for the first time to earn silver and move to #7 on the club’s all-time list. Maria Okwechime recorded a seasonal best 5.88m for sixth in the Open women’s long jump, while Emmett Pindar jumped a personal best 13.62m for sixth in the U20 men’s triple jump.
On the relay front, the Lions collected five more medals:
- Gold in the Open women’s 4x100m (48.23 – Basu, McQuinn, Ogunremi, Cenac)
- Bronze in the U20 men’s 4x100m (43.11 – Meikle, London, Costanzo, Sanders)
- Gold in the Open men’s 4x800m (9:13.56 – Kaye, Sikka, Padoin-Castillo, Goold)
- Silver in the U20 men’s 4x800m (8:10.88 – Zielonka, Heins, Puvan, Taler)
- Silver in the U20 women’s 4x800m (10:03.34 – Knight, McIntyre, Johnston-Zemek, Dewar)
With one day to go, the Lions remain in strong contention for both the U20 and Open team titles, backed by momentum and depth across the board.