Ottawa Lions athletes delivered a wide range of standout performances across sprints, jumps, throws and distance events at last weekend’s Ontario U18/Open Championships, highlighted by two event titles, multiple top-five finishes, and a dozen new personal bests.
As he has done at every championship meet he has contested over the past two seasons, Maxime Cazabon once again rose to the occasion in the U18 boys high jump, claiming the title. The Grade 10 student at Garneau secured the win with a first-attempt clearance at 1.82 metres, then went on to clear his winning height of 1.89 metres on his first try as well. Cazabon also recorded a personal best of 6.29 metres to place fourth in the long jump and added a seasonal-best 7.26 seconds in the 60m semifinals.
Also reaching the top of the podium was Anabelle Muir, who captured gold in the U18 girls pole vault with a clearance of 3.20 metres. Muir sat in second place behind Windsor Essex’s Alyssa Rizzo on countback through the early heights, but her second-attempt clearance at 3.20 metres proved decisive and secured the victory. Teammate Charlotte Morales placed fifth with a personal-best clearance of 2.35 metres.
On the track, Alexander Forzley added to the club’s medal haul in the U18 boys 200 metres, earning silver in 23.11 seconds. Earlier in the championship, the Sir Robert Borden student placed sixth in the 60m final in 7.16 seconds after advancing through the preliminary and semifinal rounds.
The final medal for the Lions came in the throws, where Sadie Gilbert competed up an age category to place third in the senior women’s shot put with a throw of 11.69 metres.
Several of the meet’s personal best performances came in the middle-distance events. In his first race since last summer’s OFSAA Championships, Luke Van Brabant produced a personal best of 4:15.09 to place eighth in the U18 boys 1500m. He followed that with a fifth-place finish in the 800m in 2:00.48 — the second-fastest performance of his career.
Brennan Lee also recorded personal bests in both of his events, running 2:01.01 for 800 metres and 4:16.44 for 1500 metres. Isla Kittmer added a new best of 10:34.53 in the U18 girls 3000 metres, finishing 12th overall.
In the field events, Roxy Gardiner bounded her way into the record books, placing fourth in the U18 girls triple jump with a leap of 11.05 metres. The performance moves Gardiner into 10th place on the club’s all-time U18 rankings in the event.