The second edition of the Canadian Track and Field League Trials took place over the weekend at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility, where Ottawa Lions athletes captured four event victories and produced five all-time club top-10 performances while taking advantage of the home track to deliver a series of impressive results.
Inspired by New Balance Nationals in the United States, the Trials is designed to create a fun and competitive environment for high school-aged athletes while incorporating elements of the CTFL format.
Max Gerundin arrived at the CTFL Trials with something to prove. After not advancing out of the heats at the Canadian Championships the week prior — racing against older U20 competition — the Grade 11 middle-distance runner responded with a personal-best and #2 Club U18 performance of 1:52.88 to finish second in the Grade 11-12 800m. The performance currently ranks second in the country among U18 athletes, behind only Lucas Bennett — Sunday’s victor.
Gerundin wasn’t the only Lion to leave a mark in the middle distances, as Lilah Saibil delivered a breakthrough performance over 1500m. The grade 7 student etched her name in the record books with her second place finish in the Grade 9-10 division with a time of 4:56.04. The performance dropped more than seven seconds from her previous best, moving her into second place on the club’s all-time U14 list, trailing only Tess Acton’s 4:54.58 set back in 2001.
Oscar Lorrain put forth a commanding win in the Grade 9-10 1500m, pulling away to win by nearly five seconds over Elliott Wilson of the Blue Devils Athletic Club in a personal-best time of 4:07.96. Lorrain returned the following day and added a third-place finish over 3000m, again notching a personal best — 8:50.50.
Quinten Lepp won the Grade 9-10 2000m in 6:52.32 to place seventh all-time in Lions U16 club history. Isla Kittmer claimed the Grade 9-12 3000m title in a personal best 10:21.41, dropping four seconds from her previous best set at EOSSAA in May and finishing 6.5 seconds clear of Sophie Shaffer of the University of Calgary Athletic Club. Nathan Cox rounded out the Lions’ event victories with a win in the Grade 12 400m hurdles in 57.87.
Other notable performances from The Trials included Timothy Kelly-Maclean who posted the 10th fastest U18 800m in Club history with his 1:54.94 run in the Grade 11-12 category. Sasha Stephenson’s 29.62 second effort for fourth place in the Grade 9 200m hurdles moved her to fourth all-time in Lions U16 history.