ST. CATHARINES, Ont. — The Ottawa Lions left St. Catharines last weekend with 31 medals and its first provincial U18 team title in two years, closing out the Ontario U14/U16/U18 & CE Championships.
Our U18 team finished with an impressive 204 points, 68 clear of London Western Track and Field Club in second place, enough to secure the club’s 10th U18 team title since the championship began crowning a team winner in 2000. The Lions had last won it in 2024.
Team success came amid a broader medal haul that spanned nearly every age group at the meet. Over three days of championship action, Lions athletes combined for nine gold medals, 14 silver and eight bronze.
No Lions athlete had a busier weekend than Maxime Cazabon, who is just 16 but already competing at the top of the U18 ranks. Over three days, he ran the 100 and 200 meters, then turned to the jumps, where he swept gold in the high jump (1.94m) and triple jump (13.59m), added a silver in the long jump (6.32m), and closed out his meet with another silver as part of 4×100 relay team with Alexander Forzley, Ethan Hood, and Logan Morrice. The quartet’s time of 42.47 seconds now ranks as the second-fastest among U18 in club history.
Max Gerundin picked up a pair of medals as he completed the classic middle-distance double, winning the 800 meters in 1:53.35 and taking bronze in the 1500 in 4:01.66, before adding a fourth medal as part of the 4×400 team with Sebastian Johnson, Declan McGinnity, Ethan Hood. The team posted a speedy 3:20.57 to move to second on the U18 all-time list.
As she has done virtually all year, Anabelle Muir proved herself once again to be the class of the pole vault field. The 16-year-old cleared 3.46 meters to take top spot on the podium. Not willing to be a one-trick-pony, Muir jumped into relay duty where she was part of a fourth place finish in the 4×400 and helped the 4×800 team to silver. Running with Autumn Sakiyama, Isla Kittmer, Bianca Arabackyj, the quartet finished in 9:38.7 — good for sixth on the Club’s U18 list.
Among the club’s younger athletes, Eric Combasson repeated his victory from indoors in the U14 tetrathlon. In the race walk, Penny Roy took home the gold in the U16 1500m event.
The Lions saved two of their most complete team performances for the relays. In the 1600-meter sprint medley, the foursome of Yousef Kamel, Alexander Forzley, Logan Morrice and Timothy Kelly-MacLean won gold in 3 minutes 39.10 seconds. A few events later, Kelly-MacLean was back on the track for the 4×800-meter relay, joining Oscar Lorrain, Jake Claydon-St. John and Aidan Savka for a gold-medal time of 8:25.34 — his second gold of the meet.
Full List of Ottawa Lions Medalists
Gold
- Noah Hollinger — Decathlon (U18)
- Eric Combasson — Tetrathlon (U14)
- Max Gerundin — 800m (U18)
- Penny Roy — 1500m Race Walk (U16)
- Maxime Cazabon — High Jump (U18)
- Maxime Cazabon — Triple Jump (U18)
- Anabelle Muir — Pole Vault (U18)
- Yousef Kamel, Alexander Forzley, Logan Morrice, Timothy Kelly-MacLean — 1600m Sprint Medley (U18)
- Oscar Lorrain, Jake Claydon-St. John, Aidan Savka, Timothy Kelly-MacLean — 4x800m (U18)
Silver
- Parker Baetz — Decathlon (U18)
- Kyle London — Decathlon (U20)
- Leo Wallner — Decathlon (Open)
- Oliver Jeglic — 300m (U14)
- Ethan Hood — 400m (U18)
- Norah Nitta Mackay — 400m (U18)
- Jarred Rathwell — Javelin (U18)
- Maxime Cazabon — Long Jump (U18)
- Roxy Gardiner — Triple Jump (U18)
- Norah Nitta Mackay, Roxy Gardiner, Marlowe Fabi, Bianca Arabackyj — 1600m Sprint Medley (U18)
- Alexander Forzley, Maxime Cazabon, Ethan Hood, Logan Morrice — 4x100m (U18)
- Sebastian Johnson, Max Gerundin, Declan McGinnity, Ethan Hood — 4x400m (U18)
- Matisse Joly, Thomas Fenton, Brody Charbot, Silas Harding — 4x800m (U18)
- Autumn Sakiyama, Isla Kittmer, Anabelle Muir, Bianca Arabackyj — 4x800m (U18)
Bronze
- Oliver Jeglic — 80m (U14)
- Sasha Stephenson — 200m Hurdles (U16)
- Jake Claydon-St. John — 800m (U16)
- Max Gerundin — 1500m (U18)
- Alina Shpakovych — High Jump (U18)
- Aidan Savka, Brock Stonham, Ethan Frizzell, Oscar Lorrain — 1600m Sprint Medley (U18)
- Declan McGinnity, Sebastian Johnson, Yousef Kamel, Ethan Frizzell — 4x100m (U18)
- Audrey Webb, Priya Bilcock, Hailey Hayes, Sophie Houle — 4x800m (U18)