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At number nine on our all-time list, we stay within the sprint hurdle family and go with Canadian under-20 record holder Keira-Christie Galloway. The hurdling superstar represented both the Tigers of St. Matthews and the Gryphons from the Glebe during a high school career that included a six medal haul at the provincial high school championships.

While she is best known for her prowess in the hurdles, Christie-Galloway actually captured her first OFSAA medal in the long jump. As a grade nine student at St. Matthews, the 15 year old had found her way to the top of the standings after her fifth round jump, leading on a count back. Unfortunately, the athlete she had just leap frogged would immediately respond with a leap that stretched the measuring tape out two centimetres further to leave Christie-Galloway with silver.

While she looked poised to add another medal to the haul later that same day in the 80 metre hurdles, a trip over one of the final sticks left Keira out of the medals in seventh. However, that occasion would mark the last time she would lose a high school hurdles competition.

Returning to OFSAA in grade ten, Christie-Galloway came back with a vengeance, repeating her silver in the long jump, and taking out Jessica Zelinka’s 17 year old OFSAA record in the junior girls 80 metre hurdles with an impressive time of 11.24 seconds. Christie-Galloway’s gold medal run was so dominating that she crossed the line more than a half second clear of her nearest competitor.

The record breaking would continue again in grade 11 as Keira erased another Canadian track icon’s name from the record books. This time it was former World Champion Perdita Felicien’s OFSAA senior girls record of 13.41 seconds set in 1998 that would fall. Kristie-Galloway made quick of the record, taking it down in the heats by crossing the line in 13.33 seconds. In the final, a headwind helped keep the record from falling again, but Keira was still golden on the day, winning in 13.57 seconds of Brittany Stennekes of Dundas Valley. Stennekes would get revenge the next day by taking the long jump title and relegating Christie-Galloway to her third straight silver in the event.

For her grade 12 year, Christie-Galloway had switched schools to Glebe Collegiate where she focused her efforts solely on the hurdles at OFSAA despite qualifying in both the 100 and 200 metre events as well. Despite a tight battle with future national team teammate Kendra Leger, Christie-Galloway finished her high school career with a third straight sprint hurdles title, winning in a time of 13.53 seconds.

Since graduating from Glebe, Keira has continued to improve and flourish in the hurdles, including breaking a 30 year old Canadian U20 record, earning All-American honours, and donning the red and white at two global championships and the Pan Am Games. Prior to the global shut down stemming from COVID-19, Christie-Galloway was studying at Arizona State University in Tempe and preparing for a run at the Olympic Games.

Check back in again tomorrow as we announce number eight on our list of the Top 10 OFSAA Performers in Club history.

Today would have marked the start of the OFSAA East Regional competition where athletes from across Eastern Ontario battle for a top four spot and a berth in the OFSAA Track and Field Championships. In light of the cancelled high school season, we thought it would be fun to construct our own Top 10 list of OFSAA competitors from Club History. Since current coach, Leslie Estwick, captured the Club’s first OFSAA medal with junior high jump bronze in 1978, Lions’ athletes have gone on to capture more than 500 medals and numerous records at the high school championship.

Kicking off our list at number ten is Jeff Keays who competed in high school for both Thousand Islands Secondary School in Brockville and Smiths Falls District Collegiate Institute between 1993 and 1997. After not medaling in either grades nine or ten, Keays began ratcheting up the performances in grade 11 as he took silver in the junior boys 110 metre hurdles while at TISS. A year later, and running for SFDCI, Keays again found himself in the junior boys 110m hurdle final. Looking to avenge the previous year’s result, Keays crossed the line in 14.13 seconds to break the previous OFSAA record. Unfortunately for Keays, he was lined up beside Parkside Collegiate’s Jamie Hollingsworth, who also beat the previous mark in 14.10 seconds, and left Keays with a second silver.

In Keays’ final year of competition, he got his revenge on Hollingsworth and broke some records in the process. At the East Regional competition in Ottawa, Keays became the first Canadian high schooler to crack the 14 second barrier in the 110 metre hurdles, clinching his spot at OFSAA with a time of 13.95 seconds. The Interscholastic Record had previously belonged to former Lion Steve Yorsten. It is worthwhile to note that at that time, the senior aged athletes were competing over the 39 inch hurdles.

A week later at the OFSAA Championships in Kitchener, Keays appeared primed to lower his new Canadian record even further, but unfortunately Mother Nature was less than agreeable. In the heats, Keays dominated the field, running a new OFSAA record of 13.99 seconds into a nasty 4.1 m/s headwind. The conditions didn’t improve much in the final either as Keays battled a massive 7.1 m/s headwind to win in 14.15 seconds. To give perspective to the condition Keays was in, he came back at the Twilight meet the next Wednesday and ran a legal 13.77 seconds.

Following high school, Keays attended Washington State University on a scholarship and briefly gave bobsled a go in Calgary. He currently reisdes in Victoria where he volunteers as a coach with one of the local track clubs.

Our countdown of the Lions all-time OFSAA competitors continues tomorrow with number nine. We will reveal number one on the list on June 6 to coincide with what would have been the final day of this year’s OFSAA competition.

If you are in search of more OFSAA Track and Field memories, check out @mundosportimages on Instagram where they have been highlighting some of the all-time best performers.