OTTAWA - August 4, 2021: Louise Stonham competing in the 2000m steeplechase at Ottawa Summer Twilight #14 at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility. Photograph Copyright 2001 Miles Rowat / Mundo Sport Images

Lions finish second in province for second week in a row

by linkinbioProvincial

It was deja vu all over again for Lions coaches this past weekend as they witnessed another provincial title fall just out of their grasp as the Under-18 team placed second at the Ontario Championships despite garnering eight medals – including three gold.  Like it did for the senior athletes, the title was decided in the final event, the men’s 4×400 metre relay, with the Lions placing fourth and coming up two points shy of London Western’s winning total of 116 points. In the three provincial championships held so far this summer, the margin of victory has been two points or less.

The women’s 4×800 metre relay winning team of Louise Stoneham, Gillian Porter, Koree Yach, and Amelia Van Brabant combined for a massive 46 of the Lions 114 point total. The quartet finished five seconds clear of second place in a time of nine minutes and 46.21 seconds – good enough for fifth on the Club’s age group rankings. Individually, Stoneham and Porter took the top two spots in the 2000 metre steeplechase, both in personal best efforts, finishing in times of 7:21.78 and 7:29.90 respectively.

Stoneham picked up five more points with her fourth place finish in the 3000 metres as Van Brabant nabbed a silver in the second best performance of her life – 10:05.40. Van Brabant, who has seen significant improvements across all her events this summer also nabbed a new personal best at 1500 metres, 4:39.85, to pick up a fourth place finish at five more team points.

The other gold medal of the weekend came from Adriano Padoin-Castillo as he took top honours in the steeplechase. The Immaculata High School student trimmed more than half a minute off his previous best to cross the line in six minutes and 36.87 seconds – just a fraction of a second ahead of Laurel Creek’s Nathan Paul. Padoin-Castillo also ran the lead leg of the 4×800 metre relay that place fourth.

Other individual medals came from Thomas Kukla-Colby and Audrey Goddard, who each took home bronze. Kukla-Colby set a new best of 56.63 seconds over the 400 metre hurdles for his third place finish, while Goddard cleared 1.45 metres for third in the high jump.

The women’s 4×100 and 4×400 metre relay teams picked up the final two bronze’s of the weekend.

Click here for full results.

OTTAWA - July 14, 2021: David Moulongou competing at Ottawa Summer Twilight #11 at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility.

Lions finish second at Ontario Open Championships

by linkinbioProvincial

For the second time in two weeks, the Lions found themselves in a tight battle for the team title at the provincial championship. As is known to be the case, the team title was decided in the final event – the men’s 4×400 metre relay, where the Lions entered tied with Royal City Track Club from Guelph at 103 points. However. Royal City’s one second victory gave them the overall crown with the quartet of Luca Nicoletti, Leewinchell Jean, Fabrice Nonez, and David Moulongou grabbing silver – one of 12 medals for the Lions over the weekend.

The one of the most decorated athletes of the Championship was Alexandra Telford, who took home a total of three medals, including two gold. While earning relay medals in her teenage years, the 25-year-old took home her first individual provincial medal Saturday as she ran away with gold in the 400 metres. Running just off her personal best, Telford finished in 55.85 seconds, nearly a second ahead of silver. Teammate Helana Jovic also picked up a bronze in the race.

Telford would set a new lifetime best Sunday in the 400 metre hurdles, placing third in 1:00.35 to move to ninth on the Club’s all-time list. Jovic would finish three spots back in sixth with 1:02.50. The pair would teamed up with Doyin Ogunremi and Madison Clarke to take the gold in both the 4×400 metre relay.

Bianca Borgella also took home a trio of golds as she captured both the para ambulatory 100 and 400 metres. The latter in a new Canadian T13 record of 1:04.30. The 18-year-old just missed her Canadian record in the 100 metres with her 12.76 clocking. Borgella also helped anchor the 4×100 metre relay team of Vanessa Lu Langley, Doyin Ogunremi, and Kelly Brennan to gold in thee 4×100 metres.

Topping the podium in the 3000 metre steeplechase was Nicholas Pedersen who was making his debut at the distance. The 21-year-old had not run the steeplechase since placing sixth at the 2018 OFSAA Championships over the 2000 metre distance. Pedersen’s time of nine minutes and 44.80 seconds was more than a minute ahead of silver and moves him to 16th best in Club history.

Leewinchell Jean produced a lifetime best to take silver in the 400 metre hurdles. The University of Windsor student crossed the line in 52.86 seconds, dropping nine tenths of a second from his previous best set winning OFSAA gold in 2019.

Other medals from the weekend included a bronze from Stephen Evans in the 800 metres and gold from the 4×100 metre relay team of David Adeleye, Luca Nicoletti, David Moulongou, and Bertwin Ben-Smith.

(Tornton, Canada---24 July 2021) Vanessa Lu Langley competing in the 100m hurdle heats at the 2021 Athletics Ontario U20 Championships, held at the Metro Toronto Track and Field Centre. Photograph 2021 Copyright Sean Burges / Mundo Sport Images. If you post on social media please tag @mundosportimages on Instagram or tag Mundo Sport Images on Facebook.

Lions win Ontario U20 title for first time since 2014

by linkinbioProvincial

Not even Mother Nature could cool off the sizzling performances on the track as the Ottawa Lions captured the Ontario U20 team title – its first since 2014. Despite a rain delay Saturday, it was an otherwise perfect weekend for competition at the Metro Toronto Track and Field Centre on the campus of York University as the Lions narrowly edged out the Flying Angels Track Club by a single point, 108-107, to capture the provincial banner.  The provincial title, the Club’s 54th since 2000, was a truly team effort with points coming from 18 of the 22 events the Lions were entered in.

The lone gold medal of the weekend came from one of the youngest competitors, 16-year-old Amelia Van Brabant in the 3000 metres. The soon to be grade 11 student put together a jaw dropping performance, crossing the line in 9:57.73 and knocking over 26 seconds off her previous best. Not to be outdone, Van Brabant also dropped four seconds off her 1500 metre best as she ran to a sixth place finish in 4:42.46 to pick up an extra three points.

The remaining medals from the weekend came by way of the hurdles and relays, with Lions athletes securing a medal in each of the four hurdle events and the five relays they participated in.

David Adeleye and Vanessa Lu Langley each picked up a bronze in the sprint hurdles. Adeleye, the soon to be second year student at the University of Toronto, set a personal best of 14.14 seconds over the 110 metre hurdles in the prelims before a 14.34 second clocking in the finals. Entering her second year at McGill University, Lu Langley was at her best in the finals of the 100 metre hurdles, equaling her personal best at 15.49 seconds.

The 400 metre hurdles saw Keito Newman pick up his first provincial. Running out of the slow heat of the timed final event, Newman produced a more than two second personal best of 56.98 seconds to narrowly edge out teammate Luca Nicoletti. Similarly, Emily Brennan also produced a more than two second lifetime best (1:07.13) to nab bronze in the women’s race.

The relays produced silvers in both 4×100 metre events as the team of Cora McQuinn, Doyin Ogunremi, Emily Brennan, and Bianca Borgella finished in a time of 50.03 seconds. A slight bobble in the final handoff likely kept the quartet of Seiyf Gebara, Luca Nicoletti, David Moulongou, and David Adeleye from claiming top spot, as they finished in 42.70 seconds, just behind Flying Angels.

Nicoletti and Moulongou teamed up with Thomas Kukla-Colby and Keito Newman in the 4×400 relay to garner another silver – again in a very tight finish. The quartet led the race for 1599 metres before being edged at the line by World U20 qualifier Michael Roth of St. Thomas Legion. The margin of victory for St. Thomas Legion – just seven hundredths ahead of the Lions 3:24.71 clocking.

The women’s 4×400 metre relay team exchanged Borgella for Audrey Gilmour as they picked up another silver – this time in 4:03.26.

Andrew Taylor, Phoenix Bouma, Cameron Porter, and Jackson Roy rounded out the relay medal haul as they place second in the 4×800 metre race with a time of 8 minutes and 24.37 seconds.

“Everyone showed up,” exclaimed Aspire program lead Zach Quevillon of the the team title. “Countless personal bests and seasons bests across the board resulted in a team championship. In between events, athletes were supporting each other with advice or cheering, both of which kept team moral higher than it has been in over a year due to COVID. I am most proud of the athletes ability to weather the uncertainty of the last 16 months and show up with an incredible desire to compete and to win.”

For full results and photos of the championship, visit our results page.