Copyright Geoff Robins / Mundo Sport Images, 2023 www.mundosportimages.com

26 Lions qualify for OFSAA Cross Country Championships

by High Schoollinkinbio

A pride of 26 Lions are headed off to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association Cross Country Championships in Etobicoke after their performances at the National Capital and Eastern Ontario Championships last week. In Total, Lions athletes captured 9 of the available 18 individual medals, including 4 golds at the Ottawa Championships. 

Lions senior athletes dominated the podiums of both the boys and girls races at the Hornet’s Nest in Gloucester last Thursday – sweeping both podiums. 

On the boy’s side, Daniel Cova of Louis-Riel captured top spot over the six-kilometre course with a time of 20 minutes and 27.7 seconds. Defending OFSAA junior boy’s champion, Saul Taler was second across the line, 22.5 seconds behind Cova. 

Taler led a tremendous team performance from Glebe that saw the Gryphons amass a meagre 15 points to take the team title. Derek Strachan, also of Glebe rounded out the podium at 21:26.8. Kiefer Melinz-Dupuis was Glebe’s fourth scorer in sixth place.

Glebe also took the senior girls team title led by Lauren Alexander and her gold medal winning effort of 24 minutes and 10.2 seconds. Holy Trinity’s Jocelyn Giannoti placed second in 24:19.3 while last year’s OFSAA junior girls bronze medalist Grace Streek was third across the line in 24:41.0. A step behind Streek in fourth was Ashbury’s Kate Johnston-Zemek who helped the Colts to a team silver and OFSAA berth.

Grade 10 students Kyra Lauter and Charlie Mortimer each took top spot in their respective junior races. Lauter enjoyed a comfortable 21.7 second margin victory in the girls race, finishing the five-kilometre course in 21:20.0. Mortimer found himself in a much tighter race, narrowly edging out Colonel By’s Owen Siderius by 3.4 seconds in 17:41.2.

Cameron Allard and Austin Walker of Colonel By teammed with Siderius for junior boy’s team gold.

Dahlia Loreti of Pierre Savard was second across the line in the novice girls four-kilometre race in 16:26.2, while Isla Bilcock took home team gold running for Nepean. 

While just missing the novice boy’s podium in fourth, Luke Van Brabant led Earl of March to the team title with his 15:07.7 run.

At the EOSSAA Championships on Kingston’s Fort Henry hill, Quinn Coughlin placed fifth in the senior girls race with a time of 24 minutes and 38.06 seconds to earn her spot at OFSAA. Malachi Kenny just missed out on qualifying in the senior boys race with his sixth place finish with 20:29.18 clocking. 

The full list of qualifiers for OFSAA XC are included below:

Novice Girls
Dahlia Loreti (Pierre Savard)
Riley Daniels (The Element)
Isla Bilcock (Nepean)

Novice Boys
Luke Van Brabant (Earl of March)
Yusuf Elmasry (John McCrae)

Junior Girls
Kyra Lauter (Franco Cité)
Sofia Lefaivre (Louis-Riel)
Maya Allibon (John McCrae)

Junior Boys
Charlie Mortimer (Hillcrest)
Conlin Burnett (Lisgar)
Austin Walker (Colonel By)
Cameron Allard (Colonel By)

Senior Girls
Lauren Alexander (Glebe)
Jocelyn Giannotti (Holy Trinity)
Grace Streek (Peak Academy)
Kate Johnston-Zemek (Ashbury)
Waverley Lyons (Glebe)
Quinn Coughlin (Opeongo)

Senior Boys
Daniel Cova (Louis-Riel)
Saul Taler (Glebe)
Derek Strachen (Glebe)
Noah Smith (Immaculata)
Kiefer Melinz-Dupuis (Glebe)
Barrett Goold (Sir Robert Borden)
Cohen Kaye (Louis-Riel)
Matteo Padoin-Castillo (Immaculata)

Full results from the NCSSAA XC Championships are available on our website.

Full results from the EOSSAA XC Championships are available at https://sites.google.com/limestone.on.ca/xctf/2023/eossaa-xc

Ottawa, Canada. 25 May 2023. Jorai Oppong-Nketiah (734) of Pierre-de-Blois - Ottawa competing at the 2023 Ottawa City High School Track and Field Championships. Copyright 2023 Sean Burges / Mundo Sport Images

Records fall at NCSSAA and EOSSAA Championships

by High Schoollinkinbio

As local high school athletes continue their journey to the OFSAA Track and Field Championships set for June 8-10 here in Ottawa, a few Lions did so in record breaking fashion. 

For the second week in a row, Jorai Oppong-Nketiah etched her name into the record book, becoming the fastest grade nine girl in Ottawa track and field history. The Pierre-de-Blois student bested the field by more than a second in the final as she broke the tape in a blistering 12.25 seconds. 

Oppong-Nketiah’s performance bested the 48-year meet record of 12.40 set by Anne Liuzzo from Canterbury. 

Jorai also advanced to the East Regional Championship next week by taking top spot in the 200 metre. While falling short of Lauren Gale’s meet record, her time of 25.91 gave her a nice 1.4 second margin of victory. 

At the EOSSAA Track and Field Championships at  Thousand Island Secondary School in Brockville, a trio of meet records fell at the feet of Lions’ athletes. 

Quinn Couglin took down two records over the course of the two day championship, beginning on day one with the junior girls 300 metre hurdles event. The grade 10 student at Opeongo High School sped her way to a victory in 44.67 seconds Thursday afternoon – more than five seconds clear of second place. The performance bested the old record of 46.85 set by Catherine Farish of Frontenac Secondary School set in 2006. 

Coming back the next day, Coughlin took down another record. This time it was her idol’s, Melissa Bishop-Nriagu, junior girls 400 metre record that fell. Last year’s OFSAA silver medalist completed one lap of the TISS track in 57.65 seconds to shave 39 hundredths of second of Bishop-Nriagu’s 19 year old record.

While not in record time, Coughlin did add a third individual gold to her EOSSAA Championship performance in the 800 metres. Winning time for the grade 10 student was 2 minutes and 21.74 seconds. 

Rounding out the record breakers was Louise Stonham. The grade 12 student at Arnprior District High School bested her own record in the open girls 2000 metre steeplechase event. Louise stopped the clock in a time of 7 minutes and 15.63 seconds – more than 37 seconds ahead of second place. Her previous meet record of 7:21.13 had been set last year. 

Stonham also picked up a pair of bronze medals in the senior girls 1500 and 3000 metres. 

While he didn’t get his name in the NCSSAA record books, Glebe’s Jay Yetman put forward a very impressive performance over the two day championship, completing a sweep of the senior boys 100 and 200 metres as well as the long jump. 

The grade 12 student put together massive personal bests in both sprint events, as he joined the sub-11 and and sub-22 clubs with winning times of 10.99 and 21.79 seconds respectively. Yetman’s winning leap in the long jump measured 6.22 metres, a mere centimetre ahead of second place. 

The road to OFSAA continues next week here in Ottawa with the East Regional High School Championships on Thursday and Friday at Terry Fox. 

For full results from the NCSSAA and EOSSAA Championships, please visit https://ottawalions.com/results/2023-results/

For updated Club rankings, please visit https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/