OFSAA 2024 Cross Country Championships
November 4, 2024 by admin
Filed under Provincial and Territorial News
OFSAA 2024 Provincial Cross Country Championship
Click here for complete list of results
Click here for link to the list of participants by Associations/School
Georgetown 87s claim first OFSAA cross-country title in 35 years
GDHS novice girls edge Villanova in closest finish since 2012
It had been more than two minutes since the winner had crossed the finish line and yet as Kayla Clarington sprinted toward the end, she looked as if she were racing for a gold medal.
With 20 metres left, she ran past Ottawa’s Aaliyah Bourdreau and had the race been maybe three metres longer, she may have caught Christ the King’s Scarlett Quira and Ottawa’s Avery Shula as well as the runners crossed the line, separated by less the two-tenths of a second.
Clarington’s dash earned her a 95th place finish at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association cross-country championships in Ottawa, but more importantly, it helped the Georgetown 87s secure their first provincial high school cross-country title in 35 years.
“It was amazing,” said Georgetown coach Dan Hipson. “We had a really good chat before the race where (coach) Lisa (Labe) and I told them, ‘Just worry about where you are in the moment, you could be 50th, you could be 100th, but just pick off every spot you can.'”
That would be valuable advice as Georgetown claimed the novice girls’ division by four points, the closest finish in any division at OFSAA since Georgetown’s Christ the King won the novice girls’ title by three points in 2012.
“I was so impressed with how hard they ran right to the end,” Labe said.
Leading the way for the 87s was Grace Maramieri, who finished 20th with a time of 16 minutes, 13.77 seconds. Maramieri took an early lead in the race, attacking the first of two steep hills on the course. Though she would eventually be overtaken, Maramieri maintained her pace throughout, taking just 11 seconds longer to complete the second lap of the course and still had something left for the end of the race.
“We were about 300 metres from the finish, and we were counting runners,” Hipson said. “When Grace went past us, she was in 24th place, so she picked up four places in those last 300 metres.”
After Claringbold finished in 17:33.09, Lilly Smith followed 13 seconds later to place 104th and another 10 seconds later Mackenzie Connell crossed the line in 114th out of 268 runners.
That gave Georgetown a total of 333 points, while LaSalle’s St. Thomas of Villanova finished with 337. As if that wasn’t close enough, Oshawa’s R.S. McLaughlin finished with 341 points and Toronto’s T.D. Riverdale was fourth, 20 points back with 353.
By comparison, the next closest division finish at this year’s OFSAA was the junior boys’ division, where 22 points separated first and second.
Georgetown’s margin was so slim that if each of its four runners had run the four-kilometre course two seconds slower, Villanova would have beaten them for the title.
The Georgetown novice boys’ team finished 14th, led by Connor Ferguson (25th) and Michael Byrne (58th) while the junior girls’ team placed 20th.
Georgetown’s Ziva Palmer placed fifth in the para girls’ race while Jorja Padt was 14th. The para team is coached by Sylvia Springer.
CCI cross-country team top in the province, three-years running
The team brought home banners and medals from the Nov. 4 championship races in Ottawa
CollingwoodToday Staff
The following article was submitted by the CCI cross-country running team.
The Collingwood Collegiate Fighting Owls cross-country running team put an exclamation mark on an historic 2024 season by capturing the overall combined team title at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) provincial championships held in Ottawa on Nov. 4.
Five of Collingwood’s six teams had top-eight finishes en route to the overall first place finish in Ontario. This marks the third straight year that CCI has tallied the most team points at OFSAA when all six team-based races are combined.
The Owls competed against the 17 other secondary school sport associations in Ontario and proved they are one of the best programs in the province. Each race featured up to 38 teams and 285 individual runners.
For the first time ever, the overall girls’ team championship was won by the CCI girls – novices, juniors and seniors combined.
On the guys’ side, their combined efforts were good for second place in all of Ontario.
As a result, the overall team combined to take the top honours in cross-country running again this year.
The day began with the novice girls team which captured a sixth place finish – led by Iris Green. Adalyn Farnand, Lucy Davis, Jane Evans and Leya Hamelin also ran great races in their OFSAA debuts to add valuable points to the girls’ and overall team titles in the process.
The novice boys race then produced the individual performance of the day as Alistair Wark ran to a bronze medal finish at his first OFSAA. This was the first medal by a CCI male since Jay Morrell in 2002.
The novice team also matched the best finish for a CCI boys’ team as they took fourth place. Lane van der Valk, Ashton Veldhuis, Charlie Johnson and Cameron McDermid rounded out the team that was a mere 12 points off the podium.
The junior girls then took to the challenging OFSAA course and battled fiercely to end up in 22nd position in the province. Stella Lennox led the way for the Owls followed closely by Julia Lehmann. Taylor Steinberg, Beatrice Cheek and Racheal MacMillan rounded out the junior squad.
On the guys’s side, Nolan Liotta paced the team to an impressive eighth place finish – again adding valuable points to the overall title. Cole Rouse, Liam McFarlane, Cole Elmes and Logan Wood all placed solidly in the top half of the field to grab the impressive team result.
The senior girls then took on the wind, the rain and a challenging field to emerge as OFSAA gold medallists. Sabine Cornell led the team in 15th position and the entire team posted results in the top 100. Ruby File, Sofia Mundle, Elly Moore and Sadie Johnson all put together championship runs to post the lowest score in the province for Senior Girls. In addition, this is CCI’s first ever senior gold medal at OFSAA.
The last race of the day featured the CCI senior boys who raced to another impressive finish taking sixth in Ontario. Wes MacMillan led the way in 23rd spot, followed closely by Johnny Liotta. Evan Moore, Nathan Sims and George Hamburg completed the senior team and posted a result that sealed the second place finish in the overall boys’ standings.
In all, it was a fantastic 2024 season, capped off with both individual and team successes. The regular season saw 24 team victories in the 24 Georgian Bay Series races.
The Owls then took top honours in the six team races at the GBSSA Championships. They have their first ever overall girls’ team title and have now amassed more points at OFSAA Cross-Country than any other school three years in a row.
