For a second straight year Graham Hansel of West Ferris Secondary School is the winner of the Britt Jessup Memorial Award for outstanding achievement by a local male athlete.
Graduating this June, Graham is leaving an outstanding list of accomplishments in the sport of Cross Country. Bursting on to the scene as a grade 9 cross country runner things didn’t go as planned in his first NDA race. Leading the race by a substantial margin, Graham took a wrong turn that cost him the title.
This race would turn out to be the only race that Graham would lose in his five years in cross country and Track at the NDA and NOSSA levels.
He finished his high school career winning 4 NDA and 5 NOSSA cross country titles. At OFSAA, Graham was able to capture 3 medals winning bronze as a Midget and bronze and silver the past two years as a Senior.
Also in cross country, Graham has represented Ontario at the Junior Nationals in Vancouver the past two years.
As a 17 year old, racing in the U20 division Graham finished 8th and was named first alternate to the 2012 World Junior team.
This year, in Vancouver racing in a rain soaked track, Graham experienced a fall, that led to a 10th place finish.
Graham has also excelled on the track never losing a race at the NDA and NOSSA level for four straight years.
At the OFSAA level his best performance was 6th in the 1,500m and 6th in the 3,000m.
Last year Graham decided to try the 2,000m Steeplechase as well as the 3,000m race. Once again, he captured the NDA title in both races setting a new NDA record in the 3,000m breaking CIS Champion Matt Walters’ record by 17 seconds.
He also set a new 2,000m steeplechase record breaking OFSAA gold medalist Nick Walters’ previous record. For these accomplishments Graham was awarded the Fergie Dowdall at NDA given to the top athlete of the meet.
He repeated his performance at NOSSA winning both races and winning the OFSAA 2K Steeplechase bronze medal. He placed 8th in the 3,000m.
Last year for a number of the above mentioned achievements Graham was selected the Athlete of the year for the City and for West Ferris Secondary School.
Currently, Graham is training hard to compete in his last season of Track at West Ferris SS hoping to capture that elusive gold medal.
With four OFSAA medals in both sports Graham is one of the most decorated athletes to come from this area. An outstanding student/athlete Graham has accepted a full athletic scholarship to attend Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Graham will be receiving his award at the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame dinner held at the Best Western on May 3rd.
Submitted to BayToday.ca
