Story by Matt Sookram
More than 30 athletes from Nipssing District Athletics have qualified for the OFSAA Track and Field Championships, after DAY 2 of the NOSSA Championships held in North Bay. It was a rainy, muggy day at Cundari Field at the athletes not only had to overcome the competition, but the conditions as well.
Here is a breakdown of the athletes from the area schools who are moving on to compete against the best in the province in Windsor June 2nd – 4th.
The Algonquin Barons had six athletes qualify. Cody Stevens finished 1st in Midget Mens Discuss throw with a distance of 39.07m and 2nd in Midget Mens Shot Put with a distance of 11.72m. Grace Michauville is moving on to compete in all three of her events. She finished 3rd in Javelin Throw, 2nd in Shot Put and 1st in Discuss Throw. Megan Cruickshank had a good day as the Senior won the Womens 1500m run with a time of 5:14.12 and came 2nd in the 3000m run. Katie Bethune had a 1st place finish competing in the Midget Womens 800m run with a time of 2:32.84. And two males will be heading to OFSAA for the triple jump competition, Zach Martel finished 2nd in the junior ranks and Phiilippe Coutu was 2nd in the Senior ranks. The Algonquin female 4 x 100m junior relay team with a time of 52:80 came in first too. That team includes Josée Rochon, Sophie Laperriere, Dominique Baldasaro, Kelsey Belanger. Dominique Baldasaro also won first place in the 300 hurdles. Algonquin finished top amongst North Bay area schools in team combined points.
The Chippewa Raiders are sending seven athletes to Windsor. Andrew Allard and Mary Grannary both qualified for two events. Allard will be competing in the Junior Mens 100m Hurdles and 300m Hurdles, the later of which he placed 1st on Thursday. Grannary finished 2nd in both of her events, the Junior Womens 300m hurdles and 80m hurdles. Chippewa had two other first place finishes with Lyric Loranger winning the Midget Mens 200m dash and Olivia Lyle winning the Midget Womens 1500m run. Sonya Stencil was 2nd in Junior Womens shot put and Skyla Mercer was 2nd in Midget Womens Javelin Throw. Jacob Russell is competing in Midget Mens Triple Jump – finishing 5th at NOSSA.
École secondaire catholique Élisabeth-Bruyère and Northern Secondary School are sending one athlete each. Gavin Lepage of EB was the top Mens Javelin thrower in the Junior division with a distance of 44.02m. Tim Hatton of Northern finished first in the same event but in the Senior circuit with a distance of 51.11m.
The school with the most athletes qualified is St. Joseph Scollard Hall who are sending nine individual Bears down to OFSAA, along with three different relay teams. Claudia Schlosser had a pair of first place finishes in hurdles in the Senior Womens 400m and 100m events. Tony Fournier placed first in the Junior Mens 200m dash and teammate Evan Desrosier topped the 400m event for the same age group. Kobe Seguin reached a height of 1.62m to win the Junior Mens High Jump. A couple more second place finishes for the Scollard mens side with AJ Williamson 2nd in the Midget Mens 400m dash and Warren Huard 2nd in the Junior Mens Discuss throw. As well, two more women qualified after second place finishes with Jileen Kilroy competing in Senior Womens 400m dash and Jillian Gleason in the Midget Womens 800m run. The womens 4x100m relay open team, the mens 4x100m relay junior team and the mens 4x100m relay senior team all qualified as well.
Erin Hansel will be competing in two long races at OFSAA after finishing first in both her events. The West Ferris Senior won the Womens open 1500m Steeple Chase and the 800m Dash. Joe Drinkwalter came 3rd in the Midget Mens 400m dash and the mens 4x100m relay senior team is also headed to Windsor in June.
The Widdifield Wildcats saw two-first and two-second place finishes among the athletes who qualified for OFSAA. Cali Porter won the Junior Womens High Jump reaching 1.54m and Alysaa Randall won the Senior Womens 3000m run. Emma Ringuette was 2nd in the Midget Womens 3000m run and Keon Wallingford was 2nd in the Midget Mens 3000m run.
