And they’re off!
Junior Rockway athletes excel, too
Senior girls begin their race during the WCSSAA cross-country championship at Bechtel Park in Waterloo on Friday.
WATERLOO — The Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders have returned to the top of the podium.
Sparked by an outstanding performance by its midget girls team, SJAM captured its first Waterloo County high school cross-country championship since 2009 on a frigid Friday afternoon at Bechtel Park.
The Highlanders finished first in the boys division and tied with the Cameron Heights Golden Gaels in the girls division to edge Cameron Heights for the overall title.
The victory was especially sweet for Highlanders coach Ian Clancy, who has coached 30 years at the high school level and will retire from his vice-principal position at the end of the current school year.
“This is very exciting. I woke up thinking this was going to be a great day and it certainly has been. It’s a phenomenal way to end a coaching career and I’ve been very happy to work with (SJAM coaches) James (Sniatenchuk) and Candice (Shrigley) and coach an amazing group of kids at Sir John A. Macdonald,” he said.
“We have 47 kids here today and they were all doing the best they could as individuals to help the team win this championship.”
SJAM got off to a great start when Tegan Morrison won the midget girls 3,000-metre race in 11:22:67 to finish ahead of teammate Marly Verhoeve and Sarah Bakker of Waterloo Collegiate. SJAM’s Vanessa Goodman finished fourth and Jocelyne Murphy was 15th.
The competition came down to the senior boys 7,000 m race and SJAM got a huge lift when John Fish won in 22:45.04 to finish ahead of Zach Frangos of Cameron Heights. Filip Popovic, Graham Smith and Milpreet Kamboj also tallied points for SJAM in the final race.
The Glenview Park Panthers didn’t win a team award but the small squad was certainly vocal when Annemieke Tucker won the junior girls 4,000 m race in 15:55.84 to edge Paige Sweeney of Cameron Heights.
Tucker is competing on Glenview Park’s cross-country team for the first time this fall and her win Friday was her first of the season.
“It was very muddy, slippery and cold so I wore lots of layers and did the best I can,” said Tucker, a gold medallist in the 3,000 m race at the WCSSAA track and field championship in May.
“I’m pretty excited with how it went, especially on a day like today.”
The District 8 high school championship was held Thursday at the same venue, leaving the Bechtel Park course in less than ideal conditions for the WCSSAA meet.
WCI’s Scott Arndt continued his strong season by handily winning the junior boys 6,000 m race in 21:08:33, more than a minute ahead of Luke Aikman of Waterloo-Oxford. Arndt said the switch to longer spikes helped settle his nerves on the slick surface.
“It’s very slippery and muddy and once you get going you really don’t think about the cold, you just think about not falling down,” he said with a smile.
Meanwhile, Sevanne Ghazarian stole the show at Thursday’s District 8 meet. The St. Benedict student won the senior girls 5,000 m race in a time of 18:28.31 and finished more than two minutes ahead of the second-place finisher, Eliza Smith of Resurrection.
Rockway athletes managed an unlikely result as five girls from the small, private school finished
near the top in the junior girls race. Claudia Heeney was first, Tessa Kedrick was third, Kaitlyn Fabian was fourth, Sophia Heidebrecht was 10th and Anya Fieguth was 11th. St. Benedict repeated as overall champions, winning the girls division and tying with St. Mary’s in the boys division.
District 8 and WCSSAA athletes return to Bechtel Park on Thursday for the Central Western Ontario championship.
The Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championship is set for the following Saturday in Port Hope.
The leaders of the pack
Here are the top three finishers at Thursday’s District 8 championship and Friday’s WCSSAA championship.
DISTRICT 8 Girls Midget — Abby Yuhasz, RCSS; Elissa Gibson, WCDHS; Caitlin Shepherd, WCDHS
Junior — Claudia Heeney, RMC; Nikki Soares, SBCSS; Tessa Hedrick, RMC
Senior — Sevanne Ghazarian, SBCSS; Eliza Smith, RCSS; Kennedy Bourque, SDCSS Boys Midget — Daniel Cooper, SMHS; Bruce Hackner, PRDG; Adam Loffelman, SMHS
Junior — Foster Malleck, SMHS; Kyle Bociort, PRDG; Andrew Schipper, SMHS
Senior — Greg Danayan, SDCSS; Marcus Kemp, SMHS; Joseph De Sousa, MDCSS WCSSAA Girls Midget — Tegan Morrison, SJAM; Marty Verhoeve, SJAM; Sarah Bakker, WCI
Junior — Annemieke Tucker, GPSS; Paige Sweeney, CHCI; Holly MacGillivray, SJAM
Senior — Christine Laurie, KCI; Juliette Davies, CHCI; Mackenzie Morgan, KCI Boys Midget — Lance Abbott, Huron Heights; Adam Huras, WODSS; Thomas Isert Bender, WODSS
Junior — Scott Arndt, WCI; Luke Aikman, WODSS; Korbett Cator, GRCI
Senior — John Fish, SJAM; Zach Frangos, CHCI; Brandon Sellers, HISS