Cross-country prospect Lafleur adds depth
Seventeen-year-old prospect already building mileage
Head coach Paul Boots has spent years building the St. Clair Saints men's cross-country team into one of the best programs in the country.
With COVID-19 cancelling the 2020 season, the challenge now is keeping that program on top when racing returns, and Boots is hoping Kingsville's Matt Lafleur can be a piece of that puzzle in 2021.
“He's going to be a real player for us,” Boots said of Lafleur. “We think he'll play a significant role.
“He has the same passion as our other guys. I can coach a lot of things, but not passion. He's going to fit in real well.”
St. Clair is right where the 17-year-old Lafleur was hoping to land. The Saints men's team has finished on the conference podium at the last three championships and took gold in 2018. That's the same year St. Clair won its first national championship. The team took home the silver medal in 2019.
“I've been hoping for St. Clair for a while,” the 5-foot-11, 140-pound Lafleur said. “Since they won nationals, in 2018, that's when I was like, `Wow, it's right at my back door.'”
Normally the heavy recruiting comes when an athlete is in Grade 12. But Boots saw Lafleur in action as a junior distance runner in Grade 10 and was impressed with the first-year senior's performance in cross-country in the fall of 2019 that included a top-10 finish at Thrill on the Hill and WECSSAA.
“That was impressive,” Boots said. “After that, that was pretty much it. We were working with him a bit and he said he was applying to St. Clair. We've been watching and talking and met up at Malden Park where he did an eight-kilometre run and absolutely crushed it.”
While sports have been shut down for nearly a year, Lafleur was fortunate that he could still fall back on his running and is doing nearly 100 kilometres a week.
“Throughout the whole pandemic, running 's the only sport you've been really able to do legally, even if it's individually,” said Lafleur, who will study in the powerline technician program.
Boots believes that getting in that extra mileage now will help speed his adjustment to training and competing at the next level.
“He's upped his game, even though there's no racing,” Boots said. “The turnover (in college) is quite a bit. It can be tricky because, just when you're getting used to the volume and how we do things, they have to go. We've talked mileage and he'll be ready in September.”
Lafleur will continue to run track and field with the Uwindsor Athletics Club, but said he's already spoken to several of his future St. Clair teammates and is anxious to get rolling.
“I think the main goal is to carry the team success it's had the last few years. With the guys on the team, I think we can do that for sure.”
While Carter Free and Tyler Tofflemire have moved on since the pandemic, Boots said returnees Tyler Jones, Ricky Nepomuceno, Jacob Fitzpatrick, Ethan Power and Mitch Haggart, along with Lafleur, will keep the club competitive.
“I think we'll be in the hunt,” Boots said. “I think our team might be a little bit deeper. We've got six solid runners and sometimes the depth comes in handy.”
LANCERS MEN'S VOLLEYBALL
The University of Windsor Lancers men's volleyball team has a commitment from setter Markus Law-heese for the 2021-22 season.
The 6-foot-2 Law-heese is an Aurora high school product that also played with the Storm volleyball club.
“We are very happy to have Markus commit to our program,” Lancers' head coach James Gravelle said in a release. “He is a smart player with a competitive spirit.”
Law-heese won a provincial silver medal with the Storm U17 team and was an Ontario Volleyball Association U17 all-star. He also competes for Team Ontario indoor elite and with Team Ontario beach, where he won a U18 provincial championship.