October 24, 2024 · 0 Comments
By Brian Lockhart
Over 300 athletes representing 14 schools participated in the District 4/10 cross-country championships held on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
The competition was hosted by Orangeville District Secondary School (ODSS) and was held at the Island Lake Conservation Area.
Competitors raced along a challenging course that ran around the park. Junior division runners completed a 5-kilometre course, while seniors ran a 6.2-kilometre course.
The big news of the day was ODSS’s senior boys team sweeping the division with the top five finishes. ODSS had 46 athletes in the cross-country competition this year.
ODSS cross country coach Rob Berg made a bold prediction before the race saying he thought his team could win the top five positions.
And he was proven right.
Berg called ODSS’s senior team the “strongest cross country team” he has seen in his 30 years of coaching.
The top five ODSS runners completed the 6.2-kilometre course within one minute and four seconds of each other – an astounding feat.
The top five senior boys finishers were Logan Willcott with a time of 20:24.4, Craig Stevenson with 20:58.2, Thomas Beukeboom with 21:27.5, Owen Baileybraun with 21:31.6 and Reuben Macleod with 21:48.6.
ODSS also did well in the other divisions.
In the Novice Girls Division, Addie McClean finished 11th in a field of 40, with a time of 18:19.1.
In Junior Girls, there was a field of 37. Mack Broom finished in fifth place with a time of 22:06.5. Abby Groves finished 9th place with a time of 22:39.5. Laura Kalnay was close behind, finishing in 12th place with a time of 24:48.2.
In the Senior Girls Division, ODSS competitor Ailsa Boganranderad finished second in a field of 53, with a time of 26:16.6. Keira Phillip came in 4th completing the course in 26:30.1. Talia Osborne finished in the 9th spot with a time of 28:03.9.
In the Novice Boys Division, Luka Baileybraun was the top ODSS competitor, finishing in 4th place in a field of 49 with a time of 15:05.2.
Liam Willcott led the ODSS Junior boys, finishing in 4th place in a field of 36 runners with a time of 17.55.0.
Westside Secondary School had a small team of 12 runners in this year’s cross-country event.
Reed Scott was the top Westside competitor in the Novice Boys division, finishing with a time of 16:02.7.
In Junior Girls, Anika Bennett finished 11th in a field of 37, with a time of 24:23.9.
In the Senior Boys Division, Alex Lamb was the top Westside competitor, finishing in 9th place with a time of 22:45.4 in a field of 57 runners.
Qualifying runners from the District 4/10 championship will now go on to compete at the regional level at CWOSSA in Paris, Ontario, on Thursday, Oct. 24.
Qualifiers from that meet will go on to the provincial championship at OFSAA on Monday, Nov. 4.
OFSAA competition will be held in Ottawa.