A flashback to the OFSAA cross-country legends of the past
The Ontario high school cross-country championships are this Saturday. Get the scoop on details and see some of the past notable winners.
Erin McClure won Midget Girls in 1996, Junior Girls in 1997. Venues: Toronto, Cobden.
The only five-time OFSAA cross-country winner, Kevin Sullivan, here winning Senior Boys at Horseshoe Valley in 1991
Heidi Gerum won Senior Girls in 1982 in North York
Tara McKay, now Tarah Korir, won Senior Girls in 2003, 2004. Venues: Renfrew, Guelph.
Jamie Stafford won the Midget Boys race in 1978 at Scarborough College. He is the one in the dark hair beside Steve Wellum (red hair).
Emily Tallen, Midget Girls champion in 1994, Senior Girls champion in 1997. Venues: Ancaster, Cobden.
Matt Leeder (1074) won Midget Boys in 2004, Junior Boys in 2005, Senior Boys in 2006. Venues: Guelph, Kingston, Thunder Bay.
Ian Clarke was a 4-time winner. Here he is in 1979. (Pictured is a shot of Clarke from the open Ontario cross-country championships (OTFA).)
Steve Kocsis won Midget Boys in 1995. Venue: London.
Jenn Handley won Junior Girls in 1995 and 1996, Senior Girls in 1998. Venues: London, Cobden, Toronto.
Paul Moore won Senior Boys in 1996. Venue: Toronto.
At Brock University in 1976, Dave Peckham (fourth in the photo) won. Rob Earl leads, followed by Tony Hatherley and Tom Lobsinger. Peckham won OFSAA XC 3 times.
Ray Paulins en route to victory at OFSAA cross-country in 1978. Lockerby High School T-shirts read: The Green Machine. Venue: Scarborough.
2003 Senior Boys champion Henok Lechebo. Venue: Renfrew.
Chris Brewster, in the toque, won the 1980 junior race. Doug Consiglio and Marc Olesen are in the red, and the white, front row. Venue: London.
Kathy Butler (red shorts) won OFSAA four times. Her teammate Angela Schwan (black shorts) won OFSAA Junior Girls in 1988 and Senior Girls in 1990.
Marc Olesen won senior in 1982. Venue: North York.
Rebecca Stallwood won Senior Girls in 1996. Venue: Toronto.
Dylan Wykes (435) won Midget Boys in 1997 ahead of Nate Brannen (1066), who won Junior Boys, in 1998 and 1999. Devon Kershaw, Olympic cross-country skier, is between Wykes and Brannen. Venue: Cobden.
All photos and historical data courtesy of George Aitkin. Source of venue sites can be found here.
Ontario is home to one of the largest high school cross-country meets in North America, with many of Canada’s top runners having gone through the system. Running connoisseur George Aitkin offers his rundown of some of the notable performances of the past in the featured slideshow, including those of Olympians Kevin Sullivan, Dylan Wykes and Nate Brannen.
This year’s race
This year’s championships will be held in Port Hope, Ont. on Saturday.
OFSAA, the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations, Cross-Country Championships is expected to host as many as 1,700 athletes on Nov. 5. The provincial high school cross-country championships will attract thousands more as spectators, coaches, volunteers and officials will be on site to support up-and-coming runners.
Midget (Grade 9), Junior (Grade 10) and Senior (Grades 11-12) runners will compete on the trails surrounding Trinity College School, located approximately 80 minutes northeast of Toronto. Canadian Running will be on site for the event providing live coverage as well as post-race interviews and recaps. The course has one standout highlight: The climb up Mount Trinity.
RELATED: VIDEO: Competitors help exhausted cross-country runner finish race.
High school runners qualified for the provincial championships by virtue of placing well at their regional races. The top two teams, plus the top five individuals on a non-qualifying team, secured their spot to OFSAA.
Course preview
Schedule (all times EDT)
10:15 a.m. – Midget Girls (Grade 9, 3.2K)
10:45 a.m. – Para Race, 3.2K
11:30 a.m. – Midget Boys (Grade 9, 5K)
12:15 p.m. – Junior Girls (Grade 10, 4.2K)
1 p.m. – Junior Boys (Grade 10, 5.9K)
1:45 p.m. – Senior Girls (Grades 11-12, 5K)
2:30 p.m. – Senior Boys (Grades 11-12, 7K)
Many of the nation’s top runners have come through the Ontario high school system. Others, with impressive high school resumes, only continued running for a short period after high school, or not at all.
Notable past champions in the senior ranks to look out for in 2016 (by no means an exhaustive list)
Mathieu Plamondon (E.S.C. Theriault, Timmins) – The Grade 9 champion in 2013 and the Grade 10 champion in 2014.
Shona McCulloch (Longfields, Ottawa) – The 2014 OFSAA Grade 10 cross-country champion. She also won the Ottawa-region (NCSSAA – National Capital) championship last week. McCulloch defeated 2015 OFSAA junior champion Mei Mei Weston at the Ottawa-region race. McCulloch finished 11th at the World U20 Championships in the 3,000m.
Madeleine Ghazarian (Preston Secondary, Cambridge) – Defending senior champion. Madeleine’s sister, Sevanne, who attends a different high school, is also a contender as she finished just three seconds behind Madeleine at her conference meet (CWOSSA – Central Western).
Full start list
One of the nation’s top high schoolers, Brogan MacDougall, will not be running. Make sure to follow Canadian Running on Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube for the latest from Port Hope on Saturday.
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