Seaway send two to OFSSA

EOSSAA qualifiers: Start of EOSSAA Junior Girls cross-country event. Pictured (l-r): Alysssa Colizza (St. Francis – 12th), Anna Workman (KCVI – 1st), Erika Jordan (Seaway – 3rd) and Mackenzie Campbell (KCVI – 2nd). (The Leader/Blancher photo

KEMPTVILLE – Over 900 athletes from Eastern Ontario competed at the 2017 EOSSAA Cross-Country running championships held at St. Michael Catholic Secondary School in Kemptville October 26th.

Seaway District High School sent a contingent of five athletes competing in four of the seven events, with two runners qualifying for the OFSSA provincial championships next weekend.

This season, with Eastern Ontario hosting the OFSSA championships in Petawawa, more runners from the region qualified. Normally, the top school team and the top-five individual runners outside of that team would qualify. This year, the top two school teams and the top 10 individual runners qualified.

Erika Jordan, who won the SDG Junior Girls championship the week before, put in her best time this season in the 5.4K event finishing third overall with a time of 21:32.58 minutes. Ahead of her were Anna Workman (1st) and Mackenzie Campbell (2nd), both from Kingston CVI. That school, along with Glengarry DHS, qualified as teams, which placed Jordan first overall for individual runners in the event.

“I had a good run,” Jordan told The Leader. “I felt good during and after the run so I am happy with my 3rd place finish.”

This is her second year qualifying for the provincial championship. Last season she competed in the Midget Girls event, finishing in the top-fifth of a field of 285 runners from across the province.

“I have learned a lot about my pace through training,” said Jordan. “I know the pace I need to start out at in order to stay at the front of the group.

Lilly Lewis (#1245) at the start of the EOSSAA Midget Girls cross-country event. (The Leader/Blancher photo)

Joining Jordan at the OFSSA championship is Lilly Lewis. Lewis, who finished second in the SDG Midget Girls championship, finished 17th overall at EOSSAA. She completed the race in 17:34.43 minutes, two minutes back from first place Ellie Brown from the host school. KCVI and Carleton Place were the two qualifying schools in the race, which moved Lewis up to 10th place overall in the individual results, sending her to OFSSA.

“We are exceptionally proud of our two young ladies who have earned the right to compete at OFSAA,” said Robin Waller, coach of the Spartans cross-country team. “In true Spartan style, their continued hard work and exemplary sportsmanship has been the driving force behind these two and we know they will run their personal best this Saturday.”

The two athletes will be among the estimated 1,000 runners who will take part in the 2017 OFSSAA Cross-Country championships in Petawawa November 3-4th.

Spartan results

In the Junior Boys 5.4K event, Alex Stewart finished 55th overall, Theo Blancher 111th. Grace Brooks finished the Senior Girls 6.2K event 116th.

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