The following article was submitted by the Collingwood Collegiate Institute track and field team.
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Ottawa’s Terry Fox Athletic Facility played host to Ontario’s top track and field athletes this past week and Collingwood Collegiate, represented by a team of 16 runners and jumpers, proved they belong among the best in the province. The Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championship held from June 8-10 gathered Ontario’s top 24 athletes in each event and provided a wonderful opportunity for these Owls to finish off a great season.
Season-best and personal-best performances were plentiful in Ottawa which produced six top-10 finishes from Collingwood athletes. Jack Sands set a new school record in the novice 100m hurdles on route to a fourth place finish - just 5/100ths of a second from the podium. Later he added a 15th-place result in the 300m hurdles. Keira Shawyer leapt to a 5th place result in the junior high jump, a day after taking 10th place honours in the long jump.
Sabine Cornell proved she ranks among the best distance runners in the province as she placed sixth in both the novice 1500m and 3000m races. Miles Dempsey then continued CCI's strong hurdle showing by taking sixth in the senior 400m event while Jack Shaw came away with an 11th-place finish in the Junior 300m hurdles, setting a new school record in the process. Max Sloan also had a strong run in the senior 110m hurdles.
Wes MacMillan had a solid OFSAA as he placed 11th in Ontario in the junior 3000m race and added a 17th in the 1500m event. Evan Moore finished his season with a personal best performance in the novice 3000m race finishing 16th. Ben Mundle likewise pulled in a 16th-place result in an incredibly hard-fought senior 800m race.
Chantal Abbott concluded her season with a gutsy run in the senior 3000m race to finish 22nd in the province.
Collingwood Collegiate’s 4x400m relay teams also performed well with the men’s team of Sawyer Lammle, Ben Mundle, Jack Shaw and Miles Dempsey finishing 15th in a season-best time and the women’s team of Payton Dodd, Gabby Wall, Kenzie Wall and Sabine Cornell ran away with 19th place.
In all, it was an incredible season for the Owls as they not only performed well on the provincial stage but were able to dominate at home. With great contributions from all part of this impressive team, the athletes in Black and Gold were able to capture first-place team honours at the St. Theresa’s Invitational, the North GBSSA qualifying meet and then the GBSSA Championships themselves en route to the provincial championships.
