By Bruce Burton
The Haldimand Press
HALDIMAND—For most of Haldimand’s cross country runners, their season is now over. Only three are the exception, who have qualified for the OFSSA Championships, being held at Dagmar Ski Resort in Uxbridge on November 5.
With a bothersome stomach, Hagersville’s Novice girl Abby Martin went into her first-ever CWOSSA Championship for cross country with the main objective of qualifying for the OFSSA Championships. Needing a top-five finish to do so, she went out with the top group, staying in the top five throughout, and holding that position all the way to the finish, crossing the line in 17:09 for four kilometres, 14 seconds faster than her second place at the AABHN tilt on October 19.
Teammate Emily Walton also bettered her AABHN time, which had placed her ninth, but there were more runners ahead of her this time, as she placed 42nd out of 105 finishers.
In Novice boys, AABHN Champion Ethan Kindree came up against stiffer competition for CWOSSA, but still managed to qualify for OFSSA with a strong third place finish in 14:53 for his four kilometres.
Dunnville’s Kalen McCormack narrowly missed out on qualifying, despite finishing ninth out of 135 runners, with a time of 15:21.
Junior boy Gaven Mathieson was second for the second straight year at the CWOSSA Championships, after winning AABHN for the second straight year.
It was a different runner this time out taking the top spot. In 2021, it was Tristan Gatlow from Pauline Johnson that proved his nemesis over four kilometres. This year, it was Haiden Tracey-Elcombe of Forest Heights in Kitchener that did the deed over five kilometres. Their re-match will take place shortly, as they line up next to each other at OFSSA.
OFSSA 2021 was the rubber match with Garlow, and Mathieson came out on top. Hopefully, he can continue the pattern in 2022 when he faces Tracey-Elcombe.
For the Junior girls five kilometres, only two locals made the trip, as Cayuga’s Ella Long and Addison Jepson were 37th and 53rd respectively.
Ontario’s high schools are back to full strength on their sports calendar, so this year’s OFSSA Cross Country Championships should see the top distance runners in Ontario facing off at Dagmar Ski Resort. Upwards of 270 runners will contest each of the six races, and we will know shortly how Haldimand’s final three stack up against them.
