By Anne Duggan
Pure joy, unprecedented results, and one incredibly proud coach – national capital athletes enjoyed a 2012 OFSAA cross-country running championships like no other on Saturday, Nov. 3.
The Glebe Gryphons junior girls led the way with a dominant performance in the team standings to capture the first-ever provincial team gold in the local high school sports association’s history.
“I will never forget the joy on the girls’ faces,” Glebe coach Kirk Dillabaugh recounted by phone during the national capital team’s bus trip back from Brampton’s Heart Lake Conservation Area. “They were confident but nervous before the race. They prepared well and executed exceptionally well on race day.”
The Gryphons junior girls earned the lowest team score of the day (77 placement points for their top four runners) with the largest margin of victory (111 ahead of Markham’s Bill Crothers). So dominant were the Glebe girls that even without Claire Smith’s team-leading fifth-place result, Katherine Marshall (11th), Zoe Pritchard (30th), Alexa Livingstone (31st) and Emma Barrett (69th) would still have had 41 placement points to spare ahead of second place.
Smith says her team went into the race with hopes of a top-10 result, but their coach had a different idea of their capabilities.
“Mr. Dillabaugh did the math and thought we had a chance at first place,” Smith explains. “We thought he was dreaming a bit but I guess he is pretty good at math.”
The Glebe champions shared many smiles and a big group hug atop the podium as the event announcer proclaimed: “And that’ll be the banner that will hang forever in the gym at Glebe!”
Coupled with the senior girls’ strong seventh-place showing by Charlene Rhead (24th), Kendra Ridley (87), Alexa Derksen (88), Adara Dillabaugh (146) and Annabelle Harvey (200), Glebe also earned the girls’ aggregate team championship – another unprecedented feat for an Ottawa high school.
Glebe’s midget boys’ team of Darion Dillabaugh (27), Jake Weston (48), Marcus Uhthoff (89), Ben Risk (154) and Andrew Burney (155) also stood out, finishing fourth out of 39 Ontario schools in their event.
In terms of individual results, none were more impressive than those of the Day brothers. After both winning gold in the midget boys’ and senior boys’ races at the city championships, Holy Trinity’s Owen and Mickey Day earned matching medals once again at OFSAA, this time silvers.
“It is a big family moment,” reflected Mickey, who had turned the sibling double-gold trick when he was a midget and older brother Kieran was a senior.
Both brothers agreed that the numerous hills in Brampton played to their advantage.
“Every race has a couple of hills but this course had multiple hills, at least seven or eight,” highlights Mickey, who placed 49th as a Grade 11 senior competitor at OFSAA 2011 in Ottawa.
“The hills were the easiest parts,” echoed Owen, who safely took silver in the midget boys’ 5 km event by 17 seconds in front of third place in 16:25. “It was fun going up the hills and catching other runners. My family trains in Gatineau Park and those hills are painful. These hills seemed easy.”
Family, again, was pivotal at another point during Mickey’s 7 km race.
“I was really feeling tired with about 2 km left in the race when there were four guys ahead of me and a couple behind me,” recalled the Grade 12 student. “I was in a no man’s land. Then, my dad was there right on the edge of the course. He said the runners ahead were dying and to pick up the pace. I couldn’t go out without trying.”
Mickey went on to pass three of the four runners before crossing the finish line in 22:13.
Grade 11 Brookfield High School student Olivia Robertson improved on her OFSAA result as a junior last year by placing seventh overall in the senior girls’ event this year, while Ottawa Senators women’s hockey player Sophie Rodenburg from Earl of March had an impressive OFSAA debut with her sixth-place midget girls’ showing.
The 2012 OFSAA championships will remain a benchmark for future national capital teams.
“For me as a coach, this has been surreal,” added Dillabaugh, the national capital cross-country convenor who received tons of congratulations himself from others following the event. “I am so happy for the way the athletes performed.”