By Anne Duggan
Thirteen was a lucky number for national capital athletes at the OFSAA track-and-field championships. That’s how many medals local competitors took home from the June 6-8 high school provincials in Oshawa.
Charifa Labarang was the biggest Ottawa star. The Deslauriers student was the senior girls’ sprint queen, winning double-gold in the 100 and 200 metres.
The Louis-Riel midget boys’ 4×100 m relay team of Nicholas Renaud, Benjamin Dufour, Bedi Ndinsil and Jonathan Mufuta were the capital’s other golden sprinting sensations, while Hillcrest’s Zack Kerr won the senior boys’ pole vault by an impressive 35 cm to hit a world youth track-and-field championships qualifying standard with his 4.55 m vault.
National capital athletes won silver in two races, while the rest of the medals were bronze. Holy Trinity middle distance runner Owen Day kicked off his OFSAA career by making two trips to the podium with midget boys’ 1,500 m silver and 800 m bronze. And the Brookfield senior girls’ 4×100 m relay team of Emma Tashlin, Kye Fraser, Alex Telford and Clara Phillips placed second as well.
“We worked really hard,” reports Grade 10 student Emma Tashlin, one of three members of the team eligible to return next year. “There was lots of strength training and we worked well as a team together. We communicate well.”
Tashlin’s father, Craig Taylor, is a renowned local speed coach, and helped her relay team, but it was another Brookfield coach who earned an award at the event. The first time the honour was ever given out, Graydon Almstedt was unanimously voted as coach of the year by his peers.
Out of the bronze medalists, Claire Smith’s performance sticks out the most. The Glebe runner was the third of four athletes to dip under the 10-minute barrier and break an OFSAA record in the junior girls’ 3,000 m.
“Usually we get one thunderstorm during OFSAA. This time it was really bad the whole first day,” notes Glebe coach Kirk Dillabaugh. “(On Day 2), we had nice cool temperatures, which was ideal for the distance runners. It was nice for these particular runners because conditions have been lousy for them all season.”
Smith was the lone national capital athlete to dip below an OFSAA record mark at the event.
2013 national capital OFSAA high school track-and-field medalists
GOLD
- Charifa Labarang, Deslauriers, SG 100 m, SG 200 m
- Nicholas Renaud, Benjamin Dufour, Bedi Ndinsil & Jonathan Mufuta, Louis-Riel, MB 4×100 m relay
- Zack Kerr, Hillcrest, SB pole vault
SILVER
- Emma Tashlin, Kye Fraser, Alex Telford & Clara Phillips, Brookfield, SG 4×100 m relay
- Owen Day, Holy Trinity, MB 1,500 m
BRONZE
- Remy Wade, Glebe, MG 100 m
- Erinn Stenman-Fahey, Canterbury, JG 800 m
- Claire Smith, Glebe, JG 3,000 m
- Olivia Robertson, Brookfield, SG 3,000 m
- Alexandra Tierney, Sacred Heart, SG 400 m hurdles
- Hans Lafleur, Franco-Cité, SB high jump
- Owen Day, Holy Trinity, MB 800 m