Glebe sweeps OFSAA nordic

By Dan Plouffe

The Glebe Gryphons proved they’re as fast on snow as they are on grass at the Feb. 25-26 OFSAA high school provincial nordic skiing championships.

Following podium placements by their girls’ and boys’ teams in the overall standings during the fall cross-country running championships, many of the same athletes helped Glebe sweep the combined cross-country ski boys’ and girls’ standings junior and senior standings in Timmins.

“I wasn’t surprised at their performances,” indicates Glebe coach Anne Rimes, who nonetheless can’t recall an occasion where her school won both combined titles in the same year.

Having a big number of athletes is one reason for the success, she notes. About half the team are “skiers-first” who compete for the Nakkertok Nordic Club and train for the Ontario Cup circuit, and can be counted on for top-10 finishes at OFSAA. And then there is a large crop of strong athletes – many who continue their running training through winter on skis – who can place in the top-20 or top-30 and lift their school to a team triumph.

But the biggest factor, Rimes maintains, is the engrained culture of success in the two cross-country sports that’s caught on at Glebe.

“The students really feel pride in that,” she explains. “They’ll encourage each other early in the season: ‘OK, let’s get a team together, let’s train as a group, let’s make sure we have enough people,’ and if they don’t have enough, they’ll go out and recruit.

“They’ll say, ‘You should come to cross-country running or cross-country skiing because we need more people and we’re going to go to OFSAA.’”

Individual OFSAA champion Alison Pouw – who was also set to compete in the OFSAA swimming championships on March 4 – led the Glebe team of Reilly McClure, Hanna Smith and Katherine Marshall to a commanding junior girls’ placement points title ahead of second-place Lisgar.

Dawson Lyon, Pierre Grall-Johnson, Liam Powers-Kelly and Evan Kealey won the junior boys’ event. Katherine Clarke, Kendall Saravanamuttoo, Lois Betteridge and Julianna Rhead clawed their way to the top of the senior girls’ podium.

And the Glebe senior boys placed third behind the champion Lisgar team of individual bronze medalist Isaac Alexander-Cook, Christopher Blakeney, Marcus Nussbaum and Julian Alexander-Cook, who finished third, fourth, fifth and seventh respectively.

Also earning medals were Lisgar’s Alia Sanger (junior girls’ bronze) and first-year competitive skier Aidan Kirkham of Earl of March (junior boys’ silver).

During the relays the next day, the Lisgar senior boys again triumphed, the Glebe senior girls were third, the Lisgar junior girls were second, and the Glebe junior girls and boys again asserted their superiority.

“What I like is that they work together as a group,” Rimes highlights, noting her senior boys will wax skis for all the athletes. “They’re really team-oriented, and they’re very happy to ski for their school.”

A moment that stuck out for Rimes came when some of the top skiers were climbing the last major hill on their final loop and were lapping some of the slower competitors.

“They were actually encouraging the people they were passing while they were racing, telling them, ‘Good job, keep it up,’” recalls Rimes, who saluted organizers for putting on a great event, in particular for their heated port-o-potties. “Everyone is so positive. You don’t get that in all sports.”
More winter OFSAA medals for Ottawa
At the Feb. 25 OFSAA alpine skiing championships in Collingwood, the South Carleton team of bronze medalist Emily Butler, Kristine Sproule, Zoe Lazenby, Robyn Rennie and Sierra Hailstone topped the level 1 girls’ slalom standings, while the South Carleton boys were second in the level 1 slalom and giant slalom and Immaculata’s Monica Slobozianu won silver in the girls’ level 2 slalom.

Led by Paige Tremblay’s bronze medal along with Heather and Erin lounder, the Elmwood girls’ team topped the level 1 competition at the Feb. 27 OFSAA snowboard festival in Mansfield near Toronto.

Local high school athletes were set to compete in OFSAA championships for swimming, boys’ basketball, girls’ volleyball, and boys’ and girls’ hockey, wrestling and curling in early March.