~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~

Glebe completes undefeated decade at 2019 cross-country running city finals

Find photos from each race on SportsOttawa.com’s Facebook page.

The Glebe Gryphons ran away with the aggregate crown to capture their 10th consecutive national capital high school cross-country running championship on Oct. 24 at the Hornets Nest.

Colonel By edged Nepean, Paul-Desmarais and John McCrae in the closer battle for 2nd in the overall standings.

Colonel By’s novice boys were the only team to break up a full Glebe sweep, as the Gryphons cruised to comfortable victories in the other 5 divisions.

“Once again, it was a pretty outstanding performance,” says Glebe coach Kirk Dillabaugh. “They all ran as well as expected, which is always nice, to perform on the day that it counts. Now we just have to hope we can do it next week.”

The two schools with the lowest team score in each division (calculated by adding their top 4 runners’ placings) qualified five runners for the Nov. 2 OFSAA cross-country provincial championships in Sudbury. The top 5 individual racers who were not already qualified as part of a team also earned OFSAA championship berths.

“Our focus right from the start of the year is provincials now,” signals Dillabaugh, noting team depth is a major key to Glebe’s success, fuelled by a positive team environment and the school’s simple enthusiasm for running.

“Every year, you lose one or two runners because somebody gets injured or whatnot. That happens all the time. But the good thing about having a big team, and a competitive team, is that when those things happen, it doesn’t hurt you too, too much.

“And your priorities are just different. I had a few girls who came into city finals with little problems like being sore, so you’re allowed to say to them, ‘It’s OK, make sure you put in a good effort,’ whereas some teams have to go as hard as they possibly can in order to qualify.

“It gives us that luxury, to be able to back off a little at cities and be better rested for OFSAA.”

Find photos from the races on SportsOttawa.com’s Facebook page and read full Ottawa Sportspage recaps of each race below: