~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~
By Adam Beauchemin
You might hear a coach say that volleyball or tennis players can become good javelin throwers because they’re used to making a similar strong motion when they serve or spike.
The link between javelin and hockey is less evident, but perhaps the frequency that Mallea McMullin raises her stick in celebration of goals on the ice has helped her become an unmatched thrower in Ottawa, Ontario and Canada.
The Grade 10 Louis-Riel high school student finished fourth in scoring for the Ottawa Lady Sens while competing in the under-22 elite Ontario Women’s Hockey League this past season.
She does indeed play a bit of tennis and volleyball on the beach too, but the best explanation for McMullin’s mastery of javelin is that she excels in any activity that involves movement – from soccer to basketball to golf and more.
Her latest victory came at the OFSAA east regional track and field championships on Friday at Terry Fox Athletic Facility when she smashed the junior girls’ javelin record of 40.01 metres to win her event by over 11 m with her toss of 42.60 m.
Like she does in taking on older competitors at the rink, McMullin’s distance also would have won the senior girls’ competition by over 7 m.
“It means a lot,” McMullin says of her latest record-setting performance, which have become fairly routine. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to get it because I haven’t thrown 40 yet this year, but I got a new (personal-best) by two metres.”
On her second of six throws at the meet, McMullin launched the javelin 42.60 m and then she cleared the previous record again on her final throw with a 40.19 m effort.
“It’s good that I beat it twice,” notes the reigning U16 national champion. “I liked that I could do it more than once, because that means it’s consistent.”
McMullin’s mother Kristi Adamo was in attendance to watch her daughter’s most recent athletic achievement.
“We’re happy, we’re proud of her,” smiles Adamo, who heads a University of Ottawa lab dedicated to early prevention of obesity and promotion of long-term health. “It’s pretty exciting, I think she’ll be really happy because she’s generally always looking for those records.”
One of the biggest factors in McMullin’s recent success has been the refinement of her technique, brought on by her new coaching team at the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club.
“We have a coach for her this season, which is a big change. They’ve been helping her with her technique and addressing some of the things that she was missing last year,” Adamo highlights. “Although she did very well last year, we think the coaching and the work on technique has been very, very helpful.”
Despite her historic performances in the field and an OFSAA novice title in her debut at the high school provincials last year, McMullin still ranks javelin #2 in her choice of sports.
“My main sport is hockey. I enjoy track but I like team sports better still,” explains McMullin, who will be joining the Nepean Wildcats for the next OWHL season. “I want to play university hockey and do track on the side.”
McMullin and her parents are waiting with anticipation for potential university offers to come in this June. However, before making any considerations towards post-secondary schooling, McMullin will be headed to the June 5-7 OFSAA provincials at York University’s Toronto Track and Field Centre, where she’ll again be taking aim at the record books.
“I’m excited. I’m going for the OFSAA record but I’ll need another PB,” signals McMullin, who will need to throw 43.98 m for a new best.
Jorai Oppong-Nketiah back in form
While fellow consistent record-breaking Louis-Riel athlete Jorai Oppong-Nketiah didn’t set any new marks at the east regional meet, the Grade 11 sprinter’s time of 11.72 seconds in the senior girls’ 100 m dash still gave her a solid win.
Oppong-Nketiah says the race marked a step in the right direction after dealing with a knee injury.
“Today went better than expected. My knee has been injured and I’m not fully recovered, so I think I did pretty good,” indicates Oppong-Nketiah, who won both the Canadian U18 and U20 women’s 100 m titles last season at age 16.
The Lions athlete has only competed in the one event during the high school season because of the injury, but she’s hoping to be back running the 200 m sometime this summer.
“We’re going to slowly get back into the two,” Oppong-Nketiah notes. “I stopped training in February and I started training again in mid-April.”
Her Lions club coach Gordon Cavé says Oppong-Nketiah’s east regionals run was a good sign of progress in her injury recovery.
“Today was good, she got through the meet, not in a lot of pain and she’s tracking back to what she regularly runs, so it was a good indicator,” he outlines. “As of today, I’m super happy with what I see right now, and it looks good for the rest of the season.”
The culmination of Oppong-Nketiah’s season will come at the end of July when the Canadian Track and Field Championships come to town at Terry Fox.
There is definite intrigue building around whether the rising sprint star will again enter the U20 competition at nationals or test herself in the senior women’s open age group.
Oppong-Nketiah won the 2024 Canadian U20 100 m in 11.39 (and she ran faster at 11.38 in heats). That time would have placed her third in the senior category at the Canadian Olympic team trials, which were being held at the same time in Montreal.
That question will be answered in time, but for the moment, the plan is to take everything day-by-day.
“Just going to see how it goes,” says Oppong-Nketiah. “In the end, it’s me and my coach’s decision what we do.”
“A day at a time right now,” echoes Cavé. “Just come to practice and let’s see what we can do. If everything goes well, let’s move onto the next day.”
Many more firsts
McMullin and Oppong-Nketiah were just two of the Louis-Riel Rebelles’ many champions at the east regional meet.
In what was likely a first-ever feat, Louis-Riel swept every one of the girls’ 4×100 m relay events, winning each of the novice, junior and senior divisions.
The junior girls’ 400 m provided the race of the meet. Immaculata’s Ellie McGregor finished in a dead heat with Makayla Cremers of Peterborough’s St. Peter in 57.23 but was judged the winner by 0.005 seconds. Both athletes finished under the previous east regionals record time set by past world 800 m silver medallist Melissa Bishop.
Garneau teammates Maxime Cazabon and Kelly Prince finished 1-2 in the novice boys’ high jump, with Cazabon coming within 5 cm of the east regionals record as he leapt 1.83 m.
Stephan Balson, Zachary Jeggo and Ange-Mathis Kramo were among the standout performers on the first day of the east regionals, as the Ottawa Lions long sprints teammates combined to set multiple records at the meet.
Read More: Ottawa Lions long sprints trio chose track, rewarded with high school records
Several out-of-town competitors also established new records at the east regionals.
Frontenac’s Wyatt Lee topped the senior boys’ 100 m record of two-time relay team Olympian Segun Makinde with his 10.42 performance.
St. Theresa’s Charlee Sage smashed the novice girls’ pole vault record, now moved up to 2.80 m.
And Thomas A. Stewart’s Ty Hilliard set a new standard in the boys’ intellectually impaired 100 m in 12.37.
The top four athletes in each event advanced to OFSAA.
Other east regionals champions from the national capital association included:
Earl of March’s Alex Di Maso (girls’ 200 m wheelchair)
Holy Trinity’s Norah Nitta Mackay (JG 300 m hurdles)
Merivale’s Zoe Tobal (NG 200 m)
Sir Robert Borden’s Alex Forzley (JB 200 m)
Merivale’s Fega Eruotor (SG 200 m)
Colonel By’s Laila Lebel (JG 1,500 m & 3,000 m)
Louis-Riel’s Daniel Cova (SB 1,500 m & 3,000 m)
Garneau’s Maxime Cazabon (NB high jump)
Ashbury’s Marcus Kunstadt-Landon (JB discus)
Gisèle-Lalonde’s Timeo Atonfo (SB triple jump)
Louis-Riel’s Maxime Chartrand (JB pole vault)
Louis-Riel’s Danika Smith (JG high jump)
St. Patrick’s Neeca Coquillon (NG long jump)
Ashbury’s Deborah Adeleye (SG high jump)
Paul-Desmarais’s Sadie Gilbert (SG shot put)
St. Patrick’s Max Moir (NB long jump)
Merivale’s Maggie Hughson (JG shot put)
Sacred Heart’s Kaiya Woodcock (SG long jump)
Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s Nathan Melsness (JB high jump)
Jules-Leger’s Jacob Gauthier (boys’ visually impaired shot put, 100 m & 800 m)
Jules-Leger’s Lati Mbianga Tchamabong (girls’ shot put visually impaired)
Holy Trinity’s Eden Pridikman (NG 80 m hurdles)
Jules-Leger’s Lien Nhan (girls’ 100 m visually impaired)
Canterbury’s Onyx Sineus (NB 800 m)
Earl of March’s Luke Van Brabant (JB 800 m)
St. Francis-Xavier’s Sophia McIntyre (SG 800 m)
Hillcrest’s Omar Metwally (NB 100 m hurdles)
Merivale’s Zachary Benfaida (JB 100 m hurdles)
Notre Dame’s Simon Salisbury (SB 110 m hurdles)
Franco-Cité’s Olivia Daigle-Dasah (NG 100 m)
St. Laurent Academy’s Lila Gauthier (NG 400 m)
All Saints’ Declan McGinnity (NB 400 m)
Louis-Riel‘s open boys’ 4×400 m relay team