HIGH ACHIEVERS: Ottawa high school athletes end season with 12 OFSAA championships in 5 sports

By Martin Cleary

If it’s June, it must be time for the final round of OFSAA sports championships.

Pardon us for jumping into the tornado of athletic activity a tad late as some provincial high school championships started on Monday and have already presented their medals. But the OFSAA championship tournaments continue with another slate of sports beginning Thursday and will carry on through Saturday.

The six days of activity this week will determine medallists in 12 team sports, covering boys and girls’ rugby and soccer as well as boys’ field lacrosse, and two sports for individuals, tennis and track and field.

Let’s take a look at what has already happened at the OFSAA championships and what’s to come later this week, which includes the boys’ AA soccer tournament on five fields at Millennium Park.

Read More: Long, eventful wait is over for Louis-Riel & Paul-Desmarais boys’ soccer teams set to compete at home OFSAA

TENNIS
At Toronto

Will Adamson, Earl of March, 4-2 (win-loss) record, open boys’ singles, main draw 2-1, lost to second seed Luke Laughlin 4-2, 1-4, 12-10 in quarterfinals; advanced to consolation round, 2-1, lost to fifth seed Luka Radosavljevk 4-2, 4-3 in semifinals.

Patrick Doak, Redeemer Christian, 1-2, open boys’ singles, main draw 1-1; consolation round, 0-1, retired in first match trailing 4-3 after first set.

Adrian Palframan and Max Motamedi, Glebe, 4-2, open boys’ doubles, main draw 1-1; consolation round, 3-1, lost to second seeds Ilia and Timofey Dobrovolsky 4-0, 4-3 in semifinals.

Rui Jin and Alex Zhang, Ashbury, 3-2, open boys’ doubles, main draw 1-1; consolation round 2-1, lost to fifth seeds Henry Metcalfe and Cameron Samek, 4-1, 4-2 in quarterfinals.

Ludovic Dupuis, Garneau, 1-2, high school boys’ singles, main draw 0-1; consolation round 1-1, lost in second round.

Colin Aquilina, Louis-Riel, 0-2, high school boys’ singles, main draw 0-1; consolation round lost in first round.

Mallea McMullin, Louis-Riel, 0-1, high school girls’ singles, main draw 0-1, lost by walkover in opening round-of-32 match; consolation round did not compete; qualified for the OFSAA track and field championships Thursday through Saturday in Toronto and competes Friday morning in girls’ junior javelin.

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Jain Parnika, Earl of March, 1-2, high school girls’ singles, main draw 1-1; consolation round 0-1, lost first round by walkover.

Oliver Eaton and Michael Khare, Glebe, 2-2, high school boys’ doubles, main draw 1-1; consolation round 1-1, lost in round of 32 in three sets.

Kai Rattray and Vincent Dagenais, Hillcrest, 4-2, high school boys’ doubles, main draw 2-1; consolation round 2-1, lost in round of 16.

Alice Wong and Clara Day, Colonel By, 3-2, high school girls’ doubles, main draw 2-1, lost quarterfinal to top seed Catherine Au and Khaliya Gulam 4-3, 4-1; consolation round 1-1, lost to Rachel Kelly and Rebecca Kelly 4-2, 4-2 in quarterfinals.

Ava Tai and Alexis Van Deist, Sir Robert Borden, 0-2, high school girls’ doubles, main draw 0-1; consolation round 0-1.

Joy Weng and Justin Fang, Colonel By, 4-2, high school mixed doubles, main draw 1-1; consolation round 3-1, lost to Simon Kang and Isabell Zhang, 4-3, 2-4, 11-9 in quarterfinals.

Nina Jacobson and Ian Zamuner, Glebe, 0-2, high school mixed doubles, main draw 0-1; consolation round 0-1.

RUGBY, Girls’ A/AA
At Cobourg

Cairine Wilson, which won the National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association AA final, split its two games and was eliminated from medal contention. After the eighth-seeded Wilson squad defeated No. 9 Kincardine 22-17, it met eventual gold-medallist Holy Cross and was crushed 45-0.

Holy Cross was the defending champion and went on to defeat Centre Dufferin 24-7 for its third OFSAA title in four years. It also was the 17th consecutive year a school from the Central Ontario Secondary Schools Association has claimed the provincial high school title.

Ashbury posted a 1-2 record as the 14th seed, losing to No. 3 St. Mary 33-7, defeating No. 6 St. John Henry Newman 15-12 and was routed 55-5 by No. 7 Smiths Falls, the eventual consolation winner over Parkside by a 25-5 count.

RUGBY, Girls’ AAA
At Aurora

Eighth-seeded Glebe finished its season winning one of three close games.

Glebe led No. 9 Ursuline College 14-12 at halftime, but was blanked in the second half and fell 33-14. The Gryphons rebounded to turn back No. 16 Frontenac 7-5, after a scoreless first half. In its final game, Glebe lost 15-7 to No. 12 St. Maximilian Kolbe.

Glebe finished second in the NCSSAA league for OFSAA-focused teams and won the playoff final 41-7 over St. Peter.

FIELD LACROSSE, Boys’ A/AA
At St. Catharines

NCSSAA champion St. Mark managed only one win in its four games at the OFSAA festival.

In their third game, the Lions defeated Sutton 6-4, but had the opposite result against Holy Cross, 9-4, Holy Trinity, 13-2, and Crestwood Prep, 8-7.

FIELD LACROSSE, Boys’ AAA
At Owen Sound

On the opening day of the 12-school championship Wednesday, Sacred Heart dropped both of its matches.

Sacred Heart fell to Neil McNeil 14-6 and St. Martin 8-5.

In its NCSSAA season, Sacred Heart won the league pennant at 6-0 and added two playoff victories – 7-5 over West Carleton in the semifinals and 8-6 over St. Francis Xavier in the final.

Sacred Heart is scheduled to finish OFSAA round-robin play on Thursday and have one classification game.

TRACK AND FIELD
Boys and girls’ novice, junior and senior
At Toronto
Thursday through Saturday

The opening day of one of the largest high school athletics meets in North America will have heats in the 2,000-metre steeplechase, the 400 metres, 1,500 metres and 4×100-metre relays as well as medal finals in 15 field events.

There are three senior field events where Ottawa athletes are ranked high and are considered medal candidates:

· Senior boys’ high jump – Five athletes have cleared 1.95 metres at high school meets this season, but there are 11 nearby at 1.90 metres, including the Immaculata pair of Fallo Douramodou and Beni Nkongolo and Colonel By’s Mason Brennan.

· Senior boys’ triple jump – Timeo Atonfo of Gisèle-Lalonde is ranked fifth on the OFSAA championship performance list with a leap of 14.16 metres. He is one of seven horizontal jumpers who have reached out to 14 metres. Abd-El Aleem Khaida of Colonel By is ranked ninth at 13.89 metres and Wyatt Sammon of South Carleton is 12th at 13.77 metres.

· Senior girls’ shot put – Paul-Demarais’s Sadie Gilbert, the daughter of Athletics Canada head coach Glenroy Gilbert, is ranked seventh at 11.19 metres.

SOCCER, Girls’ AA
At Kingston
Thursday through Saturday

Garneau, which defeated Louis-Riel 2-1 in the NCSSAA girls’ AA final, will play in pool D against Bishop Macdonell, Holy Trinity, LaSalle and Theriault.

SOCCER, Girls’ AAA
At Oakville
Thursday through Saturday

West Carleton, which was undefeated in its NCSSAA season with three wins and three ties and reached the playoff final, will play in pool C against Holy Trinity, St. Ignatius, Richview and Villanova.

SOCCER, Boys’ AA
At Ottawa
Thursday through Saturday

Louis-Riel will play in pool A against Holy Trinity, Theriault, Aurora and Silverthorn.

Paul-Desmarais will play in pool D against Thousand Islands, Huntsville, Catholic Central and Fort Frances.

In the NCSSAA boys’ AA final in early November, Louis Riel shut out Paul-Desmarais 3-0.

SOCCER, Boys’ AAA
At Kingston
Thursday through Saturday

St. Francis Xavier, the NCSSAA boys’ AAA champion after a 1-0 decision over Gloucester in November, will play in pool E against Holy Cross, Collingwood, St. Martin and Father Leo J. Austin.

RUGBY, Boys’ A/AA
At Belleville
Thursday through Saturday

Fourth-seeded Ashbury will play No. 13 Parkside in its first game. Cairine Wilson, the 10th seed, will face No. 7 Streetsville to open its championship.

RUGBY, Boys’ AAA
At Aurora
Thursday through Saturday

West Carleton, the 11th seed, will face No. 6 Medway in its opening match.