HSB 25 HIGH ACHIEVERS: Kaiya Woodcock planning to represent University of Guelph Gryphons in soccer, athletics

By Martin Cleary

When Kaiya Woodcock wasn’t using her blazing speed to accomplish this, that and everything at various sports venues, she would stop to think about her future.

There was a time she wanted to go to university on a basketball scholarship. She played point guard for the West Ottawa Hornets, loved the team aspect of the game and used her acceleration on fast breaks or to create turnovers.

But at five feet, six inches tall, Woodcock thought she might have been too short for the university game.

How about box lacrosse?

As much as she enjoyed sprinting up and down the concrete arena floor with the Nepean Knights and being part of Ontario U22 and U15 championship teams, universities only offer field lacrosse and it’s not a varsity sport in Canada. She also wasn’t keen on the field version of Canada’s official summer sport.

Well, how about soccer and track and field?

Woodcock, 18, put her name out through a recruiting agency, seeking an athletic scholarship in university women’s soccer. She listed her athletic skills, including foot speed and determination, which were developed during her days in the West Ottawa Soccer Club youth programs, as well as her personal characteristics.

A student-athlete at Sacred Heart Catholic High School, she was one of the top performers in the 100-metre sprint and the long jump for four years in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario. While she didn’t win a medal during her four OFSAA provincial high school track and field championship appearances, she was consistently in the top 10 in both events.

But when it came time to find a university that would support her ambition to play women’s soccer in the fall and run track in the winter, she wasn’t able to close a deal with the varsity coaches.

That was until she approached the University of Guelph, where all the pieces of her grand plan snapped together with precision.

Woodcock, an honour roll student, has committed to attend Guelph to study human kinetics and play for the Gryphons women’s soccer team and join the indoor track team for sprinting and long jump.

“I was not being recruited for track, but mostly for soccer,” Woodcock said in a recent phone interview. “I had attended showcase soccer tournaments.

“A few of the offers from the U.S. weren’t the right fit. A lot of the schools wouldn’t let me run track.”

When she started looking at Canadian universities, she experienced a similar attitude of playing only one sport a year. But that all changed when she met Guelph women’s soccer coach Shayne Campbell.

“He was interested in me. He talked to the track coach and they recruited me together. I’m coming for soccer and track. It’s a dream. I’m so excited,” said Woodcock, who is eligible for an Athletic Financial Award of $5,000 based on her athletic talent and academic average of 80-per-cent or more.

Guelph owns a history of success with dual-sport athletes from Ottawa – Paris 2024 Olympian Jacqueline Madogo played soccer and ran track for the Gryphons.

Read More: Soccer player-turned-sprinter Jacqueline Madogo fast-tracks her road to Olympics

This spring, Woodcock focused on soccer, being a striker for the West Ottawa Soccer Club red team in the Ottawa-Carleton Soccer League’s women’s premier division, and track and field, competing in two events for the Sacred Heart Huskies.

West Ottawa has played six regular-season games so far and has a record of one win, two ties and three losses. She was unable to play for the Huskies girls’ senior soccer team this spring because of scheduling conflicts with games and practices.

Speed, acceleration and determination are Woodcock’s main qualities in soccer as she can often beat a defender to the ball on a long kick or hustle back on defence to stymie an opposing team’s attack.

During her four years of track and field, she used her straight-away speed and power to be a dominant novice, junior and senior performer in the National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association west conference and city championships as well as the OFSAA East Region meet.

In the long jump, Woodcock scored 11 first-place finishes in a total of 12 age-group conference, city and regional finals from 2022-25. As for the 100 metres, she posted seven wins, three second-place results and a pair of third-place finishes in the conference, city and regional finals.

Woodcock qualified for all four OFSAA provincials, but fell short of winning a medal. However, she did record eight top-10 results in her nine career events.

Her best 100-metre result was a sixth in 12.94 seconds (12.71 in the heats) in 2023 as a junior, when the NCSSAA staged the meet at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility. In long jump, she earned a fifth-place showing at 4.84 metres as a novice in 2022.

At her final OFSAA championship earlier this month in Toronto, Woodcock was sixth in the women’s long jump in 5.28 metres and 15th in the 100 metres in 12.47 seconds. Her 100-metre result was the only time she finished outside the top 10 in her OFSAA career.

Her best OFSAA memory was her first provincial high school championship in 2022 as part of the Sacred Heart girls’ novice 4×100-metre relay team.

“It was my first year on the track team and the relay team made it to OFSAA,” recalled Woodcock, who was a primary coach for the Huskies’ team this season. “It was fun to be part of that team.”

Besides the technical coaching she has received in various sports, Woodcock also has been given excellent guidance in training by her father Pat Woodcock, a former professional football player who is a co-owner and director of athletic performance at Elite Performance Academy, and her mother Melanie Reid, a nutritionist and owner of Balanced Plate Nutrition.

“My dad ran track in high school (Holy Trinity),” said Woodcock, who followed in his footsteps competing in the 100 metres and long jump. “He said: ‘Kaiya, you’re so fast, this event (100 metres) is all about you being fast.’

“My acceleration is definitely my greatest quality. In the past year to year and a half, I have pushed out of the (starter’s) blocks well. In long jump, it’s a short run up, acceleration and I hit the board hard.”

Woodcock has the best of all worlds as her father provides training and recovery programs, while her mother points her to the proper nutritious foods and drinks to fuel her body.

“I also get to bed on time,” Woodcock added. “Both my parents are super uplifting. I couldn’t ask for better parents.”

When Woodcock takes an occasional break now from her sports, she might allow herself to look well into the future. This time her focus is not a university scholarship, but rather a job as a professional athlete.

“I’d like to go pro. I’m not clear if it would be here in the Northern Super League or in Europe,” she projected. “But I definitely want to go pro.”

Read More of our 2025 High School Best Series as we tip our caps to top local student-athletes at: OttawaSportsPages.ca/Ottawa-High-School-Best-2025