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By Martin Cleary
The countdown has begun at the Nakkertok Nordic Ski Club.
After the largest cross-country ski club in Canada won the aggregate club points title for 13 consecutive years, it finished third in the standings at the 2025 Nordiq Canada national championships.
But Nakkertok climbed one rung of the ladder at last week’s Canadian championships, placing second in the club point standings behind Quebec host Mont Ste. Anne.
If Nakkertok wants to complete that numerical sequence of third in 2025 and second in 2026, the goal to aim for would be first in 2027.
And a second-place result at the 2026 Canadian finals for U16, U18, U23 and senior racers was impressive for Nakkertok as it had a relatively young team and there were a number of notable seniors – Katherine Stewart-Jones, Pierre Grall-Johnson, Luke Allan, Anna Stewart and Clara Hegan – absent because of international competitions.
“We’re one step closer to the banner (club points title). Last year we were third,” Nakkertok head coach Geoff Tomlinson said in a phone interview on Monday. “That (second place) is great. It’s not what we went there for, but we’ve learned from it.
“The Mont Ste. Anne club is very dedicated to its craft and it’s good to have great competition.”
Katya Semeniuk and Owen Siderius led the Nakkertok charge through the week-long championships. Semeniuk’s strong results allowed her to place second overall in the women’s U23 category and third in the open women’s division, while Siderius took third in the boys’ U18 class.
The University of Ottawa’s Bronwyn Williams was the women’s champion in the Canadian college and university nordic championships, which were held alongside the national finals. Pembroke Nordic’s Guillaume Pelchat was third overall in the men’s university class and fourth in the men’s open division.
Semeniuk’s two best results were in the distance races. She placed fourth in the women’s senior 10-kilometre classic interval start race and fifth in the 20-kilometre free mass start.
Siderius experienced the highs and lows of the sport. After a second-place result in the boys’ U18 7.5-kilometre classic interval start race, he went one place better three days later by winning the 10-kilometre mass start. In between, he missed qualifying for the sprint heats, when he broke a pole and fell in the qualifying round.
Williams was sixth in the women’s senior 20-kilometre free mass start, 10th in the 10-kilometre classic interval start race and fifth in her sprint semifinal, which didn’t advance her to the final. She also was the fastest university skier in the same 20-kilometre free mass start.
Pelchat was 10th in the men’s senior classic interval start race, 15th in the 20-kilometre free mass start and fifth in his sprint semifinal. The senior race also determined the results for the university race.
Nakkertok’s Evelyn Davies took a couple of tumbles in the championships, but still managed to win the bronze medal in the girls’ U18 10-kilometre free mass start and was only 7.1 seconds out of first place. She also was eighth in her opening race, the 7.5-kilometre classic interval start.
Hannah Shields of Kanata Nordic was fourth in the women’s senior 20-kilometre free mass start and sixth in the 10-kilometre classic interval start race.
Graeme Siderius of Nakkertok won the boys’ U16 sprint by three-quarters of a second, while clubmate Kobe Thompson was sixth.
Evan Rebane of Nakkertok was first in the boys’ U18 qualifying race, which spurred him to a sixth-place result in the final. Oscar Brun Del Re of Chelsea Nordiq took fourth place in the boys’ U18 10-kilometre free mass start. Chelsea Nordiq’s Ry Prior was ninth in the men’s senior 10-kilometre classic interval start.
Gatineau’s Esther Lavigne earned the silver medal in the girls’ U16 7.5-kilometre classic interval start race.
On foreign snow at St. Moritz, Switzerland, Caily-Grace Lemmex was assessed a penalty and did not advance past her 1/8 finals heat at the Snowboard Cross Junior World Championships, placing 32nd overall. Lemmex was an Ontario Winter Games gold medallist a few weeks earlier.
FIVE WINS GIVE NOTRE DAME EAGLES OFSAA BOYS’ A BASKETBALL GOLD
Second-seeded Notre Dame High School Eagles were flying high, after a dominant five-game showing drove them to the OFSAA boys’ A basketball championship in Timmins.
It was the eighth time an Ottawa high school has won an OFSAA boys’ basketball championship and the first National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association champion since Ashbury Colts in 2017. Ashbury also was the last boys’ A winner in 2010.
The Eagles led after every quarter in the boys’ A championship game against top-seeded Timmins and secured the trophy with a 60-44 decision. Notre Dame led 25-18, 37-26 and 46-31 after the first three quarters respectively.
In its first two playoff games, Notre Dame outscored No. 7 Ursula Franklin 57-47 in the quarterfinals and No. 3 The York School 61-42 in the semifinals.
The preliminary round saw the Eagles run past No. 20 Gravenhurst 83-39 and Almonte District 70-41.
At the OFSAA boys’ AA basketball championship in Pembroke, St. Mark Lions won their first two games before losing 69-61 to St. Joan of Arc.
Louis-Riel Rebelles split their first two games at the OFSAA boys’ AAA basketball championship in London, but dropped their quarterfinal 62-46 to Mother Teresa, which was the eventual champion.
Pierre-Savard won three of its four pool matches at the OFSAA girls’ AA volleyball championship in Cambridge. But in the knockout playoffs, Savard was eliminated in the championship quarterfinals 3-1 by St. John Henry Newman.
Franco-Cité had a 1-2 round-robin record and was 1-1 in the consolation playoffs at the OFSAA girls’ AAA volleyball championship in Windsor. Cité was defeated 3-2 by Adam Scott in the semifinals.
At the OFSAA girls’ A volleyball championship in North Bay, Pierre-de-Blois posted one win against three preliminary-round losses. Blois qualified for the consolation quarterfinals and lost 3-0 to Renaissance.
NATIONAL CAPITAL SWIMMERS, WRESTLERS CLAIM OFSAA CROWNS
Local athletes won a trio of medals at both of the recent OFSAA wrestling and swimming championships.
At OFSAA wrestling in Peterborough, Holy Trinity Catholic High School’s Dexter Bates repeated as a provincial high school champion.
After going through the boys’ 64-kilogram division without having a point scored against him last season, Bates was almost as dominant this season as he moved up to the 67.5 kg category.
The Grade 12 student ended four of his five matches on technical superiority (by leading his opponents by 10 points or more) and was one point away in his other match, which he won 11-2.
Bates was a gold and silver medallist at the St. John’s 2025 Canada Summer Games in Newfoundland.
No one was able to score a point on St. Francis Xavier’s Mary Ofili as she topped her two opponents 9-0 and 4-0 to win the girls’ 130 kg category, while Sir Robert Borden’s Viktoriya Myurtenko was also a champion at OFSAA wrestling in the girls’ 95 kg division. Myurtenko prevailed in several close matches, winning her first 6-2, her next 4-2, her semi-final 4-4 by scoring last and 6-2 in the final.
Brookfield’s Zayed Al Naimi (boys’ 77 kg) and Longfields-Davidson Heights’ Alex Kandybalskyi (boys’ 72 kg) were bronze medallists, while A.Y. Jackson’s Ellnia Spencer (girls’ 38 kg) and St. Patrick’s Alekzandro Cunning (boys’ 130 kg) were fourth and Longfields’ Mohammad Ahmadzai (boys’ 47.5 kg) was fifth.
At OFSAA swimming in Windsor, Paul-Desmarais’s Zoe Romanov was a double-winner in the senior girls’ 100 and 200-metre freestyle events, while Ashbury’s George Zhou topped the open boys’ 200 m freestyle and also took bronze in open boys’ 100 m individual medley.
Paul-Desmarais’s Samuel Blanchet won silver in senior boys’ 50 m freestyle and teammate Nikola Tesanovic took bronze in junior boys’ 200 m free, as did De La Salle’s Tu Anh Huynh in senior girls’ 50 m breaststroke.
Earning silver relay medals were Glebe’s Teagan Meredith, Alyssia Oma, Claire Anderson, Julia Kirk, Ros Detillieux, Olivia Wilson-East, Carter Robinson, Joshua Seely, Myer Patterson and Hadley Meredith, and Merivale’s Flora Zhang, Mathis Wu, Anna Polisena and William Ding.
Relay bronze medallists included Merivale’s Wu, William Zhang, Michael Wang and William Ding, De La Salle’s Mia Tocchi, Tu Anh Huynh, Emma Barrette and Grace Arbuthnot, and Ashbury’s Brody Marchlewicz, Deven Jetly, Thomas Clairand and Diego Vigil Escalera.
As a team, Glebe ranked second in the open girls’ standings and third in open boys.
GEE-GEES EDGED IN PURSUIT OF FIRST OUA WOMEN’S HOCKEY TITLE
The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees will have to wait another year to secure their first OUA women’s hockey championship at the McCaw Cup.
Playing in front of a sold-out crowd of 1,250 fans at the University of Guelph, the host Gryphons used a third-period goal from team captain Katherine Heard to win the one-game final 2-1.
Both the Gryphons and the Gee-Gees will advance to the U Sports women’s hockey championship, which starts Thursday in Elmira, ON.
The Gee-Gees fired 29 shots on Guelph goalkeeper Martina Fedel, but Alex Ferguson was the only player to score for the visitors as she made the most of her breakaway. Alexa Pongo earned the lone assist.
Jessica Teskey gave Guelph a 1-0 lead with the only goal in the second period. In the third period, Ferguson evened the match 1-1 at 6:10, but Heard, a fifth-year senior, counted the game-winning marker.
Heard was named the OUA West Division MVP for the 2025-26 season.
Gee-Gees goalkeeper Clara Genier stopped 20 of 22 shots by the Gryphons, who have won eight OUA women’s hockey championships.
MULTIPLE HONOURS FOR UBC’S OLIVIER RISK AT U SPORTS SWIM NATIONALS
Ottawa’s Olivier Risk celebrated a memorable U Sports swimming championships in Markham, ON, not only as an individual, but also as a member of the winning men’s University of British Columbia Thunderbirds team.
Risk won the men’s 1,500-metre freestyle time trial in 14 minutes, 53.64 seconds and placed third in the 400-metre freestyle in 3:46.36. He also made two other finals, finishing seventh in both the 200-metre freestyle and 400-metre individual medley with respective times of 1:46.88 and 4:21.54.
Alym Kurji and Abigail McKinley carried heavy workloads for the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees as they each won a bronze medal and competed in five A finals apiece.
As a team, Gee-Gees swimmers qualified for 14 individual A and relay finals and broke 10 school records.
McKinley was instrumental in smashing five Gee-Gees swim records.
Her three best individual races saw her capture the bronze medal in the women’s 200-metre backstroke in 2:09.59 as well as fifth-place results in the 100-metre backstroke in 1:00.36 and the 100-metre butterfly in 59.95 seconds.
McKinley anchored Raphaelle Lavoie, Isabelle Melanson and Annabelle Jackson to sixth place in the women’s 4×100-metre freestyle in 3:46.06. In the women’s 4×100-metre medley relay, Melanson, McKinley, Grace Liu and Jackson achieved seventh place in 4:10.92.
Amy Meharg was the fifth-place finisher in both the women’s 400- and 800-metre freestyle races in 4:16.58 and 8:48.47 respectively. Melanson, Meharg, Isabel Langridge and Josephine Streppel were sixth in the women’s 4×200-metre freestyle relay in 8:19.95.
Ottawa swimmers Maya McGhan and Beatrice Weiss-Reid contributed to the McGill University women’s point total as the Redbirds were third in the overall team standings.
Weiss-Reid and McGhan formed half of the McGill women’s 4×200-metre freestyle relay team, which won the bronze medal in 8:08.20. McGhan also broke the Redbirds’ school record in the women’s 200-metre freestyle with a qualifying swim of 2:00.11 and almost did it again with a fourth-place finish in the final in 2:00.27.
Kurji was third in the men’s 50-metre butterfly in 23.55 seconds as well as fourth in the 100-metre freestyle in a school-record 48:58 seconds and seventh in the 50-metre freestyle in 22.38 seconds.
In the men’s 4×100-metre freestyle relay final, Trevor Campbell, Addison Butler, Kurji and Noah Taylor were fifth with a school-best time of 3:16.54. Nicholas Radjenovic, Kurji, Charlie Trofimuk and Campbell swam a school-record 3:38.67 for sixth place in the men’s 4×100-metre medley relay final.
Radjenovic was a double Gee-Gees record setter, when he went 24.22 seconds for sixth place in the men’s 50-metre backstroke and 53.78 seconds in the 100-metre backstroke for a win in the B final and ninth overall.
Both Gee-Gees teams placed sixth in their respective men’s and women’s team standings.
Martin Cleary has written about amateur sports for over 52 years. A past Canadian sportswriter of the year and Ottawa Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement in Sport Media honouree, Martin retired from full-time work at the Ottawa Citizen in 2012, but continued to write a bi-weekly “High Achievers” column for the Citizen/Sun.
When the pandemic struck, Martin created the High Achievers “Stay-Safe Edition” to provide some positive news during tough times, via his Twitter account at first and now here at OttawaSportsPages.ca.
Martin can be reached by e-mail at martincleary51@gmail.com and on Twitter @martincleary.
