HIGH ACHIEVERS: Garneau’s Maxime Cazabon leads Ottawa contingent into OFSAA track and field championships

By Martin Cleary

Ottawa student-athletes have put themselves in a strong position to challenge for multiple podium finishes at the largest high school track and field championships in North America.

In the wake of the National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association conference and city championships as well as the East regional qualifying meet, city runners, jumpers and throwers enter the OFSAA track and field championship ranked in the top five of 23 boys and girls’ novice, junior and senior events.

In the boys’ junior high jump and long jump, Ottawa student-athletes are ranked first and second. According to the OFSAA performance list, which ranks the provincial high school qualifiers based on their times, distances and heights, Maxime Cazabon of Garneau is in the top two for the high jump and long jump as well as the triple jump.

The OFSAA championships are scheduled to start Thursday and run through Saturday in St. Catharines.

Here is an OFSAA track and field championships preview for Ottawa high school athletes based on their performances at last week’s OFSAA East regional meet in Brockville.

BOYS’ NOVICE

· The 3,000 metres was the highlight event in this age group as Jaiden Taft of A.Y. Jackson and Graeme Siderius of Colonel By finished second and third respectively at regionals in nine minutes, 21.66 seconds and 9:26.05. But their times rank them third and sixth respectively entering OFSAA.

· Taft also is a medal candidate in the 1,500 metres, after he scored another second-place result in 4:14.00. This puts him fourth on the OFSAA ranking list and a couple of seconds behind the frontrunners.

· John McCrae’s Jake Claydon-St. John sits in fourth place in the championship rankings, after he won the regional 800 metres in 2:01.37.

· William Lussier of Mer Bleue was a double runner-up in the sprints, finishing the 100 metres in 11.38 seconds and the 200 metres in 23.43 seconds. His 100-metre time placed him fifth on the OFSAA performance list, while he’s 10th for the 200 metres.

· A best leap of 5.99 metres allowed Levi Third of Earl of March to win the regional long jump, which earned him a fifth-place showing on the provincial high school performance list.

· In the field events, Isaac Kunstadt-Landon of Ashbury, who was second at regionals in shot put at 13.68 metres, and Josh Walls of St. Joseph, who was second in discus at 40.00 metres, also hold fifth-place standings before OFSAA.

GIRLS’ NOVICE

· Glebe’s Roan Gerth won the 3,000-metre regionals in 10:43.13 and is ranked sixth for OFSAA. She’s about seven seconds from connecting with the top group of qualifiers.

· Brooklyn Reesal of Colonel By and Layla McDonald of John McCrae were first and third at regionals with respective distances of 28.62 metres and 28.28 metres. Their qualifying meet results left them sixth and ninth respectively on the performance list.

· Freda Isaac-Ighodaro of St. Matthew could challenge for the final, after winning the 200 metres in 26.57 seconds (26.55 seconds in her heat) and recording a second-place result for the 100 metres in 12.75 seconds. She is ranked 10th for the 100 metres and 13th for the 200 metres entering OFSAA.

· Nepean’s Sasha Stephenson was a double regional medallist with a silver effort in the 300-metre hurdles at 47.71 seconds and a bronze showing in the 80-metre hurdles at 13.16 seconds. Stephenson actually tied for second in the 300-metre hurdles as she and Kenley Wood of St. Peter’s, who ran in different heats of the timed-final, had rare identical clockings of 47.702 seconds.

BOYS’ JUNIOR

· Maxime Cazabon has the potential to be a triple medallist in the jumps for Garneau. He is ranked first in the high jump and second in the long jump and triple jump. At regionals, Cazabon won the high jump at 1.95 metres, while Oluwadamilare Oyenola of Immaculata was second at 1.85 metres. The Garneau student-athlete also won the regional triple jump at 12.91 metres. Cazabon was runner-up in the long jump at 6.43 metres, while Max Moir of St. Patrick’s was the winner at 6.53 metres.

· Ethan Frizzell of Osgoode is the favourite entering the 100-metre hurdles with a winning regional time of 13.86 seconds. He’s the only hurdler with a time under 14 seconds.

· Samuel Pemale of St. Peter has an OFSAA performance list ranking of No. 5 for the 100 metres, after winning that straightaway sprint in a wind-aided 11.04 seconds. Damien Laplante of Louis-Riel was second at regionals and is eighth on the OFSAA list with a wind-aided 11.24 seconds.

· Julien Dube of Samuel-Genest won the 300-metre hurdles in 41.19 seconds and was third in the 100-metre hurdles in 14.55 seconds at regionals.

GIRLS’ JUNIOR

· Anabelle Muir of Glebe not only has a good shot at winning the pole vault, but also she could challenge the 16-year-old OFSAA record held by future Olympic bronze medallist Alysha Newman at 3.75 metres. At regionals, Muir captured first place with a record-breaking clearance of 3.50 metres. The former record was held by Lisgar’s Amelia Wojtyk at 3.20 metres. Lisgar’s Charlotte Morales is ranked fourth for OFSAA, after finishing third at regionals with a best height of 2.90 metres.

· Keshia Chivaza of Louis-Riel is in contention for a medal in the high jump. She made her first eight heights on her first attempt, missed three jumps at 1.56 metres and tied for first at regionals at 1.53 metres. She is No. 4 on the OFSAA performance list.

· Cassidy Sookocheff of Louis-Riel had a pair of second-place results at regionals in the 100 metres at 12.47 seconds and 200 metres in 25.81 seconds.

· Reve McInnes of Glebe also scored a pair of third-place regional results in the 1,500 metres at 4:53.33 and the 3,000 metres at 10:36.06;

· St. Mother Teresa’s Shanae Emmanuel, a provincial gymnastics champion, was third in both the 100 metres in 12.52 metres and used her straightaway speed for a third-place result in the long jump at 4.71 metres.

Read More: Injuries from volleyball & lunchroom hindered 2 gymnasts, but couldn’t stop provincial champs

BOYS’ SENIOR

· Taisei Tan of Béatrice-Desloges will be chasing a hurdles double as he’s ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in that discipline over 400 and 110 metres respectively. He won the regional 110-metre race in 13.99 seconds and worked with Ruben Adiele of Ashbury for a one-three respective finish in the 400-metre hurdles in 55.14 seconds and 55.40 seconds. Adiele is ranked No. 4 for OFSAA.

· Eli Mordel of Sir Robert Borden broke the regional pole vault record with a best height of 4.52 metres, which ranked him third entering OFSAA. He also finished second in the 110-metre hurdles at regionals at 14.22 seconds.

· Franco-Ouest’s Brandon Onana won the regional long jump at 7.06 metres, which slotted him second for the OFSAA championships.

· Sprinters Ayoub Shangai of Louis-Riel and Ange-Mathis Kramo of Paul-Desmarais have been assigned No. 5 rankings for OFSAA. Ayoub was second at regionals in the 100 metres at 10.55 seconds, while Kramo won the 400 metres in 48.16 seconds. At regionals, Shangai also was second in the 200 metres at 21.81 seconds and the 400 metres at 48.18 seconds.

GIRLS’ SENIOR

· While Jorai Oppong-Nketiah of Louis-Riel isn’t ranked in the top five for the 100 and 200 metres based on her regional times, the multi-time Canadian U20 champion will strive to push for a podium finish. She won the 100 metres at regionals in 11.84 seconds and was second over 200 metres in 25.14 seconds. Her 100-metre time ranks her No. 9 for OFSAA.

· Ten years ago, Longfields-Davidson Heights grad Shona McCulloch set the regional 3,000-metre record at 9:33.52. Athena Andrecuk of Kingston broke that standard at 9:32.17 and won the race by 55.13 seconds over Laila Lebel of Colonel By.

· Two-time OFSAA champion Mallea McMullin of Louis-Riel is the only top-ranked student-athlete from Ottawa in this category as she’s No. 1 in javelin. She won regionals with a best throw of 43.61 metres and was fourth in discus at 29.69 metres. In javelin, she is more than three metres ahead of the second-ranked student-athlete.

Read More: McMullin & Kramo sparkle during record-setting day at NCSSAA track & field

VISUALLY IMPAIRED

· Xavier Stokes of Ottawa Tech is ranked third in the men’s visually-impaired 800 metres, after he won his regional race in 2:53.40.