By Dan Plouffe
Tristan and Jackson Obaseki officially introduced themselves to the high school sports scene this fall, and and judging by their charge to win the gold and silver medals in the novice boys’ race at the national capital cross-country running championships, these brothers are poised to produce many more standout performances during their years at Immaculata, although it was their character that shone bright in their debut on Oct. 28 at Mooney’s Bay too.
Tristan called it “a great experience” to race at his first high school city championships, where he won the four-kilometre race by 18.2 seconds over Jackson in a time of 13:20.9, and he’s also looking forward to returning to Terry Fox Athletic Facility come track season.
“It was fun to have my twin in it as well,” smiled Tristan. “I think it was in Grade 5 that I did my first cross-country race and I did that with Jackson too.”
There’s a strong athletic tradition in the Obasekis’ family – their mom is a triathlete, and their dad played university soccer for the Carleton Ravens.
The brothers train together “almost every day,” signalled Tristan, whether it’s with the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club or the Nakkertok Nordic Ski Club.
Cheered on in to the finish by national capital junior boys’ champion/fellow skier Graeme Siderius among many others, the Obasekis propelled the Immaculata Saints to a huge win in the team event, scoring half the placement points as their nearest challenger with a total of 32.
“We’re part of an amazing school,” Tristan highlighted. “It felt really great for our teammates to share this win here with us as well.”
Jeremy Lincoln finished in sixth place for the Saints, who got a big performance from their fourth runner on the day, Mathias Anacona Ortiz, who’d finished 21st at the east conference meet and came 23rd at cities in a field double the size.
“Going into Grade 7, they brought us immediately to train with the high schoolers. That was an amazing experience,” recounted Jackson, highlighting that the team bond has only grown stronger ever since they all started intermediate school together, although they were disappointed that one of their (non-blood) brothers was unable to run at city finals due to injury.
“Logan wasn’t able to compete today, but he’s still walking the course,” Jackson noted. “We’re gonna go join him.”
And with that, the Saints set off for a stroll along the beach, in an attempt to lift Logan Puzio’s spirits and make his trek of 36+ minutes a little less lonely.
Puzio was the Saints’ #3 runner at the east conference meet, where he placed fourth, but he hurt his knee while playing soccer the weekend before the XC city finals. Initially doctors figured he’d be sidelined about three weeks, but physiotherapy helped, and once he was outfitted with a brace, Puzio felt capable of walking the course to then be eligible to race at the OFSAA provincial championships on Nov. 9 in Sudbury if possible.
“We’re really hopeful he gets healthy by the 9th. He’s been our hardest worker,” indicated Immaculata coach Joey Ozamiz, who felt very proud to see his athletes supporting their teammate on his way to the finish.
“It’s beautiful,” he added. “I mean, the first thing they said after they cross the line is, ‘Where’s Logan?’
“They’re not necessarily worrying about the championship. They’re just focused on their buddy getting healthy. They’re an unbelievable team. These are good kids.”
The battle for the national capital’s five individual qualification positions for OFSAA was a fierce one. Lisgar’s Frederick Healy placed third, Earl of March’s Oscar Bowling finished fourth and West Carleton’s Kane Nielsen took fifth. Three runners charged to finish line for the last two spots, with Merivale’s Jiacheng Xu arriving in front for seventh place and West Carleton’s Zak Lee edging out Sir Robert Borden’s Antoni Kim by .3 seconds to win his trip to Sudbury.
The Glebe Gryphons will be Ottawa’s second team representatives at OFSAA thanks to the performances of Alborz Sheikhi (who was 11th), Arthur Ravard (12th), Declan Grant (19th) and Alex Galdins (22nd), while Charlie Turner will join as the fifth team member.
The para race was run alongside the novice boys’ event, with the podium places awarded to Ottawa Technical’s Xavier Stokes (the winner in 20:09.90), Jules-Léger’s Jacob Gauthier and Molly Boisseau of Ottawa Technical.
