| By Alex Campbell | November 23, 2021 |
On what started out as a cold day, the Kingston Secondary School cross country team brought the heat and dominated KASSAA races last month.
On October 22nd, 2021, KSS runners woke up and chose speed. The Novice and Junior athletes arrived at Little Cataraqui Conservation Area bright and early, with Senior athletes following in a frantic bus ride later that morning. The Conservation Area made for a beautiful course filled with mud, hills and roots, with Novice, Junior and Senior athletes running four, five and six kilometre courses, respectively.
The Novice girls team secured 1st place in their morning race, thanks to Ana Payne, Tova Wells, Hannah Noble-Duphney, Claire Allen, Kayla Ringrose, Lucy Meleschuk, Robin Howe, Gwen Gilbert, Cate Duggan, and Sophie Collins. They were followed shortly by the Novice boys: Garret Hopkins, Adam Hendry, Pranjol Das, Nick Quesnel, and Dale Millican. The KSS Novice boys were also the 1st place team.
KSS teams were equally dominant in the Junior races. The Junior girls team, Cameron Millotte, Sophie Saunders-Lambert, Andrea Wang, Olivia Holah, and Mattea Reid fought their way to 1st place. The Junior boys scored yet another 1st place team award, led by Edward King, Nolan Rider, Jack Flynn, and Dylan Blackwell.
The Senior girls, Alex Campbell, Claire Brackenbury, Hayley Fraser, Kira Allen, Brin Coulter, and Jillian Dalton, scored the fifth 1st place team award. Finally, the Senior boys brought home silver with the hard work of Owen Danby, Sam Filion, Jack Sacilotto, Owen Strong, Nigel Flynn, Harry George, Satish Patel, and Reda Hussain.
Senior girls team (left) and some of the Senior boys team (right).
By the end of the day, the team had secured five 1st place and one 2nd place team finishes. For the first time in KCVI/KSS history, all six teams qualified for OFSAA championships. The Bears also won gold in the overall team results, with double the amount of points as the second place team, the Falcons.
Of course, the team’s successes couldn’t have happened without the guidance and hard work of coaches/supervisors Carriere, Cameron, Rymal and Stewart.
“Coming off of a year of no running, it was very rewarding to have the most successful KASSAA result in the history of our cross country team,” Carriere said.
Looking ahead to OFSAA cross country, the team bus departed on November 5, and athletes raced the following day in Lakefield, ON. Unfortunately, not all provincial regions could make it to this year’s race due to varying health regulations. Still, we’re proud of the great work the team has done this season.
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