There might not be a sure-fire OFSAA medal winner in the bunch but the large collection of SDSSAA track and field talent that will make their way to Ottawa, next weekend, site of the provincial high-school championships, is as deep across the board as pretty much any other contingent that have represented Sudbury at the event in the past two decades or so.
Nowhere is the overall “raising of the bar” more apparent than in the sprints.
Overshadowed at times by her novice and similarly named teammate at Lo-Ellen (Melina Doiron: broke both the 100m – 12.57 and 200m – 26.13 NOSSA records), Knights’ junior speedster Milena Kulik is making a return trip to OFSAA, having won gold in both the 200m (26.90) and 400m (59.47) and edged out by a hair in the 100m by Jillian Landry of Bishop Carter (13.01 vs 13.03).
“I like the bend on the 200m,” said the 16 year-old member of the Air Blastoff Track Club (Robert Esmie) after finishing first in the final of the event. “Yesterday, I ran the first 200m of my 400m in 26 (seconds), so mentally, in my head, I thought I should run this 200m like I run the 400m.”
Next week, Kulik plans to run all three distances, along with at least one relay event, not terribly concerned that such a busy schedule detracts in any way from her performance. “I enjoy having lots of races on one day,” she said. “As tiring as it is, it helps me stay warmed up for the rest of my races.”
“I stay loose and can run my races with better times.”
Yet another athlete making discoveries about his athleticism as he goes is St Charles College junior Adam Urso, NOSSA champion in both the 400m (53.44 seconds – almost 1.5 seconds faster than second place) and the 800m (2:09.34). A perennial medal winner in cross-country races throughout his elementary years and in his freshman season at SCC, the multi-sport talent who also plays AAA hockey has seemingly found his new sweet spot when it comes to his spring passion.
“It took a while for me to figure out where my track strength lies,” said Urso, now pointing to the 400m as his signature event, a distance in which he recorded a top ten finish at OFSAA last year. “Honestly, I really like that I am able to lock in for the first 200 metres – and the last 200m is pretty much a sprint for me.”
“I am able to hold it well. It’s less technique and more just grit.”
“I really focused on pumping the arms hard, taking really long strides, as much as I possibly could,” Urso added. “That last 200 metres, I really turned it up and that catches people off guard.”
A mid-pack finisher at OFSAA as a novice competitor last year, Marymount Regals’ throwing star Kayiesha Thomas is thankful to have the “everything is brand new” experience that is grade nine track and field behind her as she followed up a three gold medal performance at cities (shot put / javelin / discus) with first place showings at NOSSA in the first of those two events, winning comfortably in both.
“At least this year, I can train instead of having to learn the throws as I go,” said the 15 year-old well-rounded athlete who also jumped in to help the Regals’ junior girls 4 X 100m relay team.
With a winning throw of 27.65 metres (second place was 24.80m), Thomas noted that the javelin was certainly one example of her technical proficiency taking a nice step forward. “For my run up, I run six steps and then I cross-over for four,” she explained.
“Most people cross-over for five, but I feel more comfortable with four and that’s where I get all of my momentum from. I focus on that a lot more than when I actually let go (release) the javelin.”
For the overwhelming majority of OFSAA participants, the event is truthfully far more about competing against yourself, something that 2022 veterans Maeva Sullivan (Lockerby Composite) and Josh Kim (Lo-Ellen Park) realize all too well.
“Honestly, I just want to try and get my personal best,” said Sullivan, a junior long jumper last year who added the high jump to her gold resume at the senior level this week – though it would take her third and final attempt to clear 1.46m and stay alive before hitting 1.49m with her next leap for the win.
“I really wanted to make it to OFSAA for the high jump,” said Sullivan, a 17 year old grade 17 student at LCS who also took top spot in the long jump, once again, with a leap of 5.22 metres. “I tried to leave everything behind me and put it all into that third jump and it worked out for me.”
Impressively, Sullivan only just started to compete the high jump this spring, crediting her rapid success to another very demanding athletic endeavour that also occupies her time. “It helps that I am a dancer so I have the coordination of arching, turning and jumping. My coaches were impressed when I started and told me to just keep doing what I was doing.”
His ’22 OFSAA experience limited to just the 4 X 100m relay, Josh Kim remained one of the nice revelations of the spring this week, adding NOSSA gold (100m – SB – 11.64) and silver (200m – SB – 24.02) to his city title in the 100m last week.
“I’ve been working on my form,” said the 17 year-old who plans to study Criminology at Laurentian in the fall, his sights set on a career in law. “Last year, my arms weren’t really condensed – they were kind of going everywhere.”
“I’ve come here (L.U. track) with my dad to work on my form a lot. He ran in high school when he was in Vancouver.”
Running a personal best time of 11.60 in the heats on Wednesday, Kim knows that getting under that standard next week won’t be easy, though the setting is almost certainly the perfect one.
“A lot of my friends ran their best at OFSAA last year,” he noted. “It’s a nice chance to run your best time ever at the last meet of the (high-school) year. That time (11.60) will be hard to beat, so anything under that would be nice.”
Joining Doiron as Sudbury athletes who established new NOSSA records this week were Darren Joiner (LOE – NB – 200m – 23.75) and Riley Cornthwaite (Lasalle – Intellectually Impaired – 100m – 13.94; 800m – 2:40.23), as well as the Knights novice girls 4 X 100m relay team, which circled the track in 52.56 seconds.
Following is a complete listing of all of the other SDSSAA athletes who earned gold medals this week at NOSSA in the individual events:
Novice Boys100m - Darren Joiner – LOE – 11.70
200m - Darren Joiner - LOE - 23.75
400m - Dylan Nelson - STB - 55.42
800m - Lukas Morin – CND – 2:13.17
1500m - Lukas Morin - CND - 4:44.92
3000m - Caleb Mead - STB - 10:26.80
High Jump - Owen Blay - CFD - 1.64m
Triple Jump - Jack Jones - CFD - 11.55m
Pole Vault - Ryder Coe - LCS - 2.25m
Shot Put - Evan Maksymchuk - LIV - 11.79m
Novice Girls
400m - Barbara Ceccon - MMT - 1:02.10
800m - Tyla MacLeod – BAC – 2:31.35
1500m - Tyla MacLeod - BAC - 5:22.95
3000m - Tyla MacLeod - BAC - 12:30.93
80m hurdles - Sarah Guignard – LOE – 13.33
High Jump - Sarah Guignard - LOE - 1.36m
Shot Put - Ava Leveillee - LOE - 9.86m
Junior Boys
100m - Nicholas Bechard – CND – 11.58
200m - Nicholas Bechard - CND - 24.08
3000m - Max Portelance - CND - 10:16.93
100m hurdles - Logan Mannella - LAS - 15.12
300m hurdles - Corey Lacroix - LOE - 43.34
High Jump - Riley Graffi - LOE - 1.65m
Triple Jump - Will Mackey - LAS - 11.49m
Pole Vault - Corbin Caron - LCS - 2.30m
Junior Girls
800m - Lucia Salmaso – MMT – 2:32.00
1500m - Lucia Salmaso - MMT - 5:23.60
80m hurdles - Sidney Skrobot - LOE - 13.66
Triple Jump - Cameron O'Daiskey - BAC - 10.01m
Pole Vault - Evelyne Holloway - LCS - 1.90m
Senior Boys
400m - Liam Lacroix – LOE – 52.50
800m - Liam Lacroix - LOE - 2:02.73
3000m - Kaeden Ward – LOE – 9:18.76
110m hurdles - Caden Fabbro - LOE - 15.97
400m hurdles - Christian Munch - CND - 1:02.83
2000m steeplechase - Kaeden Ward - LOE - 6:26.54
High Jump - Luca Graffi – LCS – 1.79m
Triple Jump - Sylas Asare-Corbiere - LAS - 12.70m
Pole Vault - Luca Graffi - LCS - 2.55m
Senior Girls
200m - Sierra Boyuk - BAC - 27.16
400m - Alissa Diavolitsis - LCS - 1:03.78
800m - Georgia Lepage - STB - 2:27.42
100m hurdles - Georgia Wilson - CFD - 16.67
Pole Vault - Sydney Coe - LCS - 2.25m
Shot Put - Brooke Gibeault - LOE - 10.08m
