Dairy Queen - Sudbury - Kingsway / Val Caron
Cambrian College - Varsity Athletics
GymZone - Home of the Sudbury LaurelsCaruso Club
Same setting next week as SDSSAA XC gives way to NOSSA
2023-10-21
(picture not found)

It was a triumphant return for Sam Rice (Lo-Ellen) and a really nice breakthrough race for Georgia Lepage (St Benedict) as Kivi Park played host to the 2023 SDSSAA Cross-Country Championships on Wednesday afternoon.

After being unable to compete one year ago, Knights’ senior Sam Rice left little to chance this time around, posting a 24 second victory over teammate Owen Dobson – though he claimed that the race was perhaps not nearly as comfortable as it appeared by the end.

“The beginning of the race was a lot faster than I thought,” said Rice. “There wasn’t that big of a gap at the start but then I started losing them on the single track and then it was just me and Dobson. He stuck behind me for a while and I had to throw a little bit of a kick at the end.”

With the Lo-Ellen senior boys team a serious threat to medal at OFSAA, the leader of the pack knows that maximizing his personal performance when the field is substantially tougher is key to overall team success. “I’ve got to find some fast people to stick with,” said Rice. “Not someone super, super fast who is way ahead of me – but find someone around my speed.”

“Then I can push them and hopefully they push me back.”

Where the nordic ski sensation (Lauren Pineau – Lockerby) has more often than not gotten the better of the provincially competitive triathlete (Georgia Lepage) in the past, that wasn’t the case this year. Ironically, the victory by Lepage, more than a minute faster than the next nearest competitor, came on the heels of a summer where her triathlon racing was derailed with health issues.

Thankfully, on this particular day, everything came together nicely for the Bears multi-sport athlete.

“At the beginning (of the race), it was very fast because we were going out with the boys,” said Lepage. “You’ve got to go or you’re going to get stuck. I went out to try and find a pace, but I knew I had to go a bit faster the first kilometre. By two km, I kind of settled into a nice solid pace.”

If running with the boys creates some hurdles early, it can be wonderful for the front-running females as the race goes on. “I was in a pack with three guys and two behind me and then I saw my teammate Jonas (Petroski) in front of me. I tried to keep him in my vision and listen to the footsteps behind me.”

“It’s nice to have the boys there because you can pace off them.”

The junior boys race came down to a final sprint between Lukas Morin (College Notre-Dame – 18:49) and Raphael Belzile (Macdonald-Cartier – 18:51), with the first place finisher feeling anything but confident as the starting horn initially sounded.

“I had a volleyball practice and a soccer practice yesterday, so coming into the race, my legs were not feeling really, really good,” said Morin. “After the first kilometre or so, my legs started to feel a bit better. I got into a rhythm and stuck with the leader and at the end, I kicked.”

A soccer player first and foremost – Morin competed for Team Ontario at the North American Indigenous Games this past summer – and middle distance track runner, the 15 year old grade 10 student is not necessarily a big fan of cross-country, despite his success.

“I don’t really like running super long distances,” he said. “It’s not really my thing.”

Junior girls champion Lily Bignucolo of Lo-Ellen does not mind the distances; it’s far more the pressure that can create issues for the 15 year old who crossed the line just over 20 seconds faster than Misaki Diavolitsis of Lockerby.

“I learned last year not to overthink it and just try my best, not to stress too much about where I am in the race and just run as fast as I can,” said Bignucolo. “Then I can feel better about it.”

When it comes to the local courses, however, the young talent can be conflicted at times between love and serious dislike. “I like all of the trails – well, the hills I don’t love, but I know they are good to train on,” said Bignucolo. “At Kivi, I like it, but the small hills, I don’t really love.”

“There’s no big hills. I would rather have that and just get it over with.”

The Pineau clan was not about to leave without at least one goal medal as Megan, a freshman at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School this fall ran away from the novice girls field while Carson Jewitt made it four of six Knights topping the podium, besting teammate Sam Piette by 15 seconds in the novice boys event.

Following are the top five finishers in each of the six divisions:

Senior Boys
1st - Sam Rice (LOE) - 19:44
2nd - Owen Dobson (LOE) - 20:08
3rd - Liam Binks (LCS) - 20:35
4th - Nolan Kuhlberg (LOE) - 20:36
5th - Shiloh Sauve (LOE) - 21:36

Senior Girls
1st - Georgia Lepage (STB) - 23:36
2nd - Lauren Pineau (LCS) - 24:41
3rd - Katelyn DePoli (STB) - 24:43
4th - Lucia Salmaso (MMT) - 25:17
5th - Monique Fitzmaurice (LOE)- 25:35

Junior Boys
1st - Lukas Morin (CND) - 18:49
2nd - Raphael Belzile (ESMC) - 18:51
3rd - Callum Wiss (LOE) - 19:11
4th - Isaac Longston (LCS) - 19:14
5th - Sullivan Smith (STB) - 19:37

Junior Girls
1st - Lily Bignucolo (LOE) - 21:26
2nd - Misaki Diavolitsis (LCS) - 21:48
3rd - Breanna Sullivan (CND) - 23:09
4th - Lea Maki (LOE) - 23:24
5th - Leticia Da Silva (LOE) - 23:25

Novice Boys
1st - Carson Jewitt (LOE) - 14:32
2nd - Sam Piette (LOE) - 14:47
3rd - Frank Nzotungwanimana (LOE) - 14:56
4th - Landen Lake (SCC) - 15:12
5th - Grady Dale (LOE) - 15:13

Novice Girls
1st - Megan Pineau (LOE) - 16:55
2nd - Adrielle Charette (CND) - 17:46
3rd - Kiana Smith (MMT) - 18:31
4th - Anna Shelswell (LOE) - 20:10
5th - Rebecca George (LCS) - 20:33

Para Division
1st - Dante Ricketts (LAS) - 18:12
2nd - James Butcher (LAS) - 21:18
3rd - Summer Boyer (LAS) - 29:16
4th - Gabriel Lapointe (LAS) - 30:00


Golf Sudbury