The post-Covid SDSSAA track and field lag is no more.

With a few exceptions, the results from the 2022 and 2023 SDSSAA Track & Field Championships gave rise to the notion that young athletes were still paying a price for a global shutdown which most definitely impacted sport.

Results of the past two days at the Laurentian University track would suggest that there is plenty of reason to believe that we have turned that corner, reasons that extend well beyond simply the eleven city records that fell this year – including some long-standing marks in very high profile events.

Lo-Ellen Park senior sprinter Carson Huzij may have fallen victim to the realities of rounding times to one hundreds of a second – but all those who were on hand on Thursday realize that the football talent recorded the first sub-11 clocking since the old records were retired in 2003 – even if his time of 10.996 (or so) will go in the books as 11.00 seconds, breaking the record previously held by Eric Roque from Collège Notre-Dame (11.07 – 2008)

Knights’ teammate Melina Doiron not only took down the old junior girls 100m dash mark (Rebecca Johnston – 12.43 – 2005) with relative ease, but posted a time (12.19 seconds) that is better than the current senior girls record held by OFSAA bronze medal winner Ashley Huard (did we mention that Doiron’s time would have captured gold in the JG race at OFSAA in 2023!).

Just a year into truly taking his track & field seriously, Lo-Ellen junior Jacob Paillé chopped off an impressive 0.83 seconds of the old 400m standard (Lucas Mrozewski – 53.15 – 2017) with a clocking of 52.32 that puts him right in that conversation of OFSAA finalists.

“I started in grade eight, just doing a relay,” said Paillé, the 16 year-old who began working with Robert Esmie (Air Blastoff) this time last year. “In grade nine, I lost (at NOSSA) and got made and thought: I want to start training for this.”

And train he has, looking like a completely different runner than the one who began his high-school career last spring. “Last year, it was just go out and run,” said Paillé. “This year, my form is good. I really ty and drive my arms as hard as I can. That really helps me a lot – and keeping my head straight and not looking up at the sky.”

But it wasn’t just relative newcomers to the scene who were posting impressive results.

Local track and road race aficionados have been well-acquainted with Marymount Academy senior Lucia Salmaso for some time now, back to days when the youngster was covering 5km distances in times seldom seen in these parts from the pre-teen crowd.

Over time, her preferences in racing distances have changed and while her 800m winning clocking of 2:25.99 did not better the mark established by Eve Boissonneault in 2013, it was the fastest time by well over two seconds recorded since the CND product entered the record books more than a decade ago.

“Growing up, I always liked doing the sprints,” said Salmaso, a 16 year old grade 11 student who also helped her Regals’ team to a bronze medal in the 4 X 400m relay. “I tried cross-country for fun when I was young and it turned out I was good at it, so I just kept doing it. But I like running fast.”

“This is fun – and it doesn’t hurt as much,” added Salmaso. “With longer distances, it hurts more trying to maintain a certain pace for longer.”

Another case and point comes in the form of St Benedict Bears senior Georgia Lepage, the 17 year-old who finished second to Salmaso in the 800m but captured gold in both the 1500m and the 3000m. For years, we have followed the triathlon exploits of the middle distance / distance runner who recently committed to the Laurentian Voyageurs cross-country program.

“I am really looking forward to the team environment with all of the girls there,” said Lepage, moments after engaging in a 1500m showdown with Lauren Pineau from Lockerby Composite, the multi-sport talent who will join the varsity nordic ski program at Lakehead University in the fall.

“It was great having someone like Lauren to race,” said Lepage. “She’s a really good partner – we love pushing each other. If she starts making a move, then I have to move with her.”

That in-race strategy is interesting in that at times, it can run directly counter to the pre-race mindset the talented runner might carry with her to the starting line. “The first 300m, I usually take it out way too fast, so I just tried to go our nice and calm and hit my 60 seconds – which I did,” she said.

“The next three laps is just building on each one and the last lap is whatever you have left in the tank.”

For Corey Lacroix, the first and last lap of the 400m hurdles are one and the same. But in covering the distance in 57.04 seconds, a time which was an amazing 1.68 seconds faster than the old mark (ironically also held by Lucas Mrozewski, who now coaches with the Knights), the fact is Lacroix can run the lap faster, while clearing the hurdles, faster than almost every other Sudbury high-schooler could do - even when the hurdles are removed.

“The hurdles were kind of scary at first,” said Lacroix, who admitted to not even knowing that the hurdle races existed when he began his time at Lo-Ellen in grade nine. “I think most people think they’re really high, that they’re hard to get over – but it’s really not bad. When you look at most hurdlers go over them, they’re not even close to hitting them.”

Not as long as they have learned the proper technique.

“We’ve been focusing more on the lead leg, getting more of a knee bend – and the trail leg was a little “flicky”, but it’s better now,” added the grade 11 student who also took gold in the 110m hurdles and silver in the 400m.

Following are the event winners for all of the events that were contested this week:

Senior Boys
100m dash – Carson Huzij (LEP) – 11.00*
200m dash – Christian Hodgins (Lasalle) – 23.29
400m – Christian Hodgins (Lasalle) – 51.62
800m – Nolan Kuhlberg (LEP) – 1:59.79
1500m – Nolan Kuhlberg (LEP) – 4:18.95
3000m – Sam Rice (LEP) – 9:31.65
2000m steeplechase – Sam Rice (LEP) – 6:37.68
110m hurdles – Corey Lacroix (LEP) – 15.66
400m hurdles – Corey Lacroix (LEP) – 57.04*
High Jump – Caleb Lalonde (Champlain) – 1.83m
Long Jump – Jesse Plante (ESMC) – 6.02m
Triple Jump – Sylas Asare-Corbiere (Lasalle) – 12.35m
Pole Vault – Corbin Caron (Lockerby) – 2.30m
Shot Put – Brayden Bertrand (Sacré-Coeur) – 10.51m
Discus – Nicholas Gauthier (Notre-Dame) – 34.22m
Javelin – Brayden Bertrand (Sacré-Coeur) – 41.88m

Senior Girls
100m dash – Maija Potvin (LEP) – 12.93
200m dash – Jillian Landry (BAC) – 27.37
400m – Jillian Landry (BAC) – 1:01.28
800m – Lucia Salmaso (MMT) – 2:25.99
1500m – Georgia Lepage (STB) – 5:10.90
3000m – Georgia Lepage (STB) – 11:11.73
2000m steeplechase – Lauren Pineau (LCS) – 8:04.21
100m hurdles – Brooke Gibeault (LEP) – 17.14
400m hurdles – Finlay Cuza (LEP) – 1:12.00
High Jump – Alissa Diavolitsis (LCS) – 1.44m
Long Jump – Maeva Sullivan (LCS) – 5.15m*
Triple Jump – Cameron O’Daiskey (BAC) – 9.72m
Pole Vault – Abby Managhan (LCS) – 1.98m
Shot Put – Brooke Gibeault (LEP) – 10.08m
Discus – Kayeisha Thoms (MMT) – 26.60m
Javelin – Kayeisha Thomas (MMT) – 30.11m

Junior Boys
100m dash – Darren Joiner (LEP) – 11.43*
200m dash – Jacob Paillé (LEP) – 23.42
400m – Jacob Paillé (LEP) – 52.32*
800m – Lukas Morin (CND) – 2:14.73
1500m – Lukas Morin (CND) – 4:42.80
3000m – Raphael Belzile (ESMC) – 10:31.53
100m hurdles – Marcus Laframboise (LCS) – 15.57
300m hurdles – Jacob Paillé (LEP) – 42.57
High Jump – Olivier Tremblay (ESMC) – 1.70m
Long Jump – Jack Jones (CFD) – 5.59m
Triple Jump – Jack Jones (CFD) – 12.05m
Pole Vault – Ryder Coe (LCS) – 2.30m
Shot Put – Evan Maksymchuk (LIV) – 14.13m
Discus – Evan Maksymchuk (LIV) – 42.06m
Javelin – Anderson Parent (LEP) – 38.80m

Junior Girls
100m dash – Melina Doiron (LEP) – 12.19*
200m dash – Melina Doiron (LEP) – 26.09
400m – Amanda Syncox (LEP) – 1:03.51
800m – McKenna Mende (LEP) – 2:38.06
1500m – Lily Bignucolo (LEP) – 5:19.54
3000m – Lily Bignucolo (LEP) – 12:00.46
80m hurdles – Sara Guignard (LEP) – 13.11
300m hurdles – Amanda Syncox (LEP) – 51.67
High Jump – Sara Guignard (LEP) – 1.35m
Long Jump – Michaela Tripp (LEP) – 4.55m
Triple Jump – Misaki Diavolitsis (LCS) – 9.75m
Pole Vault – Kiersten Anderson (LCS) – 1.80m
Shot Put – Ava Leveille (LEP) – 10.30m
Discus – Ava Leveille (LEP) – 28.17m
Javelin – Nyah Robinson (SCC) – 29.38m

Novice Boys
100m dash – Janssen Fransen (LEP) – 11.65
200m dash – Ty Dubreuil (LEP) – 24.79
400m – Ty Dubreuil (LEP) – 53.43*
800m – Narayan Shukla (LEP) – 2.14.66
1500m – Carson Jewitt (LEP) – 4:50.55
3000m – Ben Lamarche (LEP) – 10:55.23
100m hurdles – Milo Booth (Sacré-Coeur) – 17.20
300m hurdles – Carson Jewitt (LEP) – 45.96
High Jump – Noah Skrobot (LEP) – 1.65m
Long Jump – Francis Mallory (LEP) – 5.89m
Triple Jump – Francis Mallory (LEP) – 11.64m
Pole Vault – Cameron Young (LCS) – 2.48m
Shot Put – Dominic Weisner (ESMC) – 12.35m
Discus – Mickael Ibrahim (ESMC) – 31.91m
Javelin – Rettie Viljoen (LEP) – 2.95m

Novice Girls
100m dash – Joely Angus (SCC) – 13.12
200m dash – Leah Serre (MMT) – 27.57
400m – Joely Angus (SCC) – 1:05.74
800m – Megan Pineau (LEP) – 2:43.80
1500m – Megan Pineau (LEP) – 5:39.28
3000m – Megan Pineau (LEP) – 12:12.33
80m hurdles – Ariana Tonkovic (ESMC) – 14.22
300m hurdles – Nadia MacDonald (LEP) – 54.94
High Jump – Chloé Carrier (HOR) – 1.55m
Long Jump – Mina McCoshen (MMT) – 4.62m
Triple Jump – Olivia Carriere (SCC) – 8.90m
Shot Put – Lara Gray (LEP) – 9.02m
Discus – Vanessa Julien (Sacré-Coeur) – 21.90m
Javelin – Lily MacIsaac (LEP) – 26.32m
* New Record