“Let’s get ready to rumble.”

Rare are the times that these words will form the battle cry to launch a cross-country race – but we were more than willing to provide head coach Darren Jermyn and the Laurentian Voyageurs team a fair bit of latitude Tuesday afternoon at the university track.

Officially rebranded as Rumble on the Rocks but having been swept aside by all that was Covid-19 in both 2020 and 2021, the largely high-school meet that is organized by the good folks with L.U. cross-country and indoor track teams was hosted for the seventh time earlier this week, with entries from North Bay, Sault Ste Marie, Elliot Lake and Englehart and Timiskaming complementing the large local contingent.

Out of towners were not to be shutout out either, securing two of the six high-school bracket gold medals that were up for grabs as Tenley Cameron of Elliot Lake Secondary School captured the novice girls race while Haley Sebesta (St Joseph – Scollard Hall in North Bay) finished first in the junior girls classification.

A competitive sprint canoe paddler first and foremost – Sebesta is a member of Team Ontario in this sport – the 15 year old grade 10 student was lured into the secondary school track and cross-country scene in part due to her success last fall at the home of the Bears.

“I train with the (North Bay) Canoe Club but I never really trained for running before last year,” said the northerner who qualified for OFSAA in both the 3000m and 800m in June and was 50 clear of second place Megan Pineau (Lo-Ellen) in Sudbury this week.

“I started off slower and just did it because I like running, but progressively, the workouts got harder and harder.”

While Sebesta is still getting her feet wet, relatively speaking, in the realm of comparing track to cross-country, there is a race awareness that she preferred on the 400m oval in the spring and summer.

“I like track the best because you always know where you are,” she suggested, alluding to her position within the race. “And you always know exactly how much distance you have left to go.”

On the junior boys side of things, 2023 SDSSAA novice boys champion Carson Jewitt (Lo-Ellen) continued to look strong, even as he continues to juggle both hockey and track.

“I love hockey, but it’s not where I’m going,” noted the member of the Sudbury U16 AAA Wolves. “I really enjoy track, and cross-country helps with that. Last year, I ran the 1500m but then I got into hurdles and did really well at OFSAA (7th in 300m hurdles).”

While his victory was seldom in doubt, Jewitt remained conscious of balancing between a decent push to prepare for what will be stiffer competition down the road, all while not over-exerting himself to the point of damage.

“It felt pretty good,” said Jewitt of his race. “I could have probably ripped the end a little bit faster, but I was happy with it. The calves are burning a little bit right now because this is a very hilly course and the weather wasn’t the best.”

“I had a pretty decent lead midway through so my coach said to push it on the hills, just for decent training – so that’s what I did. I want up the exact same (as I do for track) and then just try and push through the pain in the legs for distances.”

The challenge of the hills was also front of mind for senior girls champion Valérie Vaillancourt of Sacré-Coeur, a 17 year-old who has enjoyed only limited success in her running endeavours prior to connecting with Track North coach Dick Moss back at the start of 2024.

“I get to run with other people and it kind of motivates me to run faster and work harder,” suggested the young woman who has her sights set on running for the varsity team at Laurentian University next fall.

Given her time of 21:37 over the 5200 metres course (Lucia Salmaso of Marymount was second in 23:07), that target for Vaillancourt seems quite realistic, her clocking on Tuesday helped along by the fact that they ran the senior boys and girls all together simultaneously.

“It was nice to have the boys to run with, just to push me,” said Vaillancourt. “But BOSSA is very strong and at OFSAA, there’s a whole bunch of people ahead of me – so there will be some girls to push me.”

With a first place finish at the first SDSSAA preliminary race at Kivi Park earlier this month, Vaillancourt provided the following comparative assessment of the two venues, at least from her own personal standpoint.

“I rather the Kivi course because there’s less hills and hills are my weak point,” she said. “There are some really tough ones here – it’s tough when there are consecutive hills in the course – so Kivi is definitely easier for me.”

Remaining high-school winners were Shiloh Sauvé of Lo-Ellen (senior boys) and Julian Luoma of Lo-Ellen (novice boys) while the senior elementary events were claimed by Halle Scanlan and Carter Lowe, both from North Bay.

Following are the top five finishers in all eight divisions:

Senior Girls Division
1st – Valérie Vaillancourt – Sacré Coeur – 21:37
2nd – Lucia Salmaso – Marymount – 23:07
3rd – Lily Bignucolo – Lo-Ellen – 24:09
4th – Farrah Larose – SJSH – 24:12
5th – Karly Charlton – Englehart – 24:20
5th – Lea Maki – Lo-Ellen – 24:20

Senior Boys Division
1st – Shiloh Sauvé – Lo-Ellen – 18:32
2nd – Jack Ellis – Sudbury Secondary – 18:47
3rd – Max Portelance – Notre-Dame – 19:17
4th – Xavier Mara – Manitoulin – 19:44
5th – Lukas Morin – Notre-Dame – 19:54

Junior Girls Division
1st – Haley Sebesta – SJSH – 19:34
2nd – Megan Pineau – Lo-Ellen – 20:24
3rd – Alessandra Melo – Lo-Ellen – 20:43
4th – Madalyn Smith – Algonquin – 21:06
5th – Max Shelswell – Lo-Ellen – 21:25

Junior Boys Division
1st – Carson Jewitt – Lo-Ellen – 15:57
2nd – Gord Farrell – Lockerby – 16:12
3rd – Guillaume Daoust – Villa Francaise – 16:22
4th – Cam Young – Lockerby – 16:29
5th – Matteo Ceccon – St Benedict – 16:42

Novice Girls Division
1st – Tenley Cameron – Elliot Lake – 15:40
2nd – Andreena Pizzoferrato – SJSH – 15:52
3rd – Mackenzie Roy – St Charles College – 15:57
4th – Alexie Carré – Algonquin – 15:59
5th – Amélie Gervais – Notre-Dame – 16:53

Novice Boys Division
1st – Julian Luoma – Lo-Ellen – 12:42
2nd – Lex Gorval – Champlain – 13:36
3rd – Samuel Lazare – Lo-Ellen – 13:41
4th – Ethan Marsh – White Pines Collegiate – 14:10
5th – Ryan Tankard – Englehart – 14:20

Elementary Girls Division (7 & 8)
1st – Halle Scanlan – North Bay – 15:26
2nd – Leah Lalonde – Algonquin – 15:32
3rd – Aubree Slobodian – Marymount – 16:13
4th – Isabelle Popp – Algonquin – 16:17
5th – Sofia Kalviainen – Lo-Ellen – 16:17

Elementary Boys Division (7 & 8)
1st – Carter Lowe – Algonquin – 14:31
2nd – Ryan Pineau – Lo-Ellen – 14:36
3rd – Brendan Kingshott – St Benedict – 15:07
4th – Sam Carré – Algonquin – 15:10
5th – Andrew Polack – Lo-Ellen – 15:16