From the standpoint of Sudbury and area high-school track and field athletes alone, the timing of the Legion District H Meet is hardly ideal.
The run-up to OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations) that takes these competitors through the escalating athletic crescendo that sees the city and NOSSA championships lay the foundation for the all-Ontario showdown where ideally they will peak speaks to a steady build.
Trying to recapture that high a week or so later in a setting that, with all due respect to northern talent, cannot possibly come close to the environment that accompanies the second largest track and field event staged annually in North America is a next to impossible ask.
Apparently, it was not too much to ask of 16 year-old Francis Mallory.
The first year senior at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School followed up a record-breaking performance at SDSSAA in May in the long jump (6.70 metres), putting together back to back displays of jumping consistency at his next two larger scale high-school meets (6.85m – 6.87m).
This past Saturday, however, serendipity struck as Mallory unleashed a new personal best leap of 7.07 metres, a distance that would have earned him a bronze medal at OFSAA and was easily enough to establish a new Legion Meet standard.
Ironically, the busyness of the schedule that the top Knights’ track athletes lead likely created the circumstances that would see Mallory soar further, in competition, than he ever had before.
“Because of the (Greater Sudbury Sports) Hall of Fame Dinner (last Wednesday night), I didn’t get to train,” noted Mallory. “I think that definitely helped me. I had the build-up to OFSAA where I burned my body and had that massive dip. But during the four days after, my body slowly climbed back to health.”
Based on all of the evidence at hand, Mallory had every reason to believe that a seven-plus metre jump was well within his wheel-house. Similar to Saturday, a nice tail-wind at NOSSA had allowed him to extend out to 7.00 and 7.20 metres – only to see both efforts nullified by faults.
Where that might seem disheartening to some, the talented teen who earned a pair of OFSAA medals back in 2024 in a span of about five minutes or so (NB long jump – bronze; NB - 4 X 100m relay – silver) takes it all in stride, suggesting that a commitment to proper technique carries with it the inherent risk of a fault.
“I don’t look at the board,” acknowledged Mallory. “I trust coach’s training (Jim Taylor) and how far back he has me start. It’s actually bad to look at the board. If your eyes are looking down, your jump is going to be flat. You want to look up a little bit.”
And when it all comes together, coach and athlete alike are over the moon.
“When I was landing, I did it almost perfectly,” said Mallory with a wide grin. “It was definitely the best part of my jump. You’re supposed to kick your feet out and collapse when you land. I was really able to reach out.”
Mallory will be among the handful of local track athletes who will compete at the Canadian Track & Field Championships in Ottawa this weekend, with he and several others part of the U20 grouping that are joined by entries in both the Open and Para categories as well.
The schedule for Yuvraj Singh, by comparison, is not nearly as daunting – a bi-product of attending Lasalle Secondary Intermediate School, still in grade eight and with the whirlwind of high-school track still a year away.
That said, readers might want to commit this name to memory.
In capturing the U16 800m race in a record-setting time of 2:06.76, Singh served notice that the SDSSAA novice boys mark of 2:10.95 (Lucas Mrozewski – 2016) is comfortably within range as he acclimatizes himself to running this distance out on his own, at least on a local level.
“I was out front pacing it by myself,” said Singh, whose time would have qualified him for the OFSAA novice boys final this year, with 12 months of training (and hopeful improvement) still in store for the former competitive soccer talent. “My mind is focused on the race and my splits.”
“First lap should be around a minute and the second lap under a minute – and that would allow me to run sub-two as an eight grader.”
That is indeed the mindset that has been instilled by coaches Robert Esmie and K.C. Gallo, part of the cheering section that also included Singh's father (Aditya Chaudhary) on Saturday. “They are the ones who prepared me to go for this,” he said. “I am breaking records because of them.”
“I am really glad to have all of these supporters.”
Targetting a sub-52 second 400 metre run as well, Singh now has hit sights set on cracking the Team Ontario roster that will compete at the Legion National Youth Track & Field Championships from August 7th to the 9th in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Remaining locals who scripted their names into the Legion District H record books included Rowan Frood (100m hurdles – U18), Aria Maclary (300m and long jump – U13), Kaiden Timony (pole vault – U16), Cameron Young (pole vault – U18), Nehemiah Esmie (discus & javelin – U14) and Tejada Gieselman (2000m run – U14).
Local event winners for the U16 and U18 divisions included:
U16 Girls Division100m – Ay’den Nixon – 12.92
200m – Ash’Li Nixon – 26.39
300m – Ash’Li Nixon – 44.03
U18 Girls Division
100m – Annabelle Richardson – 12.42
200m – Annabelle Richardson – 25.71
800m – Evany Ashcroft – 2:28.47
1500m – Makenzie Moore – 5:28.22
3000m – Isabela Oliver – 13:10.65
100m hurdles – Rowan Frood – 15.73
400m hurdles – Rowan Frood – 1:09.50
High Jump – Mila Beljo – 1.45m
Long Jump – Mila Beljo – 4.45m
U16 Boys Division
100m – Nicholas Rice – 12.07
200m – Nicholas Rice – 24.30
300m – Nicholas Rice – 38.60
800m –Yuvraj Singh – 2:06.76
Pole Vault – Kaiden Timony – 2.20m
Discus – Cameron Swartz – 42.64m
U18 Boys Division
100m – Francis Mallory – 11.42
200m – Mikko Leinala – 23.35
400m – Owen Olivier – 52.49
800m – Owen Olivier – 2:10.09
1500m – Maxime Belzile – 4:29.10
3000m – Maxime Belzile – 9:56.78
110m hurdles – Levi Blouin – 15.51
2000m steeplechase – Maxime Belzile – 7:03.75
High Jump – Bently Szwed – 1.80m
Pole Vault - Cameron Young – 3.10m
Long Jump – Francis Mallory – 7.07m
Triple Jump – Cohen Rajotte – 11.87m
Shot Put – Mikko Leinala – 12.41m
