Gemini cross-country's running strong
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Tillsonburg Glendale HS Gemini senior boys cross-country runner Brayden Ambo reached his target Thursday afternoon in the TVRA Tri-County championships at Springwater Conservation Area, west of Aylmer.
Aiming for Top 15 and qualification for WOSSAA at London's Springbank Park next Thursday, Ambo earned it on two accounts – individually, and as a member of the second-place Gemini senior boys team. His time of 24:50 over a 6.75 km course was on the money, good for 15th.
“I've never qualified for WOSSAA before in cross-country,” said Ambo, a fifth-year Glendale athlete and third-year cross-country runner. “Last year I got 17th. I knew cross-country wasn't my best sport, but I knew I was going to be close. I knew what I was capable of.
“Coming into this year's, I definitely knew I was in better shape. I knew I could qualify.”
Glendale's senior boys team finished second overall behind St. Thomas Central Elgin to qualify all six runners – Ambo, senior boys champion Devin Nichoslon, Nick Bartsch, James McNeil, Taylor Renken, and Brendan Lowrie-Dennis.
Ambo had to make up some serious ground in the 'forest' portion of Thursday's race. He was 25th going into the woods, but passed several runners.
“I actually wasn't sure at that point, so I figured just go as hard as I could. I started picking a guy off one at a time. When I was coming back in, I passed two more guys and I was side-by-side with a guy for 14th, but he ended up just an inch ahead.”
Ambo was Glendale's second runner to cross the line – Nicholson had already blazed his way to a first- overall time of 20:44, a full two minutes faster than the second-place runner-up.
“He (Nicholson) is on a different level than I am – he was long gone - but I'm pretty good at pacing so I know how hard I can push myself. It's definitely good motivation, in practice, trying to keep up with him. I push myself. I'm already seeing improvement in my wrestling this early in the year so this is good cross-training.”
Taylor Renken, running in his second cross-country race of the season, finished 35th with a time of 26:41. Josh Gooding finished a bit further back, noting the reduced training time due to a fog day and PA day last week, and Thanksgiving, said it was a factor.
“It felt better than the last race two weeks ago,” said Renken. “Our plan? Well, Devin's our front-runner. He does his thing. Then Brayden Ambo is usually the next guy and I'm kind of third-fourth. So Ambo would try to keep Devin as close as he could, and the next person keep them in our sights. We knew Central (Elgin), Holy Cross and Dorchester were the teams we wanted to beat. So if we saw someone in one of those jerseys we wanted to at least run with them, not let them pass us.”
Central eventually won the senior boys crown, but Glendale was right behind finishing second overall, ahead of Dorchester, St. Joseph's, and Holy Cross.
“We knew we had a solid chance of qualifying as a team,” said Renken.
Glendale senior runner Brendan 'BLD' Lowrie-Dennis finished 75th.
“It was okay,” Lowrie-Dennis, “yeah, I think it was good. I tried to get higher than I normally did, but it didn't work today.”
There has been improvement, he noted. He tried hard not to walk at any point on Thursday and succeeded in that goal.
“I feel every time, before I run, I say 'oh I don't want to do this.' I'm so mad today or whatever. Then after, I'm so excited and happy.”
Glendale's Brittany Bell was only four seconds off the pace in midget girls, edged out at the finish line by St. Joe's Rebecca Brown.
“I was behind her the whole time until we got into the forest, and I passed her. Just before we came out of the forest she passed me. I'm not sure what her time was, but I could see her ahead of me...”
Leading the race was a new experience and Bell admitted she wasn't quite sure how to handle it.
“My first time being that far ahead. It was just like... 'what do I do?' I didn't really know. I think it's just something I need to play with. My plan, at first, was to stay with her and then at the end see if I could sprint past her.”
A Grade 9 athlete, Bell came to Glendale with cross-country experience at Monsignor J.H. O'Neil.
“But there was only one meet in London and we never really trained, you just went to the meet,” said Bell, who found Glendale's program more demanding – and rewarding.
“The training's fun, and the competitions are really fun cheering, just trying to cheer everyone on.”
Gemini teammate Olivia Kyriakopoulos also wanted to finish Top 15 in midget girls. She did that with a quick fifth, 30 seconds ahead of the 15th-place runner.
“I haven't done as well in all the other races, so I was really happy with myself today. I was in fourth for the whole thing, then someone (WCI's Emma Davis) passed me on the way back from the forest. I would have liked fourth, but fifth is still going to go to WOSSAA.”
Her improvement, she said, came mostly from learning a better breathing technique.
“In practices my whole body feels good, I feel like I can run forever... it's just my breathing. So they gave me a breathing pattern to follow and it really helped.”
That and a proper warmup, she said, recalling an entire practice devoted to warming up.
“Brittany and I had a really good warmup and I felt that helped both of us.”
Kyriakopoulos joined Glendale's cross-country team with experience at Annandale, but she was quick to note it was minimal.
“The training's a lot different... because we barely even trained at Annandale. At Glendale, you train every day after school. It's a lot different, more serious.
“I don't like the races, but I like the training. Maybe because I like the team sports better. But I think running helps you more, individually, than volleyball or basketball.
“I'm doing it for the conditioning. It feels good – I'd rather be out running than sitting at home doing nothing.”
Grade 9 runner Matt Meharg placed 31st, leading the three Glendale midget boys.
“It was pretty good,” said Meharg. “I didn't get a good start, but I passed a few people in the woods, so that was good.”
Meharg's goal, like many of his teammates, was qualifying for WOSSAA. His time of 23:45 was just over a minute behind 15th. There was a pack of 15 people, he noted, between him and the last qualifier – Dorchester's Austin Bisschop (15th).
“If I had a better start and if I'd been a little stronger in my finish, I probably could have been closer to the Top 15... or in the Top 15.”
Hoping to improve his cardio for hockey, Meharg figured he was successful in that goal.
“I did it because I wanted to strengthen my legs for hockey, but I also like running. So it was a bit of both. It was fun, I'm going to do it again next year.”
Midget boys teammate Ethan Scruton was slowed down by a cramp.
“About half way,” said Scruton. “I just ran. Without the cramp, I probably would have finished a bit higher up. Not much, just a bit. They were all pretty fast.”
Scruton did manage to pass a few people in the wooded area and that was a big plus, he said.
Grade 10s Adam Fardella and Alessandra Palermo ran as a team in the junior boys race finishing 11th and 12th respectively. Needing Top 15, the Glendale runners were about 14th/15th going into the woods, and came out of the forest still on pace.
“We passed a few in there,” said Palermo, noting their goal was at least Top 15 going into the woods and finishing Top 10. “I finished strong – I wanted to do a bit better, but the competition was pretty good.”
“It was actually pretty wide in the the woods so it wasn't too hard to pass,” said Fardella.
“Just at the beginning,” said Palermo.
“We were together the whole way, that was the plan,” said Fardella.
“It's good motivation, push each other,” said Palermo.
“Especially when running up those hills,” Fardella nodded. “There was probably like three big ones.”
“And two smaller ones,” said Palermo.
Although there was some rain in the area Aylmer/Tillsonburg area earlier in the day, it was fairly dry south of Orwell.
“Yeah, it was pretty dry,” Palermo nodded, “for the amount of rain we've had.”
“It was better than we expected,” Fardella agreed.
TVRA Tri-County midget championship.
Springwater Conservation Area
Thursday, Oct. 24
GIRLS
3 km PARA race
1. Madison Wilson-Walker, Dorchester – 36.14
MIDGET GIRLS
1. Rebecca Brown, St. Joe's - 13:09
2. Brittany Bell, GLENDALE - 13:14
3. Emilee Power, Glencoe - 13:28
4. Emma Davis, WCI - 13:53
5. Olivia Kyriakopoulos, GLENDALE - 14:12
6. Paige Boere, Holy Cross - 14:14
7. Katie Kang, Central Elgin - 14:18
8. Breanne Bonter, St. Joe's - 14:21
9. Kacey Pallister, Central Elgin - 14:25
10. Mackenzie Fast, St. Joe's - 14:27
11. Cassidy Da Costa, Dorchester - 14:38
12. Stephanie Muir, Dorchester - 14:40
13. Olivia Wells, Central Elgin - 14:41
14. Erica Zimmer, East Elgin - 14:42
15. Jacklin Hunter, St. Mary's - 14:42
Team Standings: St. Joseph's 37, Central Elgin 46, Holy Cross 77, Lord Dochester 86, St. Mary's 115.
JUNIOR GIRLS
1. Emily Ashby, Dorchester - 17:20
2. Breah Gordon, Central Elgin - 18:00
3. Tori Webster, CASS - 18:16
4. Bailey Milos, Strathroy - 18:19
5. Dana Earhart, Dorchester - 18:21
6. Emily Rice, Dorchester - 18:52
7. Michelle Lefave, Dorchester - 18:53
8. Grace Donaldson, St. Joe's - 18:54
9. Molly Jenkins, St. Joe's - 18:56
10. Kiera Moylan, GLENDALE - 19:15
11. Hillary Elliott, WCI - 19:23
12. Aly Simpson, St. Joe's - 19:24
13. Cassandra Gould, IDCI - 19:29
14. Shae McLachlin, Strathroy - 19:30
15. Ginger Haight, CASS - 19:33
Team Standings: Dorchester 19, St. Joseph's 46, Central Elgin 91, Strathroy 94, Ingersoll 102, St. Mary's 132.
SENIOR GIRLS
1. Morgan Hendriks, Dorchester - 20:57
2. Julia Benati, Dorchester - 22:25
3. Ashley Bickle, WCI - 23:16
4. Mariah Wilson, HPSS - 23:58
5. Tatyanna Hooper, HPSS - 24:01
6. Kelsey Champion, Dorchester - 24:09
7. Carley Oliveira, St. Joe's - 24:14
8. Melissa Wonch, East Elgin - 24:15
9. Laura Hopson, IDCI - 24:17
10. Madison Tosswill, St. Joe's - 24:18
11. Casey macDonald, Holy Cross - 24:24
12. Emmalee Murray, St. Joe's - 24:34
13. Sarah Wheeler, St. Joe's - 24:43
14. Christina Timmons, St. Joe's – 24:46
15. Mackenzie Wallace, HPSS – 24:48
28. Jarrin Poredos, GLENDALE – 26:27
38. Allison Sage, GLENDALE – 27:10
62. Carlee Martin, GLENDALE – 30:14
80. Jessica Iezzi, GLENDALE – 34:09
Team Standings: St. Joseph's 42, Huron Park 43, Dorchester 80, WCI 109, Central Elgin 113, Holy Cross 102, Strathroy 121, East Elgin 146, GLENDALE 208, Parkside 223.
Overall (Top 3): St. Joseph's 4, Dorchester 8, Central Elgin 10.
MIDGET BOYS
1. Joey Hardy, St. Joe's - 19:43
2. Nathan Brunsveld, Providence - 20:52
3. Duncan Sanders, Central Elgin - 20:58
4. Dallas Goodhew, St. Joe's - 20:59
5. Dalton Kirkland, St. Mary's - 21:01
6. Sam Gilmore, St. Joe's - 21:15
7. Harrison Sayers, Holy Cross - 21:18
8. Cameron Douglas, St. Joe's - 21:21
9. Cam Stevenson, East Elgin - 21:29
10. Tristan Rodgers, St. Mary's - 21:31
11. Zach Love, Holy Cross - 21:32
12. Logan Spitters, Holy Cross - 21:50
13. Jordan Morse, IDCI - 22:09
14. Noah Young, Notre Dame - 22:14
15. Austin Bisschop, Dorchester - 22:26
31. Matt Meharg, GLENDALE – 23.45
50. Ethan Scruton, GLENDALE – 26:27
52. Tyler Hildebrant, GLENDALE – 27:22
Team: St. Joseph's 19, Holy Cross 49, Central Elgin 80, Dorchester 89, East Elgin 95.
JUNIOR BOYS
1. Brad Sheeler, Holy Cross - 21:05
2. Justin Attfield, East Elgin - 22:03
3. Douglas Brown, Strathroy - 22:34
4. John Fluttert, Dorchester - 22:44
5. Kyle Luyt, St. Joe's - 22:58
6. Jackson White, Central Elgin - 23:04
7. Aaron Friesen, East Elgin - 23:10
8. Dylan Lee, IDCI - 23:23
9. Nathan Lee, IDCI - 23:26
10. Jordan Dekort, St. Joe's - 23:32
11. Drew Grantham, St. Joe's - 23:41
12. Adam Fardella, GLENDALE - 24:08
13. Alessandro Palmero, GLENDALE - 24:10
14. Nicholas Medeiros (SJ) 24:58
15. Wyatt Rickwood (LD) 25:08
Team: St. Joseph's 40, Dorchester 59, Ingersoll 67, Strathroy 69, Central Elgin 94, Holy Cross 113
SENIOR BOYS
1. Devin Nicholson, GLENDALE - 20:44
2. Matt Sheeler, Holy Cross - 22:45
3. Jed Walker, Central Elgin - 23:03
4. Ryan Pocrnic, St. Joe's - 23:23
5. Dean Van Herpe, Holy Cross - 23:28
6. Jamie McNorgan, Dorchester - 23:33
7. Garrett Salomons, Glencoe - 23:42
8. Dylan daCosta, Central Elgin - 23:44
9. John Burgi, Central Elgin - 23:48
10. Alexander Sanders, Central Elgin - 23:50
11. Cole Symon, East Elgin - 23:57
12. Branden Gallagher, Dorchester - 24:23
13. Alex Warren, East Elgin - 24:40
14. Philip Visser, CASS - 24:50
15. Brayden Ambo, GLENDALE - 24:50
20. Nick Bartsch, GLENDALE – 25:33
25. James McNeil, GLENDALE – 26:03
35. Taylor Renken, GLENDALE – 26:41
55. Josh Gooding, GLENDALE – 28:17
75. Brendan Lowrie-Dennis, GLENDALE – 38:34
Team: Central Elgin 30, GLENDALE 61, Dorchester 67, St. Joseph's 70, Holy Cross 70, East Elgin 74, Huron Park 173, Woodstock 206.