The following article was contributed by the Collingwood Collegiate Institute Cross-Country team.
The Collingwood Collegiate (CCI) Fighting Owls soared through the first two races of the 2023 Georgian Bay cross-country race series, capturing top honours in both meets.
The first two races of the season took place at Wasaga Beach’s Blueberry Trails and Barrie’s Sunnidale Park during late September, and included racers from approximately thirty schools from throughout Simcoe County, Muskoka and Parry Sound.
Each meet features six races and the Owls’ teams have now finished first in eight races and second in the four others, putting the Black and Gold at the top of the team standings early in the season.
The novice boys from CCI have been truly dominant as they have posted team scores of 10 and 11 at the first two meets with 10 representing a perfect score. Led by JJ Mitchener with a pair of first-place finishes, the team has been not only strong but deep as Gavin Magwood, Cole Elmes, Seth Tangney, Blake Shaw and Owen Edwards have all posted top-10 placings in the races so far.
On the novice girls’ side, the Collingwood squad has emerged as a powerful team placing second at Wasaga and then capturing first at Sunnidale with four runners finishing in the top-eight positions at the latter event. This most recent result bodes well for the future as Rachael MacMillan took third place while Julia Lehmann, Stella Lennox and Beatrice Cheek grabbed places six through eight respectively.
The juniors have also acquitted themselves well. The boys have placed first and then narrowly in second during the two races thus far. The team of Evan Moore, Ewan Hurley, Evan Pollock, Toby Henry, Marco Savini and Andrew Francioni have placed themselves among the best in the Georgian Bay region.
The junior girls have also turned in a pair of dominant results as last year’s OFSAA Champions are now looking for continued success this season. These Owls have posted two perfect-10 scores en route to two first-place finishes. Sabine Cornell has two individual victories to her credit and Sadie Johnson, Elly Moore, Ruby File and Sofia Mundle have all had top-four finishes so far this season. Meredith Hollowell, Rae LeBlanc, Alice Yates and Athena Markou have all made valuable team contributions.
In the senior division, the boys have captured two team victories with Wes MacMillan and Ben Mundle leading the charge, each posting a first-place individual finish. Nathan Sims, Memphis Palmer-Gummer, Johnny Liotta and Evan Chisholm have all posted scores as part of the two team victories this season.
The senior girls have also placed themselves among the best in the region with a pair of second-place finishes. Led by Chantal Abbott, the team has revealed great depth with Emily Ott, Hanna Lewin, Ashleigh Cavill, Evie Oakey and Kenzie Wall all taking top-20 placings at one or both of the first two series races.
The Fighting Owls then used their off week from the race series to travel to Etobicoke for the Birchmount Invitational which many consider a “pre-OFSAA” meet as it takes place on this year’s provincial championship courses and features some of the best teams from all across Ontario.
The runners from Collingwood proved they belong on the provincial stage as they placed five of their six teams in the top-ten of their respective races. These incredible results were also accomplished with four key runners being unavailable on the day.
In the end, the novice girls placed seventh as a team while the boys took away the silver position on the podium for the CCI performance of the day. The junior girls cruised to a fourth-place finish while the guys came away with an impressive fifth-place result. The senior girls placed 18th overall in a massive field of 40 teams and the senior boys capped the day finishing 10th out of 42 teams represented.
Now attention will turn to the second half of the Georgian Bay Series with races at Highlands Nordic in Duntroon and the series finale in Parry Sound. The GBSSA Championships will also take place in Parry Sound on Thursday, Oct. 26 where the top two teams in each division, along with some of the top individual finishers, will punch their tickets to the OFSAA Championships in Etobicoke on Nov. 4.
