The following article was submitted by Al Coukell for the Collingwood Collegiate Institute track and field team.
The Collingwood Collegiate Fighting Owls track and field team captured its third consecutive Georgian Bay Championship on May 16 – a meet that featured the top sprinters, runners, throwers and jumpers from Simcoe County and the Parry Sound-Muskoka region.
Since the return of Track and Field following COVID-related shutdowns, Collingwood Collegiate Institute (CCI) has captured all three of the girls’ overall, the boys’ overall and the overall combined Georgian Bay Secondary School Athletics (GBSSA) titles.
The 2024 Championship was a total team effort as the Owls topped the standings in all three divisions – novice, junior and senior. Fifty Collingwood Collegiate athletes contributed to the overall team score while all eight of the Black-and-Gold relay teams added valuable points.
Outstanding performances were turned in by numerous Fighting Owls as twenty-three of Collingwood’s athletes combined for thirty-seven podium finishes along with five of the relay teams grabbing top-three honours. Of special note were the GBSSA event champions which included:
- Ken Stanborough - Para 100m (new school record) and 800m
- Keira Shawyer - Senior Girls High Jump
- Wes MacMillan - Senior Boys 3000m and Open Steeplechase
- Chantal Abbott - Senior Girls 1500m
- Miles Dempsey - Senior Boys 400m and 400m Hurdles
- Parker Davies - Junior Girls Long Jump
- Sabine Cornell - Junior Girls 800m. 1500m and 3000m
- Alexa Toth - Junior Girls 100m and 200m
- Cole Elmes - Novice Boys 1500m
- Lucas Sproule - Novice Boys 800m
- Blake Shaw - Novice Boys Triple Jump
- Both the Female and Male 4x400m relay teams
In all, it was a great day with thirty-five individuals qualifying in fifty-seven different events for the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) Central Regional Championships on May 29 and 30 in Oshawa.
In addition, all eight of CCI's relay teams will make their way to regionals.
This meet will bring together the strongest Track and Field athletes from Central Ontario, including Georgian Bay, York Region and the Lake Ontario / Durham region. From there, the top four finishers in every event will qualify for the OFSAA Provincial Championships to be held in London on June 6-8.
This GBSSA success is just the latest in what has been a very strong season for the Owls. Earlier in May, Collingwood Collegiate took top honours at the North GBSSA zone qualifying meet, amassing a staggering total of 781 team points – 420 points more than the nearest rival.
This followed an impressive third-place finish at an early season Durham Track Series race as a scaled-back squad trailed only Notre Dame and Pickering in the standings – both perennial powerhouses in the sport.
Collingwood Collegiate now looks to prepare themselves for the stiffest competition yet at regionals. Only the top 100 athletes in every event in Ontario make it to this level of competition and only the top 24 in Ontario qualify for the OFSAA provincial meets.
