As
a grade seven runner, Sadie Frantz of Lo-Ellen captured
the Senior Girls race (grades 7 & 8) at the Rainbow
Elementary Cross-Country Championships earlier this week
at Kivi Park by exactly 40 seconds.
That's an impressive accomplishment, in
and of itself. Of course, Frantz also took top spot roughly
one week earlier in the Novice Division of the L.U. Rumble
on the Rock, besting a field of almost exclusively grade
nine talent from across northern Ontario by exactly twenty
seconds.
It's all pretty heady stuff for a multi-sport
athlete who seems to be taking it all in stride - figuratively
and literally.
"I've been doing running since about
grade three when I started with cross-country and realized
that it's great for my hockey training and off-ice training,"
said the 12 year old harrier.
"It helps with my conditioning and
I'm able to play better. But in grade four, I realized
that I was pretty decent at it, so I started running a
little more often."
Frantz would lead a string of six straight
Lo-Ellen athletes crossing the finish line in her event,
with only Megan Pineau able to keep to within a minute
of the race leader who covered the 3.8 kilometre course
in a time of 14:32 - a clocking that would have place
her third in the senior boys race of the same distance.
"At the start of the race, I sprinted
into the bush because I don't like being in a pack,"
said Frantz. "It's better to be out front. Then I
saw Megan behind me and she's fast too, so I started to
pick it up."
Joining long-time LOE coach Lori Yauk
this year is former national team cross-country member
Lisa Labrecque, providing a little more in-race strategy
for a very talented group of Knights' runners.
"At the start of the race, I go really
fast," explained Frantz. "In the middle, I do
have a fast pace, but it's a little slower than the end.
At the end, she (Ms Labrecque) always tells me to push
through."
Meanwhile, on the boys side, Carson Jewitt
of MacLeod Public School has maintained his spot as the
man to beat in the Senior Boys category - posting a 26
second victory over Grady Dale of Lo-Ellen.
In September of 2018, Jewitt, then in
grade four, also earned a first place ribbon in a major
cross-country event, capturing top spot in the Laurentian
Elementary Classic - though he admits there is a different
feel to the events as the 13 year-old prepares to begin
high-school competition next fall.
"I'm not as nervous anymore; I used
to be really nervous," said Jewitt.
Much like Frantz, Jewitt is inclined not
to get too caught up with the pack, even if he's not terribly
concerned about those who seem to mistake the cross-country
distance for something closer to a 400m sprint once the
starting gun sounds.
"Off the start, I usually try and
get in the top ten," he said. "I know they will
burn out a lot faster and they will slow down. I've got
a good pace and I can work my way through the pack"
- which was pretty much exactly what happened on this
absolutely glorious day for October running.
"I was in fifth off the first straight-away,"
Jewitt explained. "I was in second once I got around
the first corner and down the hill. After another hundred
metres, I was in first."
Jewitt also participated in the L.U. Rumble
race as an underager, finishing fifth overall among the
Novice (grade nine) boys and top amongst the handful of
grade eights who competed.
That said, he did recognize some course
specific differences between Kivi Park and the Laurentian
trails. "They are both fun but Laurentian was a lot
harder," he said. "The hills are really bad
and we were against grade nines - and they're really fast."
"I do kind of like the hills - on
the down sections, you can rest. I would probably prefer
a little more hills than this track but a little less
than Laurentian."
Following are the top ten finishers in
each of the four divisions which competed on Wednesday:
Junior Girls
1st - Davie Dale - R.L. Beattie - 9:36
2nd - Sophie Rancourt - Alexander - 9:55
3rd - Mara Saaremets - R.L. Beatiie - 10:11
4th - Simone Thompson - MacLeod - 10:16
5th - Alice Westby - Northeastern - 10:17
6th - Julia Cecutti - R.L. Beattie - 10:19
7th - Lexi Dubreuil - R.L. Beattie - 10:19
8th - Victoria Nicholls - R.L. Beattie - 10:24
9th - Blake Lyle - Nesbitt - 10:48
10th - Chloe Robichaud - Northeastern - 10:48
Junior Boys
1st - Padraig Courtney - R.L. Beattie - 8:53
2nd - Ryan Pineau - R.L. Beattie - 8:57
3rd - Chidube Elundu - R.L. Beattie - 9:01
4th - Jaxon Rocca - Walden - 9:02
5th - Andrew Polack - R.L. Beattie - 9:10
6th - Oliver Frantz - R.L. Beattie - 9:17
7th - Bobby Vitali - Redwood Acres - 9:22
8th - Maxwell Dodge - MacLeod - 9:25
9th - Tommy Fitzmaurice - R.L. Beattie - 9:26
10th - Ben Babij - Nesbitt - 9:26
Senior Girls
1st - Sadie Frantz - Lo-Ellen - 14:32
2nd - Megan Pineau - Lo-Ellen - 15:12
3rd - Ellie Sauve - Lo-Ellen - 16:02
4th - Lia Paille - Lo-Ellen - 16:04
5th - Sophie Gauld - Lo-Ellen - 17:00
6th - Alessandra Melo - Lo-Ellen - 17:14
7th - Brooklynn Hepworth - Valley View - 17:18
8th - Mattia Mullen - Lo-Ellen - 17:19
9th - Kaitlyn Hooper - Lo-Ellen - 17:29
10th - Ryan Snow - Lo-Ellen - 17:29
Senior Boys
1st - Carson Jewitt - MacLeod - 14:00
2nd - Grady Dale - Lo-Ellen - 14:26
3rd - Sam Lazare - Lo-Ellen - 14:38
4th - Kai Kumar - Lo-Ellen - 14:39
5th - Matteo Ceccon - Alexander - 14:49
6th - Owen Oliver - Lasalle - 14:56
7th - Alex Campbell - Lively - 15:02
8th - Warner Bain - Lasalle - 15:06
9th - Julian Luoma - Algonquin - 15:09
10th - Eden Abols - Lo-Ellen - 15:17
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