Niagara’s golden girls dominate in field events
Niagara’s golden girls were at it again at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations’ track and field meet in Toronto.
South Lincoln’s Grace Tennant, the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association and Zone 4 champion in the junior girls midget, shot put and discus, and Eastdale’s Trinity Tutti, the Zone 3 and SOSSA midget girls champion in the shot put, discus and javelin, both were triple gold winners in their events at OFSAA.
Tennant won the discus with an OFSAA record throw of 45.16 metres and also set a record in winning the shot put with a toss of 14 metres. Her winning toss of 42.33 metres was one metre shy of the OFSAA record.
Tutti set an OFSAA record in the discus with a throw of 43.4 metres, broke another record in the shot put with a toss of 15.92 metres, and then the teen’s 41.53metre throw in the javelin was good enough for another OFSAA record.
The triple golds helped Eastdale place second in the midget girls team standings and South Lincoln second in the junior girls team standings. Centennial was the only other Niagara school to crack the top 10 in team standings, placing ninth in senior girls.
Saint Michael’s Makiah Hunt also struck OFSAA gold in the senior girls pole vault with a leap of 3.65 metres.
Earning silver medals were: Centennial’s Emma Nero in the senior girls 100-metre hurdles; and, Ridgeway-Crystal Beach’s Caitlin Hamm in the midget girls triple jump.
Bringing home bronze medals were: Centennial’s Alexi Brenzil in the senior girls javelin; RidgewayCrystal Beach’s Joel Mueller in the senior boys pole vault; Denis Morris’ Jacquan Selman in the senior boys triple jump; Sir Winston Churchill’s Cain Hassim, in the 2,000-metre open boys steeplechase; and Centennial’s Mackenzie Jasinskas in the midget boys 400-metre hurdles.
Tennant, a 16-year-old Caistor Centre resident, said her second trip to OFSAA was much different than her first.
“Last year, I was more nervous for OFSAA — not that I wasn’t nervous this year — but I has already experienced the whole OFSAA atmosphere and I kind of knew more about it going into it,” the Grade 10 student said. “I was a little more comfortable.”
Last year, she broke the OFSAA record in shot put and missed the discus record by 11 centimetres. She went to OFSAA knowing she had a shot at another record-breaking performance.
“I wasn’t expecting to break them but I was hoping if I could throw a personal best I had a good chance of breaking them.”
She is delighted with already having six OFSAA gold medals on her resume and attributes it to hard work.
“It’s all about how you train,” she said. “Your results depend on how dedicated you are and how much you put into it.”
She trains five days a week away from school with her outside coach and twice a week at South Lincoln.
“Track and field is basically my life and it has consumed my life,” she said.
Next up for Tennant is to qualify for and make Team Canada for the world youth track and field championships in Columbia. She has already hit the qualifying standards for discus (43 metres) and shot put (15 metres) but would love to compete in discus and javelin (qualifying standard is 48 metres). Athletes are only allowed to compete in two events.
If she’s successful it would be her first time representing Canada.
“That would be incredible,” she said.
Below are all the other top 10 results by Niagara area athletes:
Fourth place: Governor Simcoe’s Talin Najarian, girls 100-metre intellectual; Beamsville’s Owen Konkle, boys 100-metre intellectual; Saint Paul’s Ethan Pasco, midget boys 100 and 200 metres; Notre Dame’s Kendra Leger, junior girls 100 metres; Churchill’s David Bailey, senior boys high jump; Jasinskas, midget boys 300-metre hurdles; DSBN Academy’s Jovan Griffiths, junior boys 200 metres; and Eden’s Sarah Kovac, senior girls triple jump.
Fifth place: Centennial’s Kambrie Luciani, junior girls discus; Notre Dame’s Lauren Frasca, junior girls 100 metres; Churchill’s Theo Hassim, junior boys 1,500 metres; E.L. Crossley’s Regan Glen, senior girls pole vault; Governor Simcoe’s Rowan Thomas, junior girls high jump; Governor Simcoe’s Alexa Vasko, junior girls shot put; Notre Dame’s Emma Leger, midget girls discus; and Churchill’s Theo Hassim, junior boys 3,000 metres.
Sixth place: Denis Morris’ Shane Decker, senior boys 100 metres; Pasco, midget boys 400 metres; Notre Dame’s Leger, Frasca, Ceara Obdeyn and Kendra Sadlon, 4X100-metre junior girls relay; St. Francis’ Matteo Colavecchio, senior boys discus; Grimsby’s Cole Forster, junior boys high jump; Thomas, junior girls triple jump; E.L. Crossley’s Brock Deba, midget boys 800 metres; Eden’s Kayla McGowan, junior girls 3,000 metres; and Thorold’s Tyler Summerfield, midget boys discus.
Seventh place: Vasko, junior girls discus; St. Francis’ Carmine Spedaliere, junior boys discus and shot put; Brenzil, senior girls shot put; Governor Simcoe’s Tanya Najarian, girls 100-metre intellectual; Griffiths, junior boys 100 metres; E.L. Crossley’s Alanna Peplinski, junior girls 300-metre hurdles.
Eighth place: Denis Morris’ Twanell Bell, senior boys triple jump; E.L. Crossley’s Jacob Mergl, senior boys pole vault; Churchill’s Cierra Perron, midget girls discus; and Grimsby’s Sienna Lalonde, midget girls 300-metre hurdles.
Ninth place: Centennial’s Curtis Egert, junior boys discus; Laura Secord’s Courtney Thompson, midget girls high jump.
Tenth place: Leger, junior girls high jump; Eden’s Jenneke Pilling, junior girls triple jump; A.N. Myer’s Nikki Klassen, senior girls high jump; and, Bell, senior boys long jump.