Golden day
Local athletes come up big at OFSAA.
BELLEVILLE — When Sevanne Ghazarian meets her Yale University teammates later this year, she’ll do so as Ontario champion.
The St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School student, competing in her final high school competition, won the senior girls’ 3,000-metre race Saturday at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations track and field championship.
Ghazarian overtook Martha MacDonald of Toronto’s Havergal College with about 200 metres to go and never looked back, crossing the finish line at Bruce Faulds Track in nine minutes, 35.35 seconds.
MacDonald, the reigning OFSAA cross-country champion, was next in 9:36.65.
Jenna Clayworth of Uxbridge was third, in 9:58.08.
“This is pretty special, a great way to end my high school career. It’s something I’ve been training for and I just wanted to make sure I left it all out there and I did,” said Ghazarian, who won bronze in Friday’s 1,500-metre race.
“Coming in, I had that OFSAA record (9:29.59) in the back of my mind, but the first goal was to make smart decisions and win the race. I didn’t get the record, but that’s OK, I feel strong and know I can go faster.”
Ghazarian and her twin sister, Madeleine, will continue their track and cross-country careers at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1 level, competing for the Bulldogs in the Ivy League.
Madeleine, who attends Preston High School, has missed the entire high school campaign with an injury.
Ryan Taylor of Huron Heights also closed out his high school career on a high note, winning the senior boys’ long jump competition with a 6.93-metre effort on his first attempt.
Wallace Gerrard of Brampton Heart Lake was second at 6.84 and Kenny Siharath of Cameron Heights won bronze at 6.82.
Taylor also won the gold medal in Friday’s triple-jump competition, bringing the fifth-year student’s OFSAA medal total to four. He won the triple-jump competition in Grade 10 and struck silver in Grade 11.
Ghazarian’s winning time was almost identical to her previous 3,000-metre outing in London seven days earlier, when she set an OFSAA West record of 9:35.2.
That’s where the similarity ended.
In London, Ghazarian jumped out to an early lead and made it look easy, finishing 45 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Zoe Burke of London Central.
In Belleville, Ghazarian, MacDonald and Clayworth pulled away from the field early to set the stage for an entertaining race. Clayworth faded about halfway through and it was a two-way race after that.
MacDonald led with 400 metres to go and stayed in front until Ghazarian found an extra gear for the home stretch.
“Martha is a cross-country champion and a tough competitor, I knew she was going to want it just as much as I did,” said Ghazarian.
Ghazarian finished her high school career with four OFSAA medals. She also won bronze in the midget girls’ cross-country race in Grade 9, and won bronze in the junior girls’ 3,000-metre race in 2015.
Taylor was proud of his double-gold performance, noting how he fought back from a nagging and painful ankle injury last year. The future Central Michigan University student also suffered a minor injury earlier this season that prevented him from going all out until the past two weeks.
“It’s pretty surreal, I mean, I was nothing back in Grade 9, but I trained hard for four years of high school and here I am … I’ve dreamt about getting double-gold, so to actually have achieved that, it doesn’t feel real,” he said.
Taylor’s only regret was the number of faults he racked up during his two events. He counted just four of 12 attempts in both competitions, two in each, which he attributed to the windy conditions and his desire to post impressive numbers.
Adam Exley of Resurrection won his second silver medal of the competition as he was edged at the finish line in the junior boys’ 300-metre hurdles by Wilson O’Neill of Country Day School in King City. The two were tied heading into the final hurdle but O’Neill pulled away over the final 10 metres to win in 38.99 seconds. Exley was just behind, in 39.14.
“I wanted to go sub-40 and I did that, and I wanted to give it my all and have nothing left, and I have nothing left,” said Exley.
St. David’s Alissa Melvin followed up her gold-medal performance in the senior girls’ triplejump with a bronze medal in the long jump. Melvin, who’ll attend Oregon State University later this year, hit 5.38 metres on her final attempt to move into third. Jasmine Scott-Kilgo of Windsor-Sandwich was first in 5.62 metres.
Maia Rodrigue of Grand River and Emma Lemieux of KCI finished fourth and fifth respectively in the midget girls’ triple jump.