There are some good battles in the works as the race for the city high school cross-country championships heats up.
With preliminary races paving the way towards the SDSSAA meet on Oct. 18, a number of the age categories would appear to have at least a couple of solid contenders in place.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the senior girls division, as the ongoing development of Haley Maziarski (Lo-Ellen) and the return to health of Emily Marcolini (St. Benedict) has created a solid 1-2 punch with much better-than-average OFSAA potential.
Maziarski gained the upper hand in the latest head-to-head matchup Tuesday afternoon at the Naughton Trials, completing a three-kilometre course in 13:44, eight seconds better than Marcolini.
The duo finished some 40 seconds ahead of Eve Boissonneault (Notre-Dame), Katie Wiwchar (Lo-Ellen) and Laura Battaion (Lo-Ellen), a trio separated by just 11 seconds.
In the senior boy's grouping, Lasalle speedster Brandon Shirk seems to have made a seamless transition to longer distances. The city champion in the 400-metre dash, Shirk grabbed top spot, with relative ease, in the boys five-km race in Walden.
Shirk's time of 21:50 was comfortably ahead of Zack Caverson (Lockerby - 23:02) and Dominic Girard (Horizon – 23:10).
In the younger categories, Lockerby freshman Rachel Leck has proven that she can run with the older girls, besting Grade 10 teammate Lisa Romanyszin by seven seconds to win the 2,500-m race.
But with Leck likely competing in the midget division, the match-up between Romanyszyn and the likes of Bronwyn Novak (third - Lo-Ellen) and Confederation runners Emily Villeneuve and Alex Smuland, could make things quite interesting in the junior girls final.
On the boys side of the draw, Tim Tindall (Lockerby) looks to have followed up his dominance of the midget ranks one year ago with a top seeding at the junior level, with Aiden Spoel (Lo-Ellen) making an early stake amongst the midget boys runners in 2011.
The next race on the fall high school circuit locally is set for Thursday, with the second annual edition of the Laurentian University Cross-Country Running Challenge. A solid contingent of top-end Sudburians are also expected to make the trek to North Bay on Friday for the Algonquin Barons cross-country race.
- Posted by Laurel Myers
