Cassie’s heading back to OFSAA
Cassie Kemp gave it all she had Thursday at the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association cross country meet held Thursday at Firemen’s Park in Niagara Falls.
“I am tired and I am pooped out,” the St. Catharines Collegiate student said after being the first para runner to cross the finish line.
The race was much different from last week’s Zone 3/4 race.
“The zones was a lot of easier because it was literally only me in the race.”
The 20-year-old finished far ahead of the other female and male runners in the race so she had to motivate herself across the finish line.
“I use my knees and my legs.”
Kemp is look forward to a return to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association championships. She is a former silver medalist at the event.
The COVID pandemic cost her two years of competing at OFSAA. Last year, she didn’t compete because she was learning on-line and her parents felt it was safer to stay on-line.
“I missed it a ton,” she said. “I was running over the summer and it was ‘C’mon. Let me get back to school.’ ”
Kemp is looking forward to competing at OFSAA at the Dagmar Ski Resort in Uxbridge. When asked about her goals, she pointed to the SOSSA gold medal around her neck.
Collegiate coach Ryan Racine ran alongside Kemp during the race except for the final stretch.
“Cassie has been very dedicated to running for years prior to when I got to the school and she was very excited for cross country,” he said. “She comes out to all the practices and she is always pushing herself to do more during practices.”
Racine enjoys coaching Kemp.
“She is the embodiment of Collegiate in terms of persevering all the time and being very resilient,” he said. “I am very happy that she was able to run today and she is very excited for OFSAA. We are all so proud of her.”
OVERALL RESULTS
C’mon Cassie Kemp, Collegiate (23.48); 2. Lillian Hudgins, Westdale; 3. Zoe Venizelos-Warren, Westdale.
Para boys: 1. Carter Burke, Nora Francis Henderson; 2. Jacob Gill, Westdale; 3. Brandan Ploughman, Westdale.
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