Five provincial golds for cross country teams

Five teams from Niagara brought home gold medals from the recent Athletics Ontario cross country championships held at the Lakeridge Links Golf Club in Whitby.

Mining gold were: Thorold Elite Track Club’s under-10 boys (Jack Burdon, Leon Valhalla, Alexandre Craig and Simon Marull); Thorold Elite’s under-14 boys (Colby Craig, Ryder Savage, Malcolm Buffington, Callum MacDonald, Dante Pietrangelo, Max Woods, Benjamin Bayne, Grayson Bolibruck, Riley Isherwood, William Chuchman and Henry Buffington); Edge Sport’s under-18 boys (Brody Clark, Graham Tomori, Oliver Crowe, Nolan Macgregor, Jackson Sider, Logan Macrae and Jackson McIntosh); Thorold Elite’s masters women ages 30-39 (Jenna Gallo, Lauren Hoogasian, Rebecca Burdon and Rose David): and, Thorold Elite’s masters men ages 30-39 (Adam MacDonald, Al Deschamps, Thomas Craig, Jon Adams, Trevor Brown and Jorge Marull).

Capturing silver medals were: Max Jones of Edge Sport in the under-8 boys 1K race; Jack Burdon of Thorold Elite in the under-10 Boys 1K Race; and, Thorold Elite’s under-16 boys team (TJ Woods, Deagen Hallett, Lucas Sacco, Rocco Shuker, Evan Blake, Levi Sampaio, Keegan Clark, Owen Currie, Samuel Garbes, Jake Filipe, Trent Clarke, Cole Lindley, Owen Corman, Dominic Keksi, Justin Martens, Alexander Chuchman and Max Hancock).

Earning bronze medals were: Leon Valhalla of Thorold Elite in the under-10 boys 1K Race, Graham Tomori of Edge Sport in the under-10 boys 6K Race; Thorold Elite’s under-12 girls team (Jessica Brown, Briana Gallo, Lily Lavery, Aszlyn Weaver, Indyana Sanders, Maisie MacDonald, Zoe McAuley, Violet Burkholder, Brooklyn Jeffery, Kaia Crozier, Marin Brooks and Pearl Barnett Adams); and, Thorold Elite’s under–12 boys team (Charlie Hartley, Dean Chiarello, Landon Schoonings, Ethan Martens and Benjamin Brown).

Recording top 10 finishes were: Colby Craig of Thorold Elite, fourth in under-14 boys 2K; Jessica Brown of Thorold Elite, fifth in under-12 Girls 2K; Alexandre Craig of Thorold Elite, seventh in under-10 boys 1K; Deagen Hallett and TJ Woods of Thorold Elite, tied for eighth/ninth in under-16 boys 4K; Oliver Crowe of Edge Sport, ninth in under-18 boys 6K; and, Mya Stienstra of Athletics Niagara, 10th in under-14 girls 2K.

Next up are the Athletics Canada cross country nationals which will be held in London on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. Several Niagara runners will compete in the event which brings together the top runners from across the nation.