Campbell, Gaitan win second SOSSA titles
Mason Petrucci of Saint Francis races to a second place finish Thursday in the midget boys division at the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association cross country championships held at Firemen’s Park in Niagara Falls.
Eric Campbell is a much different cross country runner compared to last season, but the result was exactly the same.
The Grade 10 student at Sir Winston Churchill successfully defended his junior boys title Thursday at the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association cross country championships held at Firemen’s Park in Niagara Falls. Last fall, the 15-year-old ran a year up and won SOSSA.
“Last year, there were kids older than me so, during the race, I was thinking of staying behind them because I didn’t know who they were and I didn’t know what they were capable of.”
Things have changed this year for the reigning Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association’s midget boys silver medalist in 800 and 1500.
“I’ve known these guys for a while, I have studied them and I tried to stay more behind them because I had a hunch someone was going to try and stay with me and beat me.”
That never happened and Campbell led the race from start to finish.
“They were smart because they know what I can do,” he said. “They weren’t going to get fooled.”
“I had to keep a pace where I wouldn’t die at the end, but I would keep the lead.”
He feels he has been making progress as the cross country season has moved along.
“Workouts have been very good and I have been really smart about my racing,” he said. “I have been looking around in races and seeing what’s going on and being very aware. I am getting smarter and smarter every race and I am hoping it will work out next week (at OFSAA).”
Campbell placed 20th at OFSAA last year and isn’t taking anything for granted despite his victory at the pre-OFSAA race earlier this fall.
“For all I know, there are good people who will come up that I don’t know and they will do very well,” he said. “I will race it out and see how it goes.”
His goals are set high.
“Every kid wants to win OFSAA and that is the goal I have in mind right now,” he said. “I just have to make sure that it happens with hard work and commitment.”
He won the pre-OFSAA race by 0.6 seconds over last year’s OFSAA silver medalist and expects another stiff challenge next week.
“I know how fast OFSAA is so am just going to go out and race.”
SECOND SOSSA CROWN FOR GAITAN
Santiago Gaitan won’t be satisfied with the SOSSA senior boys cross country title he won Thursday at Firemen’s Park.
It was the second SOSSA crown for the Grade 12 student at Notre Dame who is looking for much bigger things at next Saturday’s OFSAA championships.
“I feel like I am in lot better shape than I was last year or in Grade 10,” he said. “In Grade 10, I ran some times that I am running right now with ease.
“Training has been awesome and my coaches have been amazing.”
He feels he had made great strides in his running this year.
“I have started to put more mileage in my runs and I focus a lot more on quality over quantity as well as training smarter and not harder,” he said.
Gaitan and Niagara Regional Athletics teammate Nicholas Young from Saint Francis crossed the finish line together at both the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association and Zone 3 /4 meet, but there was a bit of separation Thursday.
“We had planned on finishing together and saving our legs for next week, but our coach wanted us to push the pace and get under 19 minutes,” he said.
Gaitan was second at the pre-OFSAA race and would love to climb to the top podium at OFSAA next Saturday.
“Obviously, I would love to win but there’s some great competitors out there,” he said. “I’m just hoping I can be up there in the top three.”
Following are the top five individuals and local runners who advanced to OFSAA as individuals as well as top three local teams which advanced to OFSAA.
Para boys: 1. Owen Konkle, Beamsville; 2. Rolon Andres, St. Catharines Collegiate; 3. Andrew McIntyre, Saint Michael; 4. Josh Vandenbeukel, Eden; 5. Joseph Nokeo, Eden; 6. Spencer Robertson, St. Catharines Collegiate; 7. Alex Giancola, Saint Michael.
Midget boys: 1. Aidan Reynolds, Denis Morris; 2. Mason Petrucci, St. Francis; 4. Reese Arnold, Blessed Trinity; 5. Adam Kleinsmith, Crossley; 6. Owen Munnings, Smithville Christian; 8. Asher Willett, Lakeshore Catholic; 9. Miles Walker, Churchill.
Midget boys teams: 1. Blessed Trinity (4. Arnold, 7. Evan Beach, 13. James Lawson, 25. Liam Cardelli, 43. Wyatt Greenwood); 3, Port Colborne (12. Preston Fraser, 14. Owen LaMarsh, 15. Kyle Mullin; 51. Matthew Richardson, 61. Dylan Coers).
Junior boys individual: 1. Eric Campbell, Churchill; 2. Owen Lockyer, Eden; 3. Adam Woehl, GFESS; 4. Tyler Woodland, Smithville Christian; 5. Riley Coles, Churchill; 9. Matthew Roda, Notre Dame.
Junior boys teams: 1. Sir Winston Churchill (1. Campbell, 5. Coles, 17. Nathaniel Smyth; 18, Lachlan Nelson, 74. Saurin Patel); 2. E.L. Crossley (6. Colton Sawatzky, 19. Donovan Fenton, 24. Patrick Fidler, 38. Evan Van Vliet, 60. Jacob Martin); 3. Blessed Trinity (15. Frank Adzijevich, 20. Lucas Cino, 28. Damian Erzar, 31. Nicholas Siena, 45. Dylan Pergentile).
Senior boys individual: 1. Santiago Gaitan, Notre Dame; 2. Nicholas Young, Saint Francis; 3. Taylor Mowat, Churchill; 4. Ethan Girard, Churchill; 5. Harry Lengyel, Churchill; 9. Carter McMaster, Eden; 12. Ivan Fernandez, Governor Simcoe; 14. Evan Stewart, Eden; 16. Jared Attema, Smithville Christian.
Senior boys teams: 1. Sir Winston Churchill (3. Mowat 4. Girard, 5. Lengyel, 6. Nick Reimer; 7. Sacha Schimmelpenninck).
In addition to primary high school sports sponsors Mick and Angelo’s (https://www.mickandangelos.com) and Johnny Rocco’s (http://www.johnnyroccos.com), BPSN’s coverage of the fall high school cross country season is made possible with the support of the Niagara Olympic Club (https://nocrunners.com).
