Cino, Perri, Candelaria win NCAA titles
Gras Candelaria leads the field in the novice girls division at the NCAA cross country meet at Firemen’s Park in Niagara Falls.
After placing 18th in the junior girls division at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations cross country meet in Grade 10, Sophia Cino decide to stop playing basketball and focus on running.
“I always enjoyed running and did it as a hobby. After coming 18th at OFSAA, I thought I wanted to pursue it more and see if I could get better.”
It has proven to be a good choice for the Grade 12 student at Blessed Trinity, who successfully defended her senior girls title at the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association cross country meet at Firemen’s Park on Tuesday.
“I would say it is going pretty good,” said last year’s fourth-place finisher in the senior girls division at OFSAA. “I have been training with a club team (Runners’ Edge) for two and a half years now and I am really enjoying it.”
The 17-year-old has made dramatic improvements in the sport.
“I have learned a lot because coming from basketball I didn’t know a lot about running. I have a really great team and amazing teammates and coaches and they’ve helped teach me a lot and made me improve,” she said. “It was endurance, fitness and knowledge about what running is and all the different things you can do with it. It was also skills and form.”
She would love to run at the next level and recently spoke to an assistant coach at Syracuse. She has also had interest from some Canadian universities.
“I would be happy running anywhere. It would be so exciting to get a scholarship. The States would be great and Canada or wherever I would also be happy with.”
Cino will decide on a school after she meets with the coaches and her prospective teammates and makes sure the school has the program she wants.
She can’t wait for the rest of the high school cross country season.
“I just want to see what I can do and I am just going to go out and compete,” she said. “I try my best and with hopes that I can do really well. I don’t think numbers.
She enjoyed Tuesday’s NCAA race,
“Running with Carolyn (Buri) and Julia (Tremeer) is really nice and it was fun to run with them.”
Blessed Trinity won the girls team title followed by Denis Morris and Notre Dame. The Thunder also won the overall crown followed by Denis Morris and Notre Dame.
JUNIOR GIRLS
After running for fun for a number of years, Sophia Perri decided to take her running to a new level in 2023.
To do that, she joined the Thorold Elite Track Club in June.
“I wanted to become a really good runner and try and get a scholarship,” the Grade 10 student at Saint Francis said. “I had to join a team and practice and practice to get really good.”
This summer, the 14-year-old St. Catharines resident placed 10th in the 800 metres at the Athletics Ontario championships and she was on a Thorold Elite squad that won bronze in the 4X800-metres relay.
On Tuesday, she placed first in the junior girls race at the NCAA cross country meet at Firemen’s Park.
“There were a couple of girls who have been close to me before and I wanted to push myself to get a bigger gap.”
She has enjoyed the pursuit to get better.
“I like how it makes me feel and running with my friends. They push me to get better.”
She has made several improvements in running.
“It is mainly my posture. I used to run all hunched and now I am running straight up and stuff.”
She is looking forward to the rest of the fall running season.
“My goals are to keep pushing myself to get better.”
NOVICE GIRLS
Gras Candelaria wasn’t expecting an easy race at Tuesday’s NCAA cross country meet at Firemen’s Park but the Grade 9 student at Denis Morris cruised to an easy victory in the novice girls division.
“I was a little surprised by the win and the gap but it was a nice race,” the 14-year-old St. Catharines resident said. “Sydney (Ray) and Adele (Kushner) are really fast so I always have to look out for them but I was trying to get top five to qualify for SOSSA and hopefully I will qualify for OFSAA afterwards.”
The member of the Edge Triathlon club has been competing in triathlons since she was nine and continued in that pursuit when her family moved to Canada from Chile a few years ago. This past summer, she placed third in age 14-15 girls division at the Ontario triathlon championships.
Her sports focus changes with the seasons.
“Usually in the summer, I focus on triathlon and right now it is obviously the cross country season. I focus on running but I do swimming while I am at it.”
RESULTS
Novice girls individual (4K): 1. Gras Candelaria, DM (16.55); 2. Adele Kushner, DM: 3. Sydney Ray, Notre Dame; 4. Taylor Thompson, BT: 5. Taylor Pirri, DM.
Novice girls team: 1. Denis Morris (1. Candelaria; 2. Kushner; 5. Pirri; 10. Maggie Bell); 2. Saint Paul (7. Vanessa Bergen; 8. Marigold Hunt; 12. Lauren Deprez; 16. Evangeline Boehm); 3. Notre Dame (3. Ray; 9. Sophia Saint-Phar; 11. Ella Buckley; 21. Kaynat Fazal).
Junior girls individual (5K): 1. Sophia Perri, St. Francis (20:13.7); 2. Katelyn Perri, St. Francis; 3. Aubrey Sartor, BT; 4. Paige Cottee, BT; 5. Savana Scott, BT.
Junior girls team (5K): 1. Blessed Trinity (3. Sartor; 4. Cottee; 5. Scott; 7. Elliotte Pergentile; 13. Ellia Gambale) 2. St. Francis (1. Sophia Perri; 2. Katelyn Perri; 6. Sarah Goodwin; 17. Gracie Metler); 3. Notre Dame (8. Celeste Ferencevic; 10. Amelia Dyson; 11. Alisa Saint-Phar; 14. Gabrielle Gaitan-Caballe).
Senior girls individual (6K); 1. Sophia Cino, BT (24:31.2); 2. Carolyn Buri, Lakeshore; 3. Julia Tremeer, Notre Dame; 4. Ava Hodgson, Saint Michael; 5. Emily Smilsky, Blessed Trinity.
Senior girls teams: . Blessed Trinity (1. Cino; 5. Smilsky; 10 Sienna Melfi; 11. Jordan Shkopiak; 14. Jamie Orzel); 2. Denis Morris (7. Rheagan Hamm; 9. Angela Taylor; Isabella Colitti; 13. Sarah Fleming; 19. Ava Eastland); 3. Saint Michael (4. Hodgson; 8, Madison Bower; 22. Alyssa Natale; 23. Leah St. Onge; 24. Emily Manders).
