Sean Allen
BRANT NEWS

Brant runners are hoping to leave their mark on the regional cross country competition this week for a chance to shine at the provincial meet on Nov. 3.

The Brant cross country championships were held last Wednesday at the W. Ross Macdonald School, with races for boys and girls in the midget, junior and senior divisions.

Paris District High School’s Brandon Thomas won the senior boys 7 km race with a time of 22:05, just 10 seconds ahead of North Park Collegiate’s defending champion Riley Malcolm.

Thomas cruised to a win as a junior last year with a victory margin of more than two minutes and capped his season with a bronze medal at the Ontario Federation of Secondary School Athletics meet.

He is relishing the increased competition as a 16-year-old Grade 11 in the senior field.

“This is the strongest (local) field we’ve had in a long time,” Thomas said. “But it’ll be a ridiculously strong field at CWOSSA. It’ll be a bloodbath, for sure.”

The Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association meet is at the University of Guelph on Thursday.
Assumption College’s Cozette Collin will be there again as the repeat winner of the Brant senior girls 5 km race with a time of 18:31.

She will be looking to improve on her fourth place showing at CWOSSA last season.

North Park’s Tyler Moore had one of the more impressive displays of the day in the junior boys 6 km race, finishing with a time of 20:26 – a full three minutes ahead of second place.

“I just go out as hard as I can and try my hardest to keep my pace,” Moore said. “It’s kind of hard without anyone to push me, but I just think about what my overall time is going to be and keep my goal in my head.”

Moore placed second in the midget boys division at CWOSSA last season and he hopes for another strong finish this year so he can do better than his 27th place finish at OFSSA in 2011.

The OFSSA races are scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 3 at Heart Lake Conservation Area in Brampton.

St. John’s College student Leah Coon took home the junior girls 4 km race with a time of 15:29.

Her goal is to earn the OFSSA berth that she came so close to achieving last year.

“Last year I came ninth at CWOSSA, just four places away from going to OFSSA,” she said. “That is my goal this year.”

PDHS’ Kyle Madden won the midget boys 5 km race with a time of 18:00.

North Park’s Alex deVries captured the midget girls 3 km race with a time of 11:10.

Midget girls 3 km
1. Alex deVries, NPC    11:10
2. Kendra Van Leeuwen, SJC    11:51
3. Kacie Pottruff, NPC    13:25

Midget boys 5 km
1. Kyle Madden, PDHS    18:00
2. Matt Perriman, PDHS    19:14
3. Brian Coon, SJC    20:25

Junior girls 4 km
1. Leah Coon, SJC    15:29
2. Jennifer Garner, SJC    16:47
3. Brooklyn Davis, BCI    17:10

Junior boys 6 km
1. Tyler Moore, NPC    20:26
2. Nick Baldwin, NPC    23:27
3. Jacob Wardell, PJC    23:52

Senior girls 5 km
Cozette Collin, ACS    18:31
Amanda Baxter, ACS    19:25
Samara Collin, ACS    20:26

Senior boys 7 km
1. Brandon Thomas, PDHS    22:05
2. Riley Malcolm, NPC    22:15
3. Tyler Van Leeuwen, SJC    23:14