Five athletes named All-Ontarians

 Roth, McCurdy, Knelsen and the Coles brothers honoured by Athletics Ontario,

 for their 2022 outdoor track and field seasons

  December 3, 2022

Hometownplay.ca

TORONTO, Ont. - Five local track and field athletes are Athletics Ontario (AO) 2022 All-Ontarians.

Mike Roth, for open sprints, Tristan Coles, U20 distance, Aiden Coles, U20 distance, all from St. Thomas, Libby McCurdy, of Sparta, U16 jumps, and Hallee Knelsen, of Malahide, U20 distance.

All-Ontarians are selected based on their overall performance for the year and their participation and performance at National and international meets.

Here are a few 2022 highlights for each athlete.

Roth, 20, won the men's 200 and 400-metre dashes, at the U25 Canada Summer Games, in August. Roth was also on Ontario's gold medal winning 4x400-metre relay team and won a bronze medal with Ontario's 4x100-metre relay team.

Roth finished fifth, in the open men's 400-metre final, at the Canadian senior championships.

Tristan Coles won the U20 men's 5000 metre run and placed fifth, in the 1500 metre run, at the Canadian track and field championships, held in Langley, B.C.

Aiden Coles represented Canada at the Pan American cross country Cup, held in Brazil in March, placing eighth, in the U20 men's eight kilometre race. At the Canadian track and field championships, Aiden won a bronze, in the U20 men's 1500 metres and finished eighth, in the 5000 metres.

Aiden and Tristan were one-two in the 1500 metres, at the AO U20 championships, in June.

At OFSAA, the high school provincial championships, Aiden and Tristan finished second and third, respectively, in both the senior men's 3000 and 1500 metre runs, and helped St. Joe's high school bring home silver, in the open men's 4x400-metre relay race.

Most recently, Tristan was 11th, at the Canadian cross country championships, at Ottawa in November. His result qualified the 18-year old for worlds.

McCurdy captured a silver medal in U16 women's pole vault,  at the Legion Nationals, held in Sherbrooke, Quebec, in August. Earlier in the summer, the 15-year old won the U16 pole vault event, at both the Ontario Summer Games and the AO outdoor championships. The Sparta resident was the silver medalist for novice women's pole vault, at OFSAA, the high school provincial championships.

Knelsen represented Canada in the women's 800-metre run, at the U20 World Athletics championships, in Cali, Columbia. The 19-year old from Malahide, qualified for Worlds by meeting the time standard at an indoor meet in Boston and placed second in the 800, at the Canadian championships.

At the AO U20 championships, Knelsen won both the women's 800 and 1500 metre races for a second year in a row.

Back in April, Knelsen helped the Western Mustangs women's 4x800-metre relay team capture gold at the Canadian University (U-Sports) indoor championships. The freshman placed seventh in both the 600 and 1000 metre races at U-Sports.