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Five shine capturing OFSAA silver
Piekny, Stanat, McCurdy, Urquhart and Atkinson finish season on podium,
five of 15 top 10 performances at OFSAA track and field
June 10, 2024
By Rob J. Ross
LONDON, Ont. - Five athletes finished their seasons on the podium at OFSAA track and field.
Lexi Stanat, Matt Piekny, Libby McCurdy, Andrew Urquhart and Ethan Atkinson, all won silver medals at the high school provincial championships, June 6-8, at Western University.
Overall at OFSAA, 13 athletes from St. Thomas - Elgin and Dorchester - Thames Centre produced 15 top 10 performances, eight in the top five, including the five silver medalists.
Stanat captured silver in women's discus with a best throw of 40.85 metres, behind champion Julia Tunks, of London Oakridge, who extended her OFSAA record to 56.35m.
"Feels awesome to see all my hard work pay off for sure," Stanat said. "When I was going to step up on the podium, I was so proud of myself that I finally made it. After not throwing for over three years, I was just so happy to see that things did work out in the end. It was definitely a great way to end off my high school sports career."
The Parkside Stampeder was a few metres short of her PB of 42.84m set a week earlier at regionals.
"As far as the actual throwing, I think I could've done a bit better, and was hoping to throw mid-forties, but it still ended well," said Stanat. I started the season only throwing 34 metres and I've worked my way up to where I am now. I was just happy that I threw over 40 consistently at my last three meets of the year."
All season Stanat had a front row seat watching a future Olympian in Tunks.
"It was great to see Julia throw. I'm so happy for all of her amazing accomplishments," said Stanat. "It was also really great to kind of rekindle our friendship after not seeing each other for awhile. I'll definitely miss her when she's down at UCLA, but I'm positive we will stay in touch."
Tunks holds the Canadian high school record for discus at 60.61m, set at regionals.
Stanat placed ninth in shot put, with a best effort of 10.33m.
OFSAA is the final competition for Stanat as a thrower, as the 17-year old will solely focus on hockey, preparing for her first year at Mercyhurst University in September.
Piekny overcame a hip flexor injury to soar to a silver medal in senior men's pole vault for the second year in a row, clearing 4.30m.
"Feels good. I'm not super happy with the way I vaulted, but the outcome was in the range of what I expected," said Piekny, who suffered the injury prior to regionals. "I knew everything was still moving and it wasn't bad enough to prevent me to jumping."
Liam Miller of Milton Bishop Reding defended his gold, jumping 4.70m.
Piekny graduate from St. Joe's heading to Western University this fall.
McCurdy brings home a medal from a third consecutive OFSAA.
The Grade 11 student at St. Joe's leaped to a PB height of 3.55m, taking silver in senior women's pole vault.
McCurdy entered the competition at 3.15m, passed at 3.25 and easily cleared 3.35 and 3.45, before making her PB on first attempt.
"It was a very great day. I got every jump on first attempt, so I guess I was in the zone," said McCurdy. "Warmups were super bad and I didn't get up on any of them, so I decided to come it a little lower at 3.15. After my warmup jump, that I got because I was sitting for over an hour, it was amazing, so was my 3.15. So I passed 3.25 and went straight to 3.35."
Rain put a damper on attempting higher measurements.
Balqis Chouikhi of Sir Wifrid, also made 3.55m, but placed third with two misses at lower heights.
Sophia Bryenton of London Oakridge won gold clearing 3.80m.
McCurdy was the OFSAA junior women's champ a year ago, and won silver as novice in 2022.
This summer, McCurdy is looking at attending the U18 and U20 National championships.
Urquhart led a Dorchester Beavers team of five, grabbing silver in junior men's shot put.
For more on the Beavers, visit
Urquhart silver.
Atkinson huge PB
Ethan Atkinson went from not attending OFSAA to capping his season with a silver medal leaping a PB 3.30m in novice men's pole vault at the provincial meet.
"Everything was surreal. It was wild. It was crazy being in the top three. I was happy that I got to 3.10," Atkinson said. "After last week when I was so bad, I was happy I was back in my groove. I was happy to be there, so that took the pressure off of my jumps. I had no pressure to do well, but I'm happy I did."
A week earlier at regionals, Atkinson only cleared 2.45m, leaving the St. Joseph's Ram in ninth place and missing a top four qualifying position for OFSAA. Since the West was the host region for OFSAA, athletes from the area were invited to fill out the 20-athlete field, due to other regions not sending four athletes.
Atkinson, who set a PB of 2.90m at WOSSAA, took full advantage of this opportunity.
"I was making sure I was in the right head space, staying calm and focusing on one jump at a time," said Atkinson. "I improved on getting inverted, basically doing a handstand on the pole and I focused on driving up."
Christian Futo of Toronto Chaminade College, set an OFSAA record vaulting 4.25m.
"He was really nice," said Atkinson of Futo. "He was showing some of the guys how to do it better, helping them PB. It was really cool."
Atkinson also gave a shout out to Charles Cousins of London Oakridge.
"I like the competitive atmosphere. I wouldn't have gone as far, if not pushed by all of my peers, like Charlie," said Atkinson, who is now eying matching the PB of his sister, Promise.
Nothing like a sibling rivalry.
Eagles' Kana and Scott place fourth
Taylor Kana missed a third consecutive OFSAA medal by one position.
The Grade 11 East Elgin Eagle placed fourth in senior women's javelin with a best effort of 37.30m.
"I started off rough, but it was only one mistake that really kept me down. The one thing was I couldn't get the javelin to go straight," Kana said. "I kept dropping the back of the javelin, so then it wouldn't fly straight. That's the only problem I had today. That makes a huge difference."
At regionals, Kana set a PB of 43.63m and that distance would have won OFSAA by three and half metres. Kaitlyn Pepper of Tecumseh Vista, won with a throw of 40.08m.
"I had it going last week and fixed the problem, but it came back," Kana added. "I had a good season, so I'm not really too upset about it."
Fellow Eagle Henry Scott, also finished fourth, in the junior men's 200-metre final.
St. Joseph's Rams Flourish Nmor placed ninth in the junior women's 800 metre run with a PB of two minutes and 22.66 seconds (2:22.66).
Rams' Promise Atkinson placed 10th in senior women's pole vault.
Sloetjes silver
Breanna Sloetjes of Strathroy DCI brought home silver in junior women's high jump, clearing the bar at 1.68m and also placed seventh in long jump (5.03m).
Sloetjes is coached by Harry Stantsos from the St. Thomas Legion track and field club.
For full meet results, visit windsortiming
Records set
Canadian Interscholastic (high school)
Asia Phillip, senior girls long jump (13.48m)
Julia Tunks, senior girls discus (56.35m)
Alexis Asselin, girls 800m ambulatory (2:23.65)
OFSAA meet
Christian Futo, novice boys pole vault (4.25m)
Alexia Jones, novice girls 100m (11.71 sec) & 200 (24.15 sec.)
Kenneth Champ, junior boys 1500m (3:55.17)
Will Batley, senior boys 200m (20.95 sec.)
Anieu Chan, novice girls 800m (2:08.13)
Jenna Tunks, novice girls discus (47.30m)
Ciara Costa, junior girls 300m hurdles (42.40)
Dennis Iriowen, novice boys 200m (21.67 sec.)
Asia Phillip, senior girls long jump (13.48m)
Julia Tunks, senior girls discus (56.35m)
Alexis Asselin, girls 800m ambulatory (2:23.65)
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