Heading for the OFSAA X-C trails

Dorchester's Ceccanese, Hallman, Johnson, Medina, St. Joe's novice

and junior boys qualify for the provincial high school meet

  October 28, 2022

By Rob J. Ross

LONDON, Ont. - Tegan Ceccaese is returning to OFSAA cross country.

The Lord Dorchester Beavers runner, finished fifth, in the senior girls' race, at the Western Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association (WOSSAA), Thursday, at Springbank Park.

In 2019, Ceccanese was a member of Dorchester's novice girls team that won WOSSAA and advanced to OFSAA, the high school provincial cross country championships, held in Sudbury that year.

This season, Ceccaese and three Dorchester teammates, Kirk Hallman, in novice boys and Ryan Johnson and Fernando Medina, both in junior boys, are heading to OFSAA, Saturday, November 5, at the Dagmar Ski Resort, south of Uxbridge.

From WOSSAA, the top two teams from each division and the top five individual runners, not with those top two teams, qualify for OFSAA.

Two St. Joseph's Rams teams will be on the provincial trail as well. The Rams' novice girls ran away with the team title, while the junior boys placed second behind London St. Andre Bessette.

"I'm so glad I made it back in my final year of high school. and I qualified individually too," Ceccanese. "It was a tough race. Off the start, I doubted my self a little bit, but then realized half the race is mental and then I thought, I have to get in to the race mentally. I've ran with these girls before and I've put in the work and I've put in the training, I should believe in myself to get to where I need to be."

Ceccanese credits extra training and Dorchester coach James Tennant, for her improvement throughout her high school career.

"Doing extra kilometres when I didn't want to, or going out for a run on a bad day. I felt more prepared for races as I've gotten older," Ceccanese said. "It's 100 per cent my coach, Mr. Tennant. He's made me the runner I am today. He's been the most supportive coach. He's dedicated all of his time for us. I couldn't ask for a better coach or mentor, to help me realize my full potential."

Paige Marchand, of London CCH, won the senior girls race.

Hallman finished second, in the novice boys race, seven seconds behind Jacob Jansen, of London Aquinas, who pulled away in the last kilometre.

"We were pushing each other the whole race. He passed me going around a corner and kind of cut me out, so I lost a few metres," Hallman said. "I was working to get it back, but I just couldn't get it. It was smart move on his part."

Hallman beat Jansen, at the Springwater Invitational, October 13, so the pair are equal rivals.

"I'm happy to be going to OFSAA," said Hallman."I'll definitely work on staying on Jacob's shoulder or who ever I'm with, at OFSAA. That normally gets in their heads, you creeping up on them. I feel I still have more in me."

Hill workouts aided Johnson in earning his spot to OFSAA.

"A lot of hill training. Powering up the hills really helped me gains spots," Johnson said. "Going into this I knew it was going to be close. After we did the first two and a half K, I had a good lead behind me. I felt good with the place I was at and felt good to push myself."

Johnson gained confidence finishing ahead of Kevin Chen, the TVRA Central champion.

"I passed one kid that I haven't beat. That was nice. I almost beat another kid I'm always close to," Johnson said. "I'm very happy with my race."

Medina placed sixth, grabbing the fourth OFSAA qualifying spot.

London St. Andrew Bessette took the junior boys team title, thanks to having the top two runners in the race, Matteo Di Ciocco and Omar Nossair.

St. Joe's had three runners in the top 15, Fowler Little, in eighth place, Lucas Skirtschak, 12th and Noah Bakker, 13th. Ty Emre was 26th.

"We have worked hard this season. It was all a team effort. We're all evenly matched. We all improved a lot. Our times, our placements, and our mindset," said Little. "We had very high expectations. The very first week our coaches booked hotels for OFSAA."

St. Joe's won the OFSAA junior boys team championship in 2019.

The Rams continue an almost tradition of sending teams to OFSAA and similar to 2017, when both the senior boys and senior girls teams

Abi Faris led the novice girls, finishing sixth.

"I was really surprised in that moment," said Faris. "But seeing the scores and where we all placed and by how much. I think our team got 49 points and the next team had 102."

Flourish Nmor finished 18th, the Rams' fourth runner, behind Alex Fangeant, in 11th, Clara Lascelles, 15th, and Sadie Dowswell, 17th.

"I was the first one to see it (team results) and thought, oh, wow, we're really good. I was shocked," Nmor said. "I'm excited to go."

Rams' Christine Annett finished 10th, in the senior girls race.

Central Elgin Titans Brody Mann was 10th, in junior boys.

Jeremy Hardeman, of Dorchester, was the top local finisher in senior boys, placing 12th. Parkside Stampeders' Zachary Roberts-Neef and Noah Derganc, were 16th and 17th, respectively.

Parkside Stampeders Audrey Ferguson finished 14th, in junior girls.

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Para (3.6-km)

1. Zack Stubbs (Mother Teresa)*
2. Jackson Tomassen (St. Joe's)*
3. Jelani Oyomo (South)*
4. Albert Diego (St. Joe's)*
5. Keigan Armstrong (Strathroy)*
6. Adam Mensah (Saunders)
7. Jack Beddard (Bessette)
8. Ryan Gillis (Saunders)
9. Sarah Summers (Westminster)
10. Griffin Stevenson (Saunders)

Novice boys (3.6-km)

1. Jacob Jansen (London Aquinas) 12:27
2. *Kirk Hallman (Dorchester) 12:34
3. *Ryan Georgeson (Medway)
4. *Kaleb Dingman (St. Marys)
5. *Linden Spence (Saunders)
6. *Eric Frossard (Oakridge)
7. Landon Skoretz (Oakridge)
8. Felipe Cubillos (Mother Teresa)
9. Ryan Rodney (Aquinas)
10. Logan Klomps (Clinton St. Anne's)
11. Andrew Shoniker (Dorchester)
	
	Teams: 1. London Aquinas 51
	       2. London Banting 56
	       4. Dorchester 89



Novice girls (3.6-km)
	
1. *Sarah Jacquith (Lucas) 14:20
2. *Kaitlyn Haygarth (Oakridge) 14:23
3. *Ella Neil (Huron Park)14:51
4. *Norah Benson (Oakridge)15:06
5. *Chloe Dick (Bessette)15:19
6. Abi Faris (St. Joe's)15:25
7. Korrina Kublinskas (Saunders)15:25
8. Amy Schroeder (Stratford SS)15:27
9. Kyla Norman (Banting)15:33
10. Lucy Waite (Woodstock CI)15:48

	 
	
	Teams: 1. St. Joe's 49
	       2. Lucas 102
	
Junior girls (4.8-km)
1. Haley Haskett (Medway) 19:53
2. Charlotte Cromack (Mother Teresa) 19:58
3. *Charlotte Piscione (WCI)20:01
4. *Sidney Fehrman (CCH) 20:22
5. Kate Kalssen (Medway) 20:52
6. Giuliana Marra (Medway) 20:56
7. *Elle Regnault (CCH) 21:07
8. *Addison Imrie (Listowel) 21:35
9. *Helena Roth (Strathroy DCI)22:08
10. Jennifer Weeks (Strathroy DCVI) 22:22
	
	
	Teams: 1. Medway 24
	       2. Mother Teresa 68
	
Junior boys (4.8-km)
1. Matteo Di Ciocco (Bessette) 17:04
2. Omar Nossair (Bessette)17:08
3. *Jonah Lariviere (Stratford St. Mike's) 17:28
4. *Ryan Johnson (Dorchester)17:31
5. *Kevin Chen (London Central)17:36
6. *Fernando Medina (Dorchester)17:52
7. *Myles Clinton (St, Marys DCVI)17:54
8. Fowler Little (St. Joe's)17:58
9. Bryce Otten (St. Mike's) 18:04
10. Brody Mann (Central Elgin)18:13
	
	
	Teams: 1. London Bessette 36
	       2. St. Joe's 59

	
	
Senior boys (5.45-km)
1. Ian McAllister (London Central) 17:50
2. *Daniel Ogilvie (Stratford SS) 17:55
3. *Luke Feltham (Stratford SS) 17:57
4. Alex Leinweber (Mother Teresa)17:59
5. *Satveer Gill (Lucas) 18:35
6. *Quintin Marsh-Lansard (Oakridge) 18:55
7. *Ezra Bender (St. Marys DCVI) 19:07
8. Seth Sommerfreund (London Central) 19:23
9. Alec Royce (London Central) 19:37
10. Justin Lamb (Mother Teresa) 19:47
	
	
	Teams: 1. London Central 29
	       2. Mother Teresa 79
	
Senior girls (5.45-km)
1. *Paige Marchant (CCH) 20:53
2. *Kaitlyn Koyanagi (South) 21:16
3. *Machaila Wesch-Dawson (Monseigneur-Bruyere) 22:18
4. *Sarah Phillipon (Laurier) 22:30
5. *Tegan Ceccanese (Dorchester) 22:36
6. Emma Pais (Aquinas) 22:56
7. Marion Serbat (Stratford SS) 23:12
8. Reagon Atkinson (Medway) 23:20
9. Maddy Wood (Saunders) 23:21
10. Christine Annett (St. Joe's) 23:39
	Teams: 1. Medway 72 
	       2. Aquinas 74





							   



rob@hometownplay.ca






 

  
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