Rams continue winning X-C ways     

   St. Joe's captures junior boys' team title led by race winner Aiden Coles

   at the first meet of the TVRA cross country season

  Thursday, September 19, 2019

By Rob J. Ross 

DORCHESTER, ON. - The St. Joseph's Rams' boys have continued what the team started at the novice level a year ago.

Aiden Coles won the junior boys' race at the Dorchester Invitational, the first Thames Valley Regional Athletics (TVRA) cross country meet of the season.

Coles finished the 4100 metre route in 13:52, followed by his brother Tristan and teammates Brent Hagerty and Aiden Holder, in second, third and eighth place, respectively. The Rams handily won the junior boys' team title.

Last November, St. Joe's placed eighth as a team in novice boys, formerly titled midget boys, at OFSAA. The team won both the TVRA and Western Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association (WOSSAA) titles, on their way to the high school provincial championships.

St. Joe's Ram Diego Alban-Gasca won the para race, followed by teammate Gabriel Dala.

The host school had three top 10 results. Hannah McIntyre was fourth, in the novice girls' race, Connor Erb, fifth, senior boys and Ashley Legg, ninth, junior girls.

Parkside Stampeder Mason Basson placed sixth, in the junior boys' race.

Led by McIntyre, Dorchester's novice girls team of Jenna Wideman, Tegan Ceccanese and Devin Dance, placed second, behind Sarnia Northern.

The Beavers' senior boys were second behind team champion Guelph C.I., with Erb, Owen Pink, 12th, Dilpreet Sandhu, 18th and Evan Gillies, 22nd. At OFSAA last season as juniors, Erb, Pink and Dilpreet, with Aiden Currah, placed seventh as a team.

East Elgin Eagle Calvin Austen had the top local result in novice boys, placing 11th, with St. Joseph's Ram Will Mantel, in at 13th position.

Dorchester coach James Tennant watched his daughter, Mary, finish 18th, in the senior girls' race, for London CCH.

Former Mitchell Hepburn Mustang Sydney Murdock, now at London Oakridge, finished second in novice girls, behind winner Paige Marchant, of London CCH.

Complete meet results

The Tri-County (Elgin, Oxford, Middlesex schools) championships are Wednesday, October, 16, in Strathroy, followed by WOSSAA, at Fanshawe Conservation Area, October 24th.

Sudbury is the host of the OFSAA championships, November 2.