Mitchell Fox October 10, 2019
Each year, The Woodlands Secondary School is home to many incredible sports teams. What many people do not realize, however, is that the Cross Country team is one of the first of these teams to practice, compete and find success. This team starts their training in the second week of school, and this year, even had a meet the following week. It goes without saying that cross country is an incredibly difficult sport for both the athletes and the coaches.
To start the season, the Woodlands team went to the River Run, hosted by Heart Lake Secondary School. Traditionally, this meet is small and used as a warm-up, but many athletes look forward to their chance to kick the year off on the right foot nevertheless. The name River Run is not used lightly either, as one of the highlights of this race is that the athletes must cross a creek; an interesting addition to an already challenging race.
This year, the River Run was a success for the Woodlands. The grade nines started things off in the Novice Boys and Novice Girls races, all finishing well. These Novice races were 3.6 KM in total, a good tune-up to start the year. Next up was the trio of Olivia Hendrikx, Juliana Hendrikx and Madeline LeBreton in the Open Girls race. At this meet, all grade 10, 11 and 12 participants of each gender would run in one 5KM race together; classified as “Open”. These three girls were very impressive, with Olivia finishing 5th, Madeline 10th, and Juliana 14th in an extraordinarily difficult field of racers. The final race of the day would be the jam-packed Open Boys race, in which Mitchell Fox and Randy Ding both finished in the top 60 runners.
The second meet of the season would be the annual Bagpipe Classic hosted by St. Marcellinus Secondary at Erindale Park. This time, all thirteen of the Woodlands’ runners would be competing. The Novice girls were first to go, and Monica Cornea was up to the task, finishing 64th in the packed 4KM race. The Novice Boys then took to the course, with Abdullah Sabole leading the team with a time of 16:30. Then came the race that everyone was waiting for; the Junior Girls 5KM race, featuring the Hendrikx twins and Madeline once again. Olivia started the race strong, and never faltered, finishing in 2nd place. Madeline and Juliana were not far behind, finishing 7th and 13th respectively. The Junior Boys then ran their first race of the season, with Liam Woollard finishing 22nd with a time of 18:57; an incredible pace of 3:48 per kilometer! This was the fastest pace by a Woodlands runner in a number of years. To end the day, the Senior Boys team ran their 6KM race, finishing as the 22nd place team of 34. This race had 289 racers, and featured times under 20 minutes! At the end of the day, the Woodlands’ team had represented the school well at the Bagpipe Classic, and couldn’t wait to race again.
There is more to come in the cross country season, but the Woodlands team has already made a name for itself. There is a lot to look forward to, including that the four girls hope to run in the same division if possible; a promising thought in terms of fighting for an OFSAA qualification as a team. The Senior Boys also hope to compete hard, setting their sights on at least one Top 15 team finish. Overall, the team is looking forward to the next few weeks of competition as they set their sights on ROPSSAA, and hopefully, OFSAA.
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