The East Northumberland Secondary School (ENSS) cross-country team won the overall team title at the COSSA Championship, held in Dunnett Orchards in Brighton, on Wednesday, October 25th, 2023.
COSSA stands for Central Ontario Secondary School Athletics and recently Brighton hosted 366 cross – country runners from across the Central Ontario region.
“Athletics are very important to young people not only for their physical well-being but also for their mental and emotional health,” said Anne Falla – teacher at ENSS. “We are in the business of building our student’s esteem and we don’t cut students from the team, as long as they commit to attending the practices, they can compete for ENSS.”
This ENSS team earned a total of 34 team points. Adam Scott Collegiate Vocational Institute (CVI) and Cobourg Collegiate Institute (CI) tied for second place with 22 points. St. Peter was fourth with 20 points. Full COSSA results are posted at bqtrack.ca. Falla says more.
ENSS also had an individual champion at COSSA, novice boy, Jack Turner won the top spot in his division. Falla told us about Jack.
Also placing champions:
· Novice girl Indie Bennett, Adam Scott CVI
· Junior girl Kyla Farr, IE Weldon
· Junior boy David Cullen, Cobourg CI (*new course record 16:13 over 4.8 km)
· Senior girl Maria Linton, Cobourg CI
· Senior boy Rodney Maracle, Eastside SS
· Para II girl Ellen Davidson, Centennial SS
· Para ambulatory girl Adelyn McLarty, Quinte Christian HS
ENSS took first place in three out of six divisions – novice, junior and senior boys. All three ENSS boys’ teams will advance to OFSAA, to be held in Etobicoke on November 4.
Team members for the boys’ team include:
Novice boys (Grade 9):
– Jack Turner (1), Sullivan Tait (3), Dawson Dunham (4), Dominick Heller (9), Ethan McDougall (12), Alex Botting (17) and Walter Levesque (28).
Junior boys (Grade 10):
– Chase Eddy (4), Owen McDougall (7), Nate Boomhouwer (10), Noah Groeneveld (11), Liam Read (23), Orion Kovacs (25), Jonathan Trescher (33), Cale Flood-Graham (37), Gavin Allen (41) and Josh Williams (42).
Senior boys (Grades 11 and 12):
– Dominic Noreau (8), Aidan Molenhuis (10), Ethan Miklos (11), Carter Geens (15), Owen Turner (27), Jacob Wamboldt (30), Todd Burgess (38), Aiden Guitar (51) and Casey Barker (53).
Three individual ENSS girls qualified for OFSAA: Addie Davis (second in para II), Cadence Tait (seventh in senior girls) and Kora Ferguson (seventh in junior girls). The ENSS novice girls’ team was fourth while the junior and senior girls were seventh.
“The team mates also forge great friendships, supportive of each other at events and as they train,” added Falla.
Written by: Alicia Vandine
