School Cross Country Round-up 2015

The growing Boardwalk RC youth group had an exciting cross country campaign. A summer of work on beach sand and hills paid off. And when it comes to TDSB cross-country, nothing beats a weekly run on the course with the coach who designed the course, a clear advantage that helps our athletes know every turn, hills, and tree on their path.

The MTA season saw our athletes compete in Pickering, Bolton, and Etobicoke. Our runners also represented their schools in TDSB and TCDSB competitions.

First lets recap some of the strong school performance. The greatest success we have seen is what a dedicated year of work can do. It is so rewarding for both athlete and coach to see improvements in performances that lead to meets an athlete has never qualified for before. In this category, I'd like to recognize the efforts of Fiona Pavlovska, Dominic Temple, Charlie Pilz, and Thomas Gregory. Fiona began her journey in cross country as a runner who in her first attempt finished in 66 place, she started running with a group and then officially with Boardwalk RC last year. At that time she made a big jump and was able to finish in 6th place at the first meet as a grade 6, and qualified for the city finals as a middle of the pack runner. As a grade 7 student this year she was a force. She won the first meet by a huge margin, and that was just the start. Conference final was more of the same, Fiona winning and then looking back to see where the competition was, and being shocked to find no one was near. Battling a cold at the city final, Fiona dug deep and was able to hold on to a silver medal and lead her team to a medal as well. That's one story of how 2 years of focus can change your results.

Also reinventing himself as a runner was Dominic Temple. He had never made it past the first round in any of his previous attempts. He came to Boardwalk RC to try it out, and he has never looked back. Dominic placed 5th in the first meet, 12th in the conference final and 33rd at the city final, all great results. And with the work ethic that Dominic is displaying and the goals he is setting, I expect to see many more inspiring results.

Charlie Pilz, is another determined athlete. He was a member of the bronze medal team at the city finals that was made up of two of his other Boardwalk RC team mates (Charlie Mills, and Calvin Warrillow). His journey to the city final began at the end of the conference final last year when he finished just on the outside of the top 20 qualifying places. His disappointment became his greatest strength. He focused his energy. Finished 2nd at an MTA event in September ahead of eventual city champion Kinnon Ringler, and brought his tenacity to the city final. He placed an exciting 7th, sandwiched between his teammates Charlie Mills (3rd) and Calvin Warrillow (20th) who represented their school the year before.

One of the other great efforts was from Thomas Gregory. His improvement from 66th place last year to 11th this year was the biggest placement jump among our group this year. He went on to a solid 50th place at the conference final. Maybe next year the story will be about his amazing city final performance, because he works that hard.

Here are notable top results from Boardwalk RC:
TDSB Conference Final
Jetsan Evans grade 3 4th place
Christopher Gregory grade 4 boys 3rd
Charlie Mills grade 5 boys 3rd
Charlie Pilz grade 5 boys 4th
Calvin Warrillow grade 5 boys 8th
Wiliam Gray grade 5 boys 16th
Evan Carter grade 5 boys 22nd
Ben Loewen grade 6 boys 22nd
Dominic Temple grade 7 boys 12th
Fiona Pavlovska grade 7 girls 1st

TDSB City Final
Christopher Gregory 12th
Charlie Mills 3rd
Charlie Pilz 7th
Calvin Warrillow 20th
Evan Carter 25th
Ben Loewen 26th
Dominic Temple 33rd
Fiona Pavlovska 2nd

TCDSB City Final
Liam McCullagh grade 6 boys 30th





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