For the third meet in row, Grade 9 Ècole secondaire Gisèle-Lalonde student Timeo Atonfo has dominated his fellow track and field athletes.
Atonfo once again swept the sprint and intermediate hurdles as well as the long jump at the East Regional Secondary School Track and Field Championships which were recently held at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility at Mooney's Bay. He previously swept all three events at the National Capital East Division Championships and the city wide National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association Championships.
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| Timeo Atonfo from Ècole secondaire Gisèle-Lalonde in Orléans flies through the air in the novice boys long jump on his way to setting a new meet record at the Eastern Ontario Regional Secondary School Track and Field Championships this week (left). At the same meet he also finished first in both the 100- and 300-metre hurdles. |
Competing at the East Regional championships which doubel as the qualifying meet for the OFSAA provincial championships being held in Toronto next week, Atonfo won the 300-metre hurdles by almost two seconds on the opening day of the two event. On day two, he had a potential conflct as the 100-metre hurdles were scheduled to take place shortly after the start of the long jump.
As fate would have it he was able to fit in his three preliminary jumps before having to rush over to the start of the hurdles. Not knowing if he would be able to make it back in time for any of his final three jumps, Atonfo jumped what would have been a knew meet record on his very first attempt, soaring 6.24 metres through the air and bettering the old record by five centimtres. Unfortunately, he had a 4.5 km/h tailwind at his back which nullified the new record.
Not to worry. On his second attempt, Altonfo jumped even further only this time the tailwind was only 2.3 metres which meant his leap of 6.27 metres would count as the new record. On his third attempt he jumped 6.07 metres before racing over to the start of the 100-metres hurdles which he won by more than a tenth of a second.
All-in-all it was a good day for the Titan, who only started competing in all three events a month ago. Back in elementary school he only competed in the 100- and 200-metre sprints.
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 Lizzy Vroom from Sir Wildrid Laurier Secondary School in Orléans set a new meet record in the Open Girls 2000-metre Steeplechase, breaking the old record by eight seconds. FRED SHERWIN PHOTO |
And Atonfo wasn't the only record breaker this week. Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School student Lizzy Vroom lowered her personal best in the Open Girls 2000-metre Steeplechase by 7.5 seconds and set a new meet record in the process, covering the distance in 7:04.20 – a full eight seconds ahead of the second place competitor.
Vroom also qualified for OFSAA in the senior girls 1500 and 3000, finishing fourth in both races. Only the top four competitors in each event will be able to go to the provincial chanpionships which are being held on the U of T campus.
Vroom's main competition at the provincial championships will be Alexandra Nickel from St. Jean de Brebeuf high school in Welland who ran a 7:09.80 at the recent Southern Ontario Regional Championships.
In total, 20 athletes from the east end will be making the trip to Toronto to compete individually – seven from Colonel By, four from Louis-Riel, three from St. Peter, two from Gloucester and one each from Béatrice-Desloges, Mer Bleue and Sir Wilfrid Laurier. On top of that six relay teams wil also be making the trip, including the 4x100 senior girls relay team from Lester B. Pearson which finished third in their final, and three relay teams from Louis-Riel, including both their novice boys and girls 4x100 teams.
Five local athletes will be representing the Eastern Ontario region as the champions in their events including Lizzy Vroom and Timeo Atonfo. They include Jaida Courteau from St. Peter High School in the junior girls high jump: Ibrahim Domiati from Louis-Riel in the novice boys 400-metres; Janssen Assogba from Colonel By in the junior boys 200; Jumbo Finlaystone from Gloucester High School in the junior boys high jump; and Dustin Coldrey from Colonel By in the junior boys shotput.
A run down of the east end student athletes who qualified for OFSAA can be seen below.
Novice Girls
200-metres 2nd (27.59) Rowyn Serne, St. Peter
Junior Girls
100-metres 2nd (13.47) Danica Mulvihill, Louis-Riel
200-metres 3rd (27.89) Chloé Charron, Louis-Riel
80-metres 4th (13.54) Danica Mulvihill, Louis-Riel
High Jump 1st (1.45m) Jaida Courteau, St. Peter
High Jump t-2nd
(1.40m) MaIïka Albert-Béland, Béatrice-Desloges
Long Jump 2nd (4.86m) Frankie Cobby, St. Peter
Triple Jump 2nd (10.13m) Frankie Cobby, St. Peter
Shotput 4th (9.82m) Manassée Bwana, Mer-Bleue
4x100 Relay 2nd (53.81) Louis-Riel – Danica Mulvihill, Chloé Charron, Chloé Joly and Aissata Barry
Senior Girls
1500-metres 4th (4:54.70) Lizzy Vroom, SWL
3000-metres 4th (10:25.16) Lizzy Vroom, SWL
4x100 Relay 3rd (53.08) Lester B. Pearson – Rebecca Padou, Julia Johnson, Francesca Maddalena and Florence Emile-Joly
Open Girls 2000-metre Steeplechase 1st (7:04.20!) Lizzy Vroom, SWL
Open Girls 4x400 Relay 2nd (4:13.72) Louis-Riel – Lilianne Shannon, Chloé Joly, Ella Duguay and Chloé Charron
Novice Boys
100-metres 4th (11.97) Ibrahim Domiati, Louis-Riel
200-metres 3rd (23.83) Ibrahim Domiati, Louis-Riel
400-metres 1st (53.56) Ibrahim Domiati, Louis-Riel
400-metres 2nd (54.06) Zachary Jeggo, Louis-Riel
800-metres 2nd (2:10.52) Zachary Jeggo, Louis-Riel
100-metre hurdles 1st (15.28) Timeo Altonfo, Gisèle-Lalonde
300-metre hurdles 1st (44.03) Timeo Altonfo, Gisèle-Lalonde
Long Jump 1st (6.27m!) Timeo Altonfo, Gisèle-Lalonde
Long Jump 3rd (5.71m) Aleem Khaida, Colonel By
Triple Jump 2nd (11.39m) Aleem Khaida, Colonel By
High Jump 3rd (1.65m) Mason Brennan, Colonel By
4x100 metre Relay 1st (47.73) Colonel By – Aleem Khaida, Charlie Cameron, Mason Brennan and Ezra Ng-A-Fook
4x100 metre Relay 3rd (47.90) Louis-Riel – Ibrahim Domiati, Zachary Jeggo, Bradley Wilson and Eden Vigne
Junior Boys
100-metres 4th (11.97) Janssen Assogba, Colonel By
200-metres 1st (23.82) Janssen Assogba, Colonel By
300-metre hurdles 2nd (45.01) Ali Kalkas, Colonel By
High Jump 1st (1.70m) Jumbo Finlaystone, Gloucester
Long Jump 2nd (6.19m)
Ladi Ogunmekan, Colonel By
Shotput 1st (12.79m) Dustin Coldrey, Colonel By
Discus 2nd (38.04m) Dustin Coldrey, Colonel By
4x100 metre Relay 1st (46.54) Colonel By – Janssen Assogba, Mukthar Raji, Ladi Ogunmekan and Jonathan Ngo-Minh Rusimovic
Senior Boys
Long Jump 4th (6.09m) Quentin Heredia, Gloucester
Triple Jump 3rd (12.77m) Quentin Heredia, Gloucester
Shotput 2nd (13.63m) Jade Rempel-Facey, Colonel By
4x100 metre Relay 3rd (45.82) St. Matthew – Stephane Joseph, Cameron Hutchison, Marvens Tercy and Kwabena Opena
ROYAL OAK FUNDRAISER FOR KYLE ANDRADES – The Royal Oak Orléans is holding a fundraising event for the Kyle Andrades Memorial Bursary. This event will include live music by the Jasen Colson Duo, a silent auction, raffles and BBQ!! Come help us hit our $25K goal.
THE ORIGINAL NAVAN MARKET returns with over 200 different vendors at the Navan Fairgrounds including several new vendors. Gates open at 9 a.m. 
TBLACKBURN FUN FAIR – Pancake breakfast from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fun Fair parade 10 a.m. to 10:45 p.m. Midway 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. BBQ from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Little Ray’s Reptiles 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the arena. Bouncy castle, face-painting and Dunk Tank from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Stage show 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Beer Garden 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 11:45 p.m. Cake cutting at 1 p.m. Paint party 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Fireworks show at 10 p.m. Visit www.blackburnfunfair.ca for a complete schedule of all the activities and events.
