Elizabeth Vroom from Sir Wilfrid Laurier, sports the gold medal she won in the Open Girls 2000-metre Steeplechase after returning home from the OFSAA provincial track and field championships.

Elizabeth Vroom from Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School in Orléans and Timeo Atonfo from École secondaire publique Gisèle-Lalonde, also in Orléans, were this area’s two best hopes to win a medal at last week’s OFSAA provincial track and field championships in Toronto and they both lived up to their pre-meet potential.

Vroom set a new provincial and Canadian interscholastic record in the Open Girls 2000-metre Steeplechase, crossing the finish line in 6:52.19 – more than 10 seconds lower than her previous personal best which she ran in the preliminary heats.

Atonfo captured the gold medal in the novice boys 300-metre hurdles and added a silver medal in the 100-metre event to become the first east end athlete to win two individual gold medals in the same year since Segun Makinde won two gold medals in 2009 running in the 200-metre dash and the 110-metre hurdles for Colonel By Secondary School.

Atonfo was awarded the gold medal in the 300-metre hurdles despite finishing the race in a different lane than the won he started in. After running much of the race in lane five, which he started in, Atonfo drifted into lane four as he was heading to the finish line. Because he didn’t impede the runner in that lane and didn’t gain any tactical advantage, he was still awarded the gold medal.

Timeo Atonfo from École secondaire publique Gisèle-Lalonde became the first east end athlete to win two medals at the same OFSAA championships since 2009 when he won gold in the 300-metre hurdles and a silver in the 100-metre event in Toronto last week.

Other athletes who won medals in Toronto include Ibrahim Domiati from Louis-Riel who finished second in the novice boys 400 metres; Dustin Coldrey from Colonel By who placed third in the junior boys shotput; and the Colonel By senior boys 4x100 metre relay team consisting of Janssen Assogba, Mukthar Raji, Ladi Ogunmekan and Jonathan Ngo-Minh Rusimovic which won bronze.

Vroom’s record-setting 2000-metre steeplechase run was near picture perfect. She lead all but the first lap of the race, and she had a terrific finishing kick.

“I knew after running the prelim in just over seven minutes I had a lot left, so my goal was to run under seven minutes and possibly break the record,” Vroom said after the final.

She ended up breaking the record set in 2019 by more than five seconds.

Besides finishing third in the junior boys shotput, Colonel By’s Dustin Coldrey also placed fifth in the discus, giving him two top five finishes.

Colonel By’s novice boys 4x100 metre relay team just missed out in joining the school’s senior boys squad on the podium. Aleem Khaida, Charlie Cameron, Mason Brennan and Ezra Ng-A-Fook placed fourth in their final, just 0.41 seconds behind the team from Etobicoke Collegiate..

A run down of the east end student athletes who qualified for OFSAA can be seen below.

Novice Girls
200-metres DNF Rowyn Serne, St. Peter

Junior Girls
100-metres 21st (13.30) Danica Mulvihill, Louis-Riel
200-metres 19th (27.37) Chloé Charron, Louis-Riel
80-metres 14th (13.41) Danica Mulvihill, Louis-Riel
High Jump 6th (1.45m) Jaida Courteau, St. Peter
High Jump 20th (1.35m) MaIïka Albert-Béland, Béatrice-Desloges
Long Jump 19th (4.76m) Frankie Cobby, St. Peter
Triple Jump 7th (10.35m) Frankie Cobby, St. Peter
Shotput 6th (10.76m) Manassée Bwana, Mer-Bleue
4x100 Relay 8th (52.77) Louis-Riel –  Danica Mulvihill, Chloé Charron, Chloé Joly and Aissata Barry

Senior Girls
1500-metres DNS Lizzy Vroom, SWL
3000-metres 4th (10:03.51) Lizzy Vroom, SWL
4x100 Relay 17th (52.37) Lester B. Pearson –  Rebecca Padou, Julia Johnson, Francesca Maddalena and Florence Emile-Joly
Open Girls 2000-metre Steeplechase 1st (6:52.19 New Record) Lizzy Vroom, SWL
Open Girls 4x400 Relay 15th (4:19.76) Louis-Riel – Lilianne Shannon, Chloé Joly, Ella Duguay and Chloé Charron

Novice Boys
100-metres 4th (11.97) Ibrahim Domiati, Louis-Riel
200-metres 8th (23.80) Ibrahim Domiati, Louis-Riel
400-metres 2nd (52.71) Ibrahim Domiati, Louis-Riel
400-metres 6th (54.55) Zachary Jeggo, Louis-Riel
800-metres 14th (2:09.22) Zachary Jeggo, Louis-Riel
100-metre hurdles 2nd (14.64) Timeo Altonfo, Gisèle-Lalonde
300-metre hurdles 1st (44.03) Timeo Altonfo, Gisèle-Lalonde
Long Jump 5th (6.14m) Timeo Altonfo, Gisèle-Lalonde
Long Jump 12th (5.50m) Aleem Khaida, Colonel By
Triple Jump 6th (12.13m) Aleem Khaida, Colonel By
High Jump 11th (1.60m) Mason Brennan, Colonel By
4x100 metre Relay 4th (46.91) Colonel By – Aleem Khaida, Charlie Cameron, Mason Brennan and Ezra Ng-A-Fook
4x100 metre Relay 12th (47.80) Louis-Riel – Ibrahim Domiati, Zachary Jeggo, Bradley Wilson and Eden Vigne

Junior Boys
100-metres 15th (11.56) Janssen Assogba, Colonel By
200-metres 22nd (24.18) Janssen Assogba, Colonel By
400-metre hurdles 16th (44.79) Ali Kalkas, Colonel By
High Jump 13th (1.70m) Jumbo Finlaystone, Gloucester
Long Jump 22nd (5.19m) Ladi Ogunmekan, Colonel By
Shotput 3rd (14.01m) Dustin Coldrey, Colonel By
Discus 5th (40.16m) Dustin Coldrey, Colonel By
4x100 metre Relay 3rd (45.34) Colonel By – Janssen Assogba, Mukthar Raji, Ladi Ogunmekan and Jonathan Ngo-Minh Rusimovic

Senior Boys
Long Jump 17th (5.74m) Quentin Heredia, Gloucester
Triple Jump 12th (12.65m) Quentin Heredia, Gloucester
Shotput 11th (13.12m) Jade Rempel-Facey, Colonel By
4x100 metre Relay 15th (45.49) St. Matthew – Stephane Joseph, Cameron Hutchison, Marvens Tercy and Kwabena Opena