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CDS track & field team experiences another banner year




This was another record-breaking year for The Country Day School's Senior Track Team. The season started with their largest contingent ever with just over 50 athletes. While most trained and competed, there were a handful who joined the team just to improve their fitness.
After weeks of training, 35 students travelled to Birchmount Stadium on May 23 and York University on May 24 to complete in the CISAA Championships; the largest team CDS has ever taken to these championships. There were a number of personal best performances (PBs) and as a result, the team won the Co-ed title after two full days of competition. Each athlete contributed to the overall success of the team and should be proud of this accomplishment.
The girls won the overall title under the leadership of Jane Stanton. Jane finished her high school career with a perfect record in the hurdle events at CISAA.
Competing at the Metro Championships is always nerve racking and exciting, as it is the qualifier for the OFSAA Championships. This year 17 athletes represented CDS at the Metro Championships in a total of 22 different events. After many tough practices, they were ready to compete, and compete they did. Once again, many new PBs were set, and for nine of these athletes it meant earning a trip to OFSAA.
The OFSAA Championships were held at the Pan Am Stadium at York University from June 7-9. This event is the 3rd largest track meet in North America and showcases many of the top track and field athletes in Canada.
On day one, the Junior Boys' 4x100m relay team of Jonah De Simone, Caleb Clarke, Lucio Masini and Maxx Railton qualified for the finals. Although the boys had conservative hand-offs, they ran a PB and qualified for the finals with the fastest time. This meant that they had a target on their backs.
On day two, the morning started with the hurdlers. It was a bittersweet race for Jane Stanton who broke 15 seconds in the 100m hurdle race, a goal that she had been working toward for two years. Although Jane did not make the finals, she finished her high school career with a new PB and school record. Wilson O'Neill overcame challenges with his starts, to place 8th overall in the 110m hurdle final. As a first year senior, making a final was a big achievement.
Maxx Railton ran a strong 100m in his heat and qualified for the final. This was the first time CDS has ever had an athlete compete in the 100m final at OFSAA. His relay team came to watch and support him as he ran to a 5th place finish in the final.
After the exciting race, the boys went to the warm-up track to get ready for their final. The goal for the team was to stay focussed on their individual marks in order to guarantee clean hand-offs. They just needed to get the baton all the way around the track! After making four smooth hand-offs, the boys not only won Gold, but set a new OFSAA record. This achievement was beyond what anyone expected. Once again, CDS history was made.
On day three, there were five athletes who competed. Angelica Tait and Lauren Adams competed in the Junior Girls' javelin throw. They both competed well, overcoming their nerves to place 24th and 18th respectively. Kira Gupta-Baltazar ran a gutsy 3000m race and placed 7th overall. She dropped an incredible 19 seconds off her PB and set a new school record. Wilson O'Neill ran a tough 400m hurdle race and placed 10th overall. Although he missed making the final, he ran fast enough to earn another trip to youth Nationals in Brandon, Manitoba in August. Maxx Railton will also join Wilson at Nationals as he ran under the standard when he placed 5th in the 200m finals.
This year marked the most ever records broken, as the team set 15 new school records, 1 Metro Championship record, 2 Andre Hamilton Relay Meet records and 1 OFSAA record. CDS has an incredible history of outstanding track athletes whose trailblazing results pushed many of the athletes to new heights.
Congratulations to everyone who worked hard throughout the season to improve in their events. And thank you to our graduates for the outstanding contributions they made to the CDS track team over the past four years.

Submitted by Denise Steadman, Geneva Winterink, Josh Collins & Sarah Parker, CDS Track Coaches
Post date: 2018-07-04 09:53:36
Post date GMT: 2018-07-04 13:53:36
Post modified date: 2018-08-22 09:35:00
Post modified date GMT: 2018-08-22 13:35:00
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