Joey Payeur
Two Fort Frances natives from different schools are going prospecting for gold in “The Big Nickel” this weekend.
Hailey Beaudry of the Muskies and Molly Carlson, representing the St. Ignatius Falcons of Thunder Bay, found the extra gear they needed at the NWOSSAA cross-country championships last Wednesday at the Kamview Nordic Centre in Thunder Bay.
Beaudry finished fourth in a field of 36 in the five-km senior girls’ race in a time of 22:54.87 while Carlson ended up third out of 21 runners in the four-km junior girls’ event with a time of 19:10.38.
Those placements were good enough for both to qualify for the OFSAA championships in Sudbury this Saturday, as the top four finishers in each division (except for those on the overall winning team) advanced.
“In senior girls, I wasn’t going up against girls in the same grade like in junior last year, but against girls one or even two grades older,” noted Beaudry, who made it to OFSAA by finishing fifth in the junior division last year.
“I knew after the first little bit that I had 25 [metres] between me and the girl behind me, and I was the same distance back of the girl ahead of me,” she recalled.
“When I realized near the end how far I had left, I started sprinting and probably ended up 50 [metres[ ahead of the girl behind me and came within about 10 [metres] of the one in front of me.”
Camille Hamm, of Ecole Secondaire de La Verendrye in Thunder Bay, won the race in 21:49.92, with Andie Wood (Dryden High School) in second at 22:02.51 and Jaqueline Desimone (St. Ignatius) in third at 22:31.31.
“The trails were really wet and muddy, and it was pretty cold,” said Beaudry, whose performance keyed the Muskies’ ninth-place finish out of 16 schools in the team competition with 28 points.
“Everyone was coming up the trails with mud all the way up their legs,” she added.
“When I took off my shoes at the end, my white socks were brown.”
Muskie co-coach John Dutton was thrilled for Beaudry to earn a return trip to the all-Ontarios.
“She had a really good race and considering she was up against tougher competition than last year, I was very pleased,” he lauded.
Beaudry made it into the top 175 at OFSAA last year, but plans on moving on up the ladder this time around.
“If I can improve by five-10 seconds per kilometre, I can be faster by a minute to a minute-and-a-half,” she explained.
“Last year, I went to the starting line against 400 other runners and I didn’t know what to expect,∏” Beaudry admitted.
“But having learned from last year, I definitely have a goal to get into the top 100.”
Other Muskie participants in the senior girls’ race at NWOSSAA included Victoria Hammond, who placed 27th (29:41.18), and Ashley Dupuis, who came in 34th (33:55.86).
Carlson, meanwhile, will not be heading to OFSAA alone as she and the rest of the St. Ignatius’ junior girls’ crew ended up with 20 points to capture the team title for that division.
“To be honest, I felt really sick and cold,” said Carlson, who barely practised this year with the team while training for the UANA Pan American Diving Championships in Tucson, Ariz. last month, where she won the three-metre event in the girls’ 14-15 age division.
“For just showing up and racing for the second time this year, it was pretty good.”
Carlson’s teammate, Hannah Melchiorre, was first across the finish line in 18:59.80 while Lisle Compton (St. Thomas Aquinas) just beat Carlson in a last-gasp sprint to come away with second in 19:08.35.
Savannah Chapman was the lone Muskie entrant in the junior girls’ event, finishing 20th with a time of 27:08.97.
In the senior boys’ 7.2-km event at NWOSSAA, Muskie Arthur Van Ael recaptured his early-season form with a ninth-place result out of 35 runners in a time of 31:09.36.
Teammate Chandler Cousineau was the only other Fort High runner in the field, coming 22nd with a mark of 34:14.81.
Kirk Markowski of Dryden took the senior boys’ title in 28:52.77.
Ryan Pendziwol of Westgate (Thunder Bay) was second in 29:07.53 while Owen Hynna of Hammarskjold (Thunder Bay) was third in 29:47.57.
The Muskies, meanwhile, turned in another top-10 effort in the Grade 9 girls’ event as Jessica Steele also claimed ninth spot in the field of 31 with a clocking of 16:01.07 over the two-km course.
Fellow Muskie Victoria Beaudry came through to take 16th place in the race, finishing in a time of 17:31.66.
Fort High had no competitors in the junior boys’ or Grade 9 boys’ events.
Hammarskjold won the overall team crown with 223 points.
Dryden was second at 163 while St. Ignatius was third with 114.
