Staff
The Muskie cross-country team is gunning for gold at the NWOSSAA championships being held today in Thunder Bay.
And if things go well, head coach John Dutton said Fort High could be sending its largest-ever contingent to the all-Ontarios set for Nov. 4 in Petawawa.
“Our boys have a very good chance of placing well enough to advance to OFSAA,” Dutton noted in an e-mailed response to the Times.
“On the girls’ side, our Midget [Grade 9] and Junior [Grade 10] girls have individuals that will, in all likelihood, advance by placing top five in their respective divisions,” he added.
But because the Muskies also have four girls in each age group, Dutton said they have a very good chance of qualifying for OFSAA as a team.
“In that scenario, we could be sending as many as eight girls to compete at the provincial level,” he enthused.
“This would far surpass our number of qualifiers in the past.”
Over the past 10 years, Dutton said Fort High always has sent one or two athletes to OFSAA.
And in 2015, the Muskie senior girls’ team travelled to Collingwood for the provincial championships.
The Muskies are coming off a successful season in their five races, which Dutton partially credits to a new and more rigorous training regimen from previous years.
“But I think that the true key to our achievement this fall lays with the great individuals who make up this year’s team,” he stressed.
“The camaraderie, sportsmanship, and dedication displayed by these young athletes is contagious, and everyone is willing to put in the extra effort for the team.”
Dutton also said their success in 2017 actually began two years ago when, on the advice of a friend, they began recruiting Grade 7 and 8 runners to train and compete with the high school team.
“Attracting new runners to our team has always been difficult,” Dutton admitted.
“We have trouble competing with the allure of hockey, football, and court sports, and often have athletes that start training with us only to lose them to these other teams.”
What has set the team apart from previous seasons, said Dutton, is that a number of the Grade 9 athletes now are running with the squad for their third year.
“Rather than [being] rookies, they are veterans on the team and are loyal to the sport of cross-country running,” he explained.
“Runners like Greta Fedoruk, Ashlyn Beck, and Jaida Norris know the competition, are familiar with the various venues, and are used to the level of training necessary to be competitive in their sport.”
Including the Grade 7/8 runners, the Muskies have 22 members on this year’s squad, which is as little larger than in previous years.
Dutton, who has been involved with the team since 2006, noted girls always have outnumbered the boys–and this year is no exception.
“Of the 13 athletes [of high school age] travelling to compete at NWOSSAA in Thunder Bay, 10 of them are girls,” he said.
But only two runners on the entire team are in the senior division (Grades 11-12).
“This is great news for our Midget girls and Junior girls as for the first time in a decade, we have four girls in each of those divisions, which allows them to compete individually and as a team [at NWOSSAA],” Dutton noted.
Whatever happens in Thunder Bay, Dutton said this season has been “a great ride.”
“It has truly been a pleasure to witness their enthusiasm and tremendous work ethic at every practice,” he lauded.
