When it comes to the annual OFSAA Nordic Ski Championships, Lo-Ellen Park Knights' head coach Colin Ward knows that his team has arrived.
Now his athlete know that as well.
"I feel that this year, we had a little more of an idea of where we stood," suggested 17 year-old senior Finlay Cuza, showing the way for the Knights in the Open Girls category with a 15th place finish.
On a senior team level, both boys and girls, is where Lo-Ellen stood was on the podium as the Knights were crowned as Senior Team Champions at the all-Ontario meet.
The lads (Russell Joiner, Sam Rice, Corey Lacroix, Owen Dobson, Austin Conroy) swept gold in both the "Team Distance Race" (Day 1) and the "Team Sprint Relays" (Day 2) while the girls squad (Finlay Cuza, Grace Thomas, Maija Nener, Gracie Dale, Olivia Tissot) earned silver medal in both disciplines.
On an individual basis, Sam Rice returned home with a silver medal, finishing in the high-school category (non club skiers), with Corey Lacroix (4th) and Owen Dobson (5th) close behind.
For her part, Cuza would be rewarded for taking the leap to close out her secondary school career with a bang.
"This year was the first year that I joined the training plan (with Walden Nordic)," she said. "I got into training more to prepare for maybe skiing for a university next year."
Still undecided as to a final destination next year (both Laurentian and Ottawa are definitely in the mix), Cuza would tough it out in a less than ideal environment this winter.
"Obviously it's been a little bit hard to train this year with the lack of snow," noted Cuza. "There was some running and roller-skiing that had to happen in the middle of the season. I kind of felt like I was at my peak this year going into OFSAA, which was good timing."
"I actually think I exceeded my own expectations a little bit at OFSAA," she continued. "I beat a few people who beat me at SDSSAA and NOSSA."
And for as much as the racing season as been somewhat hit and miss due to good 'ol Mother Nature, the experience that Cuza has garnered certainly proved fruitful as schools from across the province gathered at Lakefield College School (just outside of Peterborough) late last month.
"I think I was just a little more used to racing in those conditions than some of the others," said Cuza. "It was kind of the same conditions as Ottawa in early December. It wasn't really a lack of snow; it was just that the snow that they did have was super slushy in some parts and super, super icy in other parts."
With a few years more experience than Cuza, Lauren Pineau (Lockerby Vikings) posted the best individual result of any SDSSAA female skier, finishing fourth in the Open Girls division behind Beth Marchant (Georgian Bay DSS), Elle Waite (Twin Lakes SS) and Mia Smith (Parry Sound HS).
"It definitely wasn't my best race - but considering the conditions were pretty bad and there wasn't a great place to warm-up, it was okay," said the 17 year-old 2024 graduate to be who is learning in the direction of Lakehead University come the 2024-2025 school year.
Thankfully, the saving grace came in the form of the overall team results as Lockerby earned bronze medals on both days of competition, with Pineau joining forces with Misaki Diavolitsis, Ivy Schulte-Hostedde, Bay Jones and Alissa Diavolitsis to mount the podium twice.
"It was still a lot of fun being there with my high-school team," said Pineau. "We did unexpectedly well as a team, so that was great and kind of evens it out. With a lot of the high-school racers, this is their first time racing with chips (timing) and having a starting gate."
"Most of them have never done a real warm-up; it's a lot of fun guiding them through since I've done this over and over and over again. It's kind of cool knowing what I am doing and being able to help them out."
In the end, people will make the memories last, just one of the reasons that Pineau so appreciates her sport of choice.
"Everywhere I go for skiing, it's such a great community," she said. "Everyone is always supporting everyone, no matter what. Even at OFSAA, every school would cheer for the others. I know with Lockerby and Lo-Ellen and the northern schools there, just being successful within our district is great."
All of which is a big part of the mixed emotions that the graduating locals would feel, competing for the last time on the high-school circuit.
"The team at Lo-Ellen is just such a family," opined Cuza. "Everyone trains together, we race together and we spend time with each other outside of skiing and school. I'm just going to miss how much of a family it is."
Following is a breakdown of other notable results for SDSSAA skiers on hand for the 2024 OFSAA Nordic Ski Championships:
Senior BoysOpen Division (10.5km)
9th - Russell Joiner (LEP) - 19:15.5
29th - Austin Conroy (LEP) - 24:30.5
33rd - Mattias Saari (STB) - 25:16.8
High-School Division (7.0km)
2nd - Sam Rice (LEP) - 21:13.1
4th - Corey Lacroix (LEP) - 21:37.3
5th - Owen Dobson (LEP) - 21:48.9
37th - Ivano Gianfrancesco (LAS) - 25:04.3
41st - Joshua Gagnon (CHMP) - 25:31.9
Senior Girls
Open Division (7.0km)
4th - Lauren Pineau (LCS) - 20:16.8
13th - Finlay Cuza (LEP) - 22:19.5
20th - Maija Nener (LEP) - 23:13.9
23rd - Bailey Raymond (CND) - 25:21.7
High-School Division (7.0km)
6th - Grace Thomas (LEP) - 23:09.9
8th - Gracie Dale (LEP) - 23:32.5
9th - Georgia Lepage (STB) - 23:40.0
13th - Misaki Diavolitsis (LCS) - 24:17.1
21st - Ivy Schulte-Hostedde (LCS) - 25:27.2
27th - Bay Jones (LCS) - 26:11.1
30th - Sasha Bouffard (CND) - 26:31.9
31st - Ava Hodgins (LAS) - 26:41.1
36th - Audrey Kawa (LEP) - 27:09.5
40th - Olivia Tissot (LEP) - 27:25.4
52nd - Alissa Diavolitsis (LCS) - 28:15.2
Junior Boys
Open Division (5.0km)
17th - Olivier Tremblay (ESMC) - 16:01.5
25th - Hector Loiselle (LEP) - 16:38.0
30th - Chesley Godwin (LEP) - 16:57.0
40th - Keir Gauld (LEP) - 18:04.1
50th - Joshua Rioux (SCC) - 20:28.2
High-School Division (5.0km)
8th - Raphael Belzile (ESMC) - 16:48.8
11th - Gord Farrell (LCS) - 16:55.2
12th - Grady Dale (LEP) - 17:02.2
20th - Toma Corsi (LCS) - 17:37.3
32nd - Isaac Longston (LCS) - 18:41.8
42nd - Ben Lamarche (LEP) - 19:27.0
Junior Girls
High-School Division (5.0km)
4th - Kalia Pharand (ESH) - 17:47.1
9th - Tyla MacLeod (BAC) - 18:20.5
12th - Megan Pineau (LEP) - 18:35.7
18th - McKenna Mende (LEP) - 19:23.3
19th - Alex Hann (LEP) - 19:29.4
28th - Lea Maki (LEP) - 20:08.4
102nd - Leticia Da Silva (LEP) - 30:37.5
Team Results
Team Distance Race - Day 1
JB - Lo-Ellen Park - 5th - team score = 174
JG - Lo-Ellen Park - 4th - team score = 163
SB - Lo-Ellen Park - 1st - team score = 79
SG - Lo-Ellen Park - 2nd - team score = 93
SG - Lockerby Composite - 3rd - team score = 133
Sprint Relays - Day 2
SG - Lo-Ellen Park - 2nd - 16:01.1
SG - Lockerby Composite - 3rd - 17:13.5
SB - Lo-Ellen Park - 1st - 13:38.7
JG - Lo-Ellen Park - 4th - 19:32.6
JB - Lo-Ellen Park - 6th - 16:36.1
Exhibition Sprint
JG - 27th - Leticia Da Silva (LEP) - 5:21.4
JB - 12th - Gord Farrell (LCS) - 3:37.7
JB - 19th - Toma Corsi (LCS) - 3:49.5
JB - 20th - Isaac Longston (LCS) - 3:50.3
JB - 29th - Ben Lamarche (LEP) - 4:08.4
SG - 11th - Audrey Kawa (LEP) - 4:31.5
SG - 12th - Olivia Tissot (LEP) - 4:35.3
SB - 11th - Austin Conroy (LEP) - 3:36.3
