Some high-school cross-country runners apparently were quite busy this past summer.

That appears to be the conclusion to be drawn given the small handful of athletes that kind of came out of nowhere to finish at or near the top of their division at the first SDSSAA preliminary race of the fall last week at Kivi Park.

There could be other reasons why some of these teens were not top five finishers a year ago (ie. injuries, just moved to the area, etc...), all of which will be topics to uncover as we work our way towards the Sudbury high-school championship races on Wednesday October 16th, also at Kivi Park.

Nowhere in the 2023 SDSSAA top five in junior or senior girls last fall, Valerie Vaillancourt of Sacré-Coeur surged to the front of the senior pack in race one, finishing ahead of Misaki Diavolitsis (Lockerby) and Lily Bignucolo (Lo-Ellen), both of whom have aged up.

The junior girls race also saw plenty of fresh faces at the top, including Alessandra Melo of Lo-Ellen who finished an impressive 95 seconds ahead of Paetyn Farmer of Marymount.

The boys junior event featured Novice champion Carson Jewitt of Lo-Ellen (1st), though the likes of Matteo Ceccon (St Benedict), Cam Young (Lockerby) and Gord Farrell (Lockerby) all recorded nice jumps behind him.

Ironically, the Novice events did not hold the usual suspense of most years as both the girls champion (Sadie Frantz - Lo-Ellen) and boys champion (Julian Luoma - Lo-Ellen) are no strangers to the pages of SudburySports.com.

And finally, the senior boys showdown featured the expected bump as Shiloh Sauvé of Lo-Ellen (fifth one year ago behind Sam Rice, Owen Dobson, Liam Binks and Nolan Kuhlberg) stepped up following the graduation of the top four, getting the better of 2023 junior silver medal winner Raphael Belzile of Macdonald-Cartier.

While there is a second preliminary race set for today at Kivi Park, all eyes are on the annual Laurentian X-Country Rumble on the Rocks set for next Tuesday (September 24th) at Laurentian University.

In the meantime, here are the top five in each division from preliminary race #1:

Senior Boys Division
1st - Shiloh Sauvé (LEP) - 15:18.88
2nd - Raphael Belzile (ESMC) - 15:42.22
3rd - Max Portelance (CND) - 15:51.11
4th - Jack Ellis (SSS) - 15:54.55
5th - Lukas Morin (CND) - 15:55.55

Senior Girls Division
1st - Valerie Vaillancourt (Sacre Coeur) - 17:41.11
2nd - Misaki Diavolotsis (LCS) - 18:08.00
3rd - Lily Bignucolo (LEP) - 19:41.11
4th - Lucia Salmaso (MMT) - 19:43.33
5th - Gracie Dale (LEP) 20:16.66

Junior Boys Division
1st - Carson Jewitt (LEP) - 15:54.44
2nd - Cam Young (LCS) - 16:31.11
3rd - Matteo Ceccon (STB) - 16:33.33
4th - Gord Farrell (LCS) - 16:35.55
5th - Narayan Shukla (LEP) - 16:50.00

Junior Girls Division
1st - Alessandra Melo (LEP) - 20:35.55
2nd - Paetyn Farmer (MMT) - 22:10.00
3rd - Anna Shelswell (LEP) - 22:51.11
4th - Bridget Osezua (LEP) - 25:16.66
5th - Maiya Parsons (Lasalle) - 26:08.00

Novice Boys Division
1st - Julian Luoma (LEP) - 16:06.66
2nd - Lex Gorval (Champlain) - 16:34.44
3rd - Logan Anderson (LCS) - 18:22.22
4th - Eden Abols (LCS) - 18:41.11
5th - Tucker Newton (Riv-Francais) - 18:45.55

Novice Girls Division
1st - Sadie Frantz (LEP) - 18:10.11
2nd - Lia Paillé (LEP) - 18:37.77
3rd - Mila Beljo (LEP) - 20:28.88
4th - Ewa Breckon (LEP) - 21:24.44
5th - Ellie Sauvé (LEP) - 22:12.22