Tenacity is seldom cited as a primary transitional skill in sport.

Yet as Shiloh Sauve discusses his athletic evolution, the journey that would take the eldest of three children in the family from rising basketball star through the elementary ranks over to current city cross-country champion – and quite impressively so, at that – the thing he carried most from the former to the latter was that inner motivation to draw out every last ounce of potential.

“In basketball, I was always more of a defensive player, gritting it out and giving all of my effort out there,” said Sauve after cruising to a 53 second victory at Kivi Park, closing off a fall of running dominance at the senior boys level locally with yet another first place finish. “I brought that mentality over to running.”

Combine that mindset with the structured program that coaches Colin Ward, Neil Phipps and company offer at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School and you have the makings of a young man who did not enter high-school as a “runner to watch”, so to speak – but most certainly exits that way.

The final year as a Knight for the articulate 17 year old sees Sauve passing on basketball altogether.

“It’s all cross-country and running,” he said. “I really want to focus on getting my times up so that I can run at university. I don’t think I am good enough to play basketball at university, so this year, I am going all in on running.”

A silver medallist in 2022 as a junior, Sauve was also part of an impressive senior collection of talent at Lo-Ellen which finished fourth overall at OFSAA last fall, one of the best placements ever for a local senior boys team. On a personal level, it also set the stage ofr 2024.

“I had a really good race at OFSAA (last year) that carried into this year,” said Sauve. “I think I kind of cracked the mental code a little bit at OFSAA. The team that we had last year (with Owen Dobson, Nolan Kuhlberg, Sam Rice) – race as a team, finish as a family – that positive culture really helped me break through at OFSAA.”

It’s all part and parcel of the cross-country and track and field environment at the south end school that allows the likes of Sauve and so many others to develop to the height of their natural potential.

“Anyone who puts the mileage in and is doing the workouts the coaches have provided – and giving your full effort during the workouts – that’s how you get faster. But the mental toughness allows you to physically get better. Mister Ward and Neil really cultivate that. Neil calls it the pain cave.”

“When stuff starts to hurt and you’re in the middle of a race, that’s where you want to be,” Sauve stated emphatically. “It does require a bit of a different mental approach.”

If Sauve sounds more than a tad convinced that the words of his coaches are well worth absorbing, it’s only because he has seen it work, time and time again.

“Mister Ward always says that runners are made in the summer,” noted Sauve. “I felt I really laid down a great base this summer.”

And now he has followed in the countless footsteps of Lo-Ellen runners of old.

“Last year, we had Owen and Nolan and Sam and they kind of brought me along,” said Sauve. “They were fast and I was a little bit slower. So this year, even though I am focused on my own improvement and hitting those times, I am trying to play the same role that they did for me, bringing our juniors and novices along at workouts and making sure they get all of their reps done.”

“I just want to try and continue that Lo-Ellen legacy that Mister Ward has built, at least for the next few years.”

Looking forward more than ever for the challenge of both NOSSA and OFSAA, Sauve knows that his hard work has now opened doors at the next level.

“I am projected to run OUA times – I am right there,” he suggested. “I’ve looked at the websites and although the top guys are running ridiculously fast, coming in as a freshman, I can at least run university level times.”

“It’s very motivating to know that the next steps are coming.”

The fact that those steps are happening on the trails and track and not on the court matter very little to Shiloh Sauve.

It’s all very cool.