Just a few minutes before 11:00 a.m. this past Thursday, an acquaintance of mine attending the 2026 SDSSAA Track & Field Championships noted that something like seven or eight new records had already been established – and the day was just beginning.

By any metric imaginable, this was a very memorable two-day meet for the local tracksters.

In total, 33 new standards would be put into the books, including 20 by members of the Lo-Ellen Park Knights powerhouse squad alone.

There were some impressive performances to be sure, though it would be hard to out-do the display Anderson Parent unveiled in his throwing events, in general – but far more notably, the discus.

His heave of 58.73 metres broke the senior boys record by more than 17 metres (more than 55 feet!), broke the all-time SDSSAA record (Bob Annis – 47.36m – 1969) by more than ten metres and came within six metres or so of the all-time OFSAA mark held by three-time Olympian and national record holder Jason Tunks.

“Last year at NOSSA, I threw 33 metres; I’ve improved quite a bit on that,” said the 18 year-old grade 12 student at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary.

Ya think?

Working closely with both Air Blastoff head coach Robert Esmie and local throwing guru J-P Mayer, Parent sailed the sphere six metres further than 2025 OFSAA gold medal winner Noah Mitoraj (for context purposes).

“I can still improve my upper body positioning, but I’ve been working on my footwork a lot over the winter,” said Parent, who established a new PB of 53 metres at a meet in Las Vegas a few months back. “J-P gives me really good cues and always reminds me just to focus on technique, not on throwing it far.”

“It doesn’t fly very far when you focus only on throwing far.”

Likely to enter OFSAA as the event favourite, Parent will have to deal with the non-physical aspect of sport that can present some challenges, even to high level talent. “I still have to work on that,” said the young man whose rapid ascension is clearly one of the most noteworthy ever in the history of Sudbury high-school track and field competition.

“My mental isn’t that good for discus, just because I often fault the first two throws, which is really bad,” he said, with each competitor given three attempts to crack the top eight in the field in order to earn three more throws. “I need to take it easy on the first throw, just get one on the board.”

“Once that is up there, you can build on that, add a cue with each throw.”

In a two-day stretch filled with eye-popping results, it was equally difficult not to take notice of Lo-Ellen senior distance runner Lily Bignucolo. A dedicated member of the Track North team, Bignucolo not only set new records in both the 1500m (4:45.44) and 3000m (10:24.72), but managed to shave 22 seconds off the time in the books in the former, coming within three seconds of equalling the all-time record of Veronica Poryckyj (4:42.90 – 1979).

That said, the beauty of the city championships lies not only in the record breaking performances, as impressive as those might be. For some, it is the perseverance of that gradual climb to the top, a pursuit that can be measured in years.

As a novice, Owen Olivier of Lasalle finished third in the novice boys 800m, jumping one rung to second place in the junior boys race last year. On Wednesday, the 16 year-old would finally overtake Narayan Shukla (Lo-Ellen) at this distance, though Cameron Young (Lockerby) is also now in that mix.

“It was just a matter of sticking to my training, trying to stay consistent, and making sure to get proper rest and stuff like that,” said Olivier, who has worked his way back towards the 800m and the 400m as his races of choice. “In grade eight, I ran the 1500m, but that is a little bit too long for me.”

“The 800m is just the perfect distance – and the 400m is just a really fun race.”

For as much rivalries exist and grow over the course of high-school track careers, the very nature of these non-contact sports tends to illicit far more in the way of mutual respect. “The plan for Narayan and I was to stick together until the 600m mark and then just go from there – and that’s what we did,” said Olivier.

“I think we executed it well; and with Cameron from Lockerby in there, it made for a very good race.”

Five athletes in total would register perfect meets, winning all three of the individual events that they entered: Anderson Parent (LEP – SB – shot put, discus, javelin), Jacob Paillé (LEP – SB – 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles), Violet Sutherland (LEP – NG – 400m, 800m, high jump), Aaron Flanagan (LEP – NB – 100m, long jump, triple jump), Cameron Swartz (SCC – NB – shot put, discus, javelin).

While there was little doubt that the Lo-Ellen Park Knights would successfully defend their overall team aggregate banner, the fact that the St Charles College Cardinals (2nd overall in girls; third overall in boys) would battle it out pretty well with the Lockerby Vikings (2nd overall in boys; 3rd overall in girls) was a clear signal that a nice wave of young track talent have made their way out to the New Sudbury school.

As well, both fourth place team finishers – Marymount with the girls (three points behind Lockerby); Lasalle with the boys (16 points behind St Charles) – were close enough to make things interesting as the depth of this group is clearly helping a handful of schools.

Following is a complete breakdown of every event winner, with new records denoted with an asterisk (*):

Senior Boys Division
100m – Francis Mallory (LEP) – 11.14
200m – Jacob Paillé (LEP) – 22.47
400m – Jacob Paillé (LEP) – 50.17
800m – Owen Olivier (LAS) – 2:07.95
1500m – Raphael Belzile (ESMC) – 4:28.05
3000m – Raphael Belzile (ESMC) – 9:54.22
110m hurdles – Marcus Lafranmboise (LCS) – 15.25*
400m hurdles – Jacob Paillé (LEP) – 56.00*
high jump – Mykael Gagné (ESMC) – 1.75m
long jump – Francis Mallory (LEP) – 6.70m*
triple jump – Emmett Croome (SCC) – 11.85m
pole vault – Ethan Hodder (LCS) – 3.00m
shot put – Anderson Parent (LEP) – 15.81m*
discus – Anderson Parent (LEP) – 58.73m*
javelin – Anderson Parent (LEP) – 51.69m*
2000m steeplechase – Gord Farrell (LCS) – 6:47.82
4 X 100m relay – Lo-Ellen Park – 43.39*
4 X 400m relay – Lo-Ellen Park – 3:37.01

Senior Girls Division
100m – Melina Doiron (LEP) – 12.19*
200m – Melina Doiron (LEP) – 24.68*
400m – Nadia MacDonald (LEP) – 1:00.97
800m – Misaki Diavolitsis (LCS) – 2:24.34*
1500m – Lily Bignucolo (LEP) – 4:45.44*
3000m – Lily Bignucolo (LEP) – 10:24.72*
100m hurdles – Madison Veevers (LEP) – 16.89
400m hurdles – Amanda Syncox (LEP) – 1:04.34*
high jump – Chloe Carrier (HOR) – 1.62m*
long jump – Nadia MacDonald (LEP) – 5.18m*
triple jump – Brooke Wylie (HOR) – 10.29m
pole vault – Kiersten Anderson (LCS) – 1.70m
shot put – Ava Leveillee (LEP) – 9.16m
discus – Nyah Robinson (SCC) – 35.78m*
javelin – Nyah Robinson (SCC) – 32.29m
2000m steeplechase – Bridget Osezua – 8:05.62
4 X 100m relay – Lo-Ellen Park – 50.19*
4 X 400m relay – Lo-Ellen Park – 4:06.55*

Junior Boys Division
100m – Mikko Leinala (LEP) – 11.84
200m – Gilles Guignard (LEP) – 23.93
400m – Jacob Crawford (LAS) – 54.96
800m – Bradley Eady (LAS) – 2:11.90
1500m – Maxime Belzile (ESMC) – 4:19.16*
3000m – Maxime Belzile (ESMC) – 9:44.74
100m hurdles – Levi Blouin (LEP) – 14.22*
300m hurdles – Levi Blouin (LEP) – 41.32*
high jump – Bently Szwed (BAC) – 1.76m
long jump – Gilles Guignard (LEP) – 6.47m*
triple jump – Xavier Aubertin (ESMC) – 11.78m
pole vault – Logan Anderson (LCS) – 2.40m
shot put – Dexter Mailloux (SCC) – 14.32m
discus – Chase Baronette (SCC) – 42.74m*
javelin – Merik Renaud (HOR) – 41.47m
4 X 100m relay – Lo-Ellen Park – 46.34*

Junior Girls Division
100m – Annabelle Richardson (LEP) – 12.35m*
200m – Annabelle Richardson (LEP) – 25.10
400m – Amelie Gervais (CND) – 1:05.19
800m – Mackenzie Roy (SCC) – 2:27.29
1500m – Mackenzie Roy (SCC) – 5:10.67
3000m – Ewa Breckon (LEP) – 12:15.27
80m hurdles – Rowan Frood (LEP) – 12.92
300m hurdles – Rowan Frood (LEP) – 48.30
high jump – Mila Beljo (LEP) – 1.55m
long jump – Mila Beljo (LEP) – 4.75m
triple jump – Katie Oberthier (MMT) – 9.46m
pole vault – Sadie Gauvreau (LCS) – 1.75m
shot put – Blaire Rickard (LAS) – 13.09m*
discus – Blaire Rickard (LAS) – 32.90m
javelin – Ella Gatien (LEP) – 24.43m
4 X 100m relay – Lo-Ellen Park – 51.19*

Novice Boys Division
100m – Aaron Flanagan (LEP) – 12.27
200m – Nicholas Rice (LAS) – 24.40
400m – Nicholas Rice (LAS) – 54.39
800m – Dax Hester (LEP) – 2:11.60
1500m – Dax Hester (LEP) – 4:31.24*
3000m – Lincoln Elliott (LEP) – 10:53.86
100m hurdles – Griffith Roberts (LEP) – 17.16
300m hurdles – Charlie Chisholm (LCS) – 48.15
high jump – Eli Cattapan (LAS) – 1.55m
long jump – Aaron Flanagan (LEP) – 5.82m
triple jump – Aaron Flanagan (LEP) – 11.42m
pole vault – Kaiden Timony (LCS) – 2.05m
shot put – Cameron Swartz (SCC) – 11.87m
discus – Cameron Swartz (SCC) – 39.25m
javelin – Cameron Swartz (SCC) – 36.07m
4 X 100m relay – Lo-Ellen Park – 49.90

Novice Girls Division
100m – Ay-Den Nixon (SCC) – 13.30
200m – Ash’Li Nixon (SCC) – 26.98
400m – Violet Sutherland (LEP) – 1:05.36
800m – Violet Sutherland (LEP) – 2:37.89
1500m – Sofia Kalviainen (LEP) – 5:47.30
3000m – Sofia Kalviainen (LEP) – 12:16.72
80m hurdles – Lexi Dubreuil (LEP) – 14.25
300m hurdles – Elicia Bihina (LEP) – 53.03
high jump – Violet Sutherland – 1.49m*
long jump – Ash’Li Nixon (SCC) – 4.27m
triple jump – Sophie Rancourt (LAS) – 9.25m
pole vault – Nico Selby (LCS) – 1.80m
shot put – Solène Delparte (S-Coeur) – 9.76m
discus – Mia Pren (SCC) – 21.13m
javelin – Erica Ohimai (MMT) – 23.49m
4 X 100m relay – Lo-Ellen Park – 55.31

Ambulatory / Intellectual Division
AMB – 100m – Sophia Carlson (MMT) – 15.76*
INT – 100m – Caitlin DiClemente (SSS) – 25.15
INT – 100m – Dante Ricketts (LAS) – 12.69*
AMB – 800m – Sophia Carlson (MMT) – 3:01.59*
INT – 800m – Dante Ricketts (LAS) – 2:34.92*
INT – shot put – Caitlin DiClemente (SSS) – 3.38m
INT – shot put – Dante Ricketts (LAS) – 8.94m*