It's that time of year again and it happens at levels
ranging from the professional ranks to the local amateur sports
scene.
It's cross over time - that point in the sporting calendar when
the ultimate competitive match-ups are being produced for one
set of seasonal sports at exactly the same time that a whole
new wave of fresh campaigns are being launched. Consider, for a
second, the current state of high school athletics in Sudbury.
This past Saturday, down in the southwestern corner of the
province, hundreds of cross-country runners assembled to
showcase their talents. In an environment where "top half of
the field" results are noteworthy for northern Ontario
athletes, a handful of young Sudburians easily surpassed those
goals.
Leading the way was Lo-Ellen junior Kyla Pettigrew, making her
first visit to the OFSSA cross-country showcase. She blazed to
a seventh place finish, covering the 4,290-metre course in
15:45.4.
Teammate Alannah MacLean posted a respectable 27th placing,
roughly one minute back of Pettigrew. Both young ladies crossed
the finish line ahead of more than 200 of their competitors.
More Sudbury highlights came courtesy of the senior boys tandem
of Ross Proudfoot (Lo-Ellen) and Chantry Cargill (Lockerby).
While the pair of Track North runners have waged a friendly
battle through preliminary races, city championships and NOSSA,
in the end, both have benefited from the competitiveness.
Proudfoot posted a time of 22:22 over the 6,905-metre course,
good for 12th overall, while Cargill, 22 seconds back, slid in
as the 22nd runner in a field of 240.
Other top half results came courtesy of Ian Bailey, Lasalle,
Hayden Kosmerly, Lockerby,  Sebastien Diebel, St.
Benedict, Benoit Bizier, Notre-Dame and Stephane Jacques,
Lo-Ellen.
Closer to home, both the boys volleyball and girls basketball
city crowns will be decided, along with NOSSA representation.
While the Lo-Ellen Park Knights enter senior boys volleyball
post-season action as the team to beat, they have also opted to
challenge up from the "AA" level to "AAA," apparently to avoid
facing an equally tough northern Ontario opponent in Widdifield
(North Bay).
But it also provides the second-ranked Lockerby Vikings with
all the motivation in the world, since the Knights now stand in
the way of their all-Ontario aspirations.
Lo-Ellen has handled Lockerby with relative ease in a pair of
regular season meetings.
And all of this is based on the assumption, many times proven
wrong, that the top two teams from league play will meet up in
the end. The likes of Champlain, Lively and College Notre-Dame
would love to throw a wrench into those plans.
The girls basketball contingent will be watching closely to see
if 2008 is the year the streak comes to an end. Nine straight
city championships for the Lasalle Lancers entering this
season, but the Lockerby Vikings have taken two of the three
meetings between the teams, including the last one by 20 plus
points.
Upsets are certainly possible. Just ask the Lo-Ellen Knights
football team, who grounded the St. Benedict Bears 30-12 in the
city final Monday at Queen's Athletic Field.
Two-time defending city champions, St Ben's had not lost to a
SDSSA opponent in the span of 23 games, dating back to October
2005. The Knights will now look to provide local football fans
with their first chance to witness a NOSSA final in more than
two decades, needing a win over Widdifield of North Bay on
Saturday, in order to play host to the Sault Ste. Marie
representatives one week later.
From the post-season to the pre-season, the high-school girls
hockey ranks staged their annual East-West games last Friday.
The College Notre-Dame Alouettes may not be quite the
juggernaut of the past few years but they will still enter the
2008-09 campaign as favourites to win it all.
Whether that will indeed play out won't be determined until
next February or March…or roughly right around the time when
the next cross over season is upon us.
Randy Pascal is the voice of Persona 10 Sports and the founder of SudburySports.com.
