Two Franco-Cité students closed out their cross-country season by competing in the 2021 OFSAA Championships in Lakefield over the weekend of Nov. 6.
Michelle Pilon, Grade 11, and Wyatt Porter, Grade 9, qualified for the top provincial race by performing well at the NOSSA meet in Sault Ste. Marie on Oct. 27. Pilon came first in the senior girls’ category, while Porter came 10th in the novice boys age group.
This was the second time Pilon qualified for OFSAA, also making it back in Grade 9. But with COVID-19 wiping out their entire season last year, Pilon says it was just nice to be back.
“It was just good to be out there again and have a normal race,” she says.
Pilon finished 41st overall, in a field of nearly 200 racers. She ran the six-kilometre race in 25:51.
This was Porter’s first time at a meet of this size and he didn’t know what to expect.
“They learned a lot from it,” says Claude Veilleux, Franco Cité’s cross country coach. “For Wyatt, just to show him the starting box, he’s never had a starting box before. Just to know how many people you’re running against, how to place yourself when you start your race: there was a lot of strategy to learn, so it was a really good experience for him. Now he’s prepared mentally – because he wants to be there next year – and he knows what to do.”
Porter came in 104th among a field of 175 runners, finishing the four-kilometre race in 17:58.
