KITCHENER — Devon Rittinger is Waterloo Region’s fastest high school sprinter.
The Forest Heights student earned that title on Wednesday by winning the senior boys 100-metre race on the opening day of the Waterloo County-District 8 track and field championships at Resurrection.
The Grade 12 student started slowly, but came back to win the marquee event in 11.27 seconds, edging Elmira’s Cory Giroux, who finished in 11.31 seconds.
Elmira’s Emeka Agada got off to a fast start before blowing a tire as Rittinger passed him.
“I wanted to break 11 (seconds), but I guess it wasn’t mean to be,” said Rittinger. “A great race, though. It felt weird coming out of the blocks but I didn’t give up.
“I’ve been working hard, so it feels good.”
Rittinger has exactly one week to savour his victory before competing in next week’s Central Western Ontario championship, which will also be staged at Rez. The top four WCSSAA finishers and top two District 8 competitors will advance from the combined meet that ends Thursday to the CWOSSA championship.
Villard Vitalis of St. Mary’s was the fastest in D8 sprint, finishing in 11.77 seconds. Bob McKenna of Rez was second in 11.83 seconds.
A D8 sprinter was fastest in the senior girls 100-metre race as Tia Semplonius of St. Benedict finished in 13.24 seconds, well ahead of Rez’s Victoria Bissonnette, who crossed the line in 14.06 seconds.
“It wasn’t that great of a race, really,” said Semplonius. “I fell out of the blocks, kind of, but I guess it all worked out.”
Semplonius finished in fifth place in the 100-metre race and sixth in the 200-metre race at last year’s Ontario championship and hopes to at least make it back to this year’s event.
It won’t be easy, she said.
“These young kids are getting faster,” she laughed.
Bluevale’s Tonya Malcolm won the WCSSAA event in a time of 13.29 seconds, slightly ahead of Erin Robbins of Cameron Heights.
“I hope to do a lot better at CWOSSA,” said Robbins. “Hopefully, the weather will be better.”
Southwood star Chisomo McHaina was forced to pull out of the race with an injury.
It was also an eventful day for Mitch O’Donnell of Forest Heights. The Grade 10 student set a WCSSAA record in the junior boys 100-metre hurdles and also broke the existing record in the triple jump only to finish in second place behind Trojans teammate Nienkel Paljola.
O’Donnell, the Ontario champion as a midget, jumped 13.70 metres while Paljola went 13.87 metres on his sixth and final jump.
O’Donnell actually committed fouls on his first two jumps before needing to make a safe jump on his third to stay in the competition.
“That scared the crap out of me,” he smiled. “I won’t do that again.”
Later in the day, O’Donnell and second-place finisher Chris Green of Cameron Heights both topped the existing record in the 100-metre hurdles. O’Donnell finished in 14.24 seconds, while Green crossed in 14.81 seconds.
The record-setting performance came just moments after O’Donnell’s midget record in the same event was topped by Jordan Sherwood of Cameron Heights.
Ironically, O’Donnell set the record at Cameron Heights before transferring to Forest Heights for his second year of school.
“I’m happy that (Jordan) broke it. We push each other, so good for him,” said O’Donnell.
Palojola went on to set a second WCSSAA record in the 400-metre race, finishing in a time of 51.77 seconds. He made it look easy down the stretch, but said later that looks can be deceiving.
“I can tell you that it’s not easy, coming down the back stretch, woo, it’s hard,” said Palojola.
“It all comes down to training. I’ve been training really hard and the results show it.”
Palojola is hoping for more of the same on Day 2, when he’ll compete in the 200, 4x100 and 4x400 races.
Outstanding doesn’t even begin to describe the performance of Grade 9 phenom Jaimie Phelan of St. Mary’s.
Phelan obliterated the District 8 record in the midget girls 1,500-metre race, crossing the line in 4:50.43. The previous record of 5:02.12 was set by Aliya Roga of St. David only last year.
By comparison, Phelan’s older sister Katie won the D8 senior race in 5:00.56 and Simonne Tomasovic of Cameron Heights won the WCSSAA senior race in 5:10.48.
"I work hard and I love doing it,” said Phelan when asked about her dominance.
She also won the 400-metre race in a time of 1:04.71.
Phelan’s best event is actually the 3,000-metre race, but she chose not to run it during the high school season, instead focusing on the 400, 800, and 1,500-metre races.
She beat the top high school runners in Ontario over 3,000 metres at a recent meet in Toronto, but decided to pass on an almost sure gold at OFSAA to focus on her speed.
“I might have had a pretty good chance at winning the 3,000 at OFSAA, but I’d like to go to OFSAA in the 1,500,” she said.
More than 1,200 students are taking part in the competition.
RECORD BREAKERS
A number of Waterloo County and District 8 records fell on Wednesday.
WCSSAA
Jordan Sherwood, CHCI, midget boys 400-metre dash, 100-metre hurdles; Matt Bannon, EDSS, midget boys 1,500-metre run; Nienkel Paljola, FHCI, junior boys 400-metre dash, junior boys triple jump; Mitch O’Donnell, FHCI, junior boys 100-metre hurdles, junior boys triple jump; Chris Green, CHCI, junior boys 100-metre hurdles; Emily Ersman, BCI, junior girls triple jump; Danielle Gunsch, HHSS, junior girls triple jump; Trevor Zister, WODSS, senior boys 110-metre hurdles; Eric Danecke, GRCI, senior boys javelin; Jason Thorton, JHSS, 2,000-metre open steeplechase.
DISTRICT 8
Jaimie Phelan, SMCSS, midget girls 1,500-metre run; Ben Flanagan, SMCSS, midget boys 1,500-metre run, open boys 2,000-metre steeplechase; Trevon Mendez, RCSS, midget boys pole vault; Kyle Patrick Dennis, RCSS, midget boys long jump; Riley Flanagan, SMCSS, midget boys long jump; Scott Buttinger, RCSS, junior boys 400-metre dash; Sam Baxter, SMCSS, junior boys 1,500-metre run; Breanne Huthings, MDCSS, junior girls discus; Connor Outhit, RMC, senior boys 1,500-metre run; Calvin Arsenault, SMCSS, senior boys 110-metre hurdles; Marvin Muschette, RCSS, senior boys 110-metre hurdles; Anna Antczak, SDCSS, senior girls triple jump.
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