By RON SMITH
Sports Editor
The TISS Pirates set school records and made provincial history.
The Pirates won a school-high 12 medals, including four golds, at the all-Ontario high school track and field championships in Windsor on the weekend.
En route to that total, the Pirates also claimed a 1-2-3 finish in the midget boys 3,000-metre race, a feat that had never been accomplished, in any event, in the 40-year history of the OFSAA championships.
Kyle Milks won the 3,000 in nine minutes, 20.57 seconds with Will McFall placing second in 9:22.31 with Jacob Smith taking third in 9:22.79.
"This is one of the most amazing things in Ontario track and field history," said TISS coach Randy Givogue. "That's just huge. You never get three kids sweeping the medals. It's never happened."
That trio had been dominating the midget boys distance events but the Pirates coaching staff was only remotely thinking about the possibility of all three finishing in the medals at the provincials.
With three laps to go in the race, the race announcer began to alert the crowd of 4,000 to the potential of history in the making. The three TISS runners were in a pack of eight at the front of the race.
With two laps to go, there were only five runners bunched up for the lead, explained Givogue, with the cheering of the crowd growing louder. In the last lap, a St. Catharines runner fell back to leave the TISS runners by themselves at the front.
When Milks, McFall and Smith crossed the line, there was just a huge burst of applause.
"It was just unbelievable," said Givogue.
Matt Leeder captured two gold medals, winning the junior boys 1,500 and 3,000-metre races. Tim Nedow won gold in the midget boys shot put with a throw of 15.31 metres.
The Pirates won silver medals with Nedow in midget boys shot put, Milks in midget boys 1,500 and in the midget boys 4x100 relay. TISS won bronze with Nathan Livingstone in the midget boys pole vault, Adrian Smith in the midget boys high jump and Marco Cacciato in the junior boys pole vault.
The relay team of Mitch Nutbrown, Mike Porter, Jesse Casselman and Adrian Smith finished second by less than half a second.
The most medals the Pirates had ever brought home from OFSAA before was five at one time.
"No, no, no, we weren't expecting at all to do as well as we did," said Givogue.
See PIRATES on page B2
The Pirates also provided a stunner by winning the boys overall OFSAA title, a AA school beating AAA, AAAA and the Toronto specialty track and field schools.
TISS finished with 122 points in the boys standings with Birchmount Park, the perennial champ and a school designated as a development school for track and field athletes, finishing in second place with 92.
"It was probably the most rewarding experience of all. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we were going to beat Birchmount," said Givogue. "We've never been close. Nobody's ever been close to them. It might be another 15 years before Birchmount Park doesn't win again."
"To try to win that, as a AA school, you just don't think of that. We just really have that special group of boys that have talent," noted Givogue. "We knew a bunch of them would do well. We didn't know they would do that well. Everybody stepped up their performance. We were floored."
Givogue, the coaching staff and the athletes were wishing Ron Hungerford could have been there to see it. Hungerford, who jump-started the track program when he arrived 30 years ago and now helps with the team's pole vaulters, was attending his daughter's wedding.
For Nedow, to win shot put and place second in triple jump, it was an unusual combination.
In the triple jump, Nedow almost wasn't going to compete in the event. Not having spikes to fit his feet, Nedow was competing in running shoes for his first two jumps. Someone in the crowd noticed that, explained Givogue, and yelled out that he had spikes Nedow could wear.
Nedow put them on and went from the back of the pack to his second-place finish, improving with every jump.
Other TISS results were: McFall, fourth in midget boys 1,500; Jacob Smith, fifth in midget boys 1,500; Corey Fox, fifth in midget girls long jump, seventh in 300 metre hurdles, eighth in triple jump; Mike Porter, fourth in midget boys long jump; Darren Zufelt, seventh in junior boys 200; Michael Wilson, fifth in junior boys javelin; Scott Burley, eighth in senior boys 1,500; Eric Knapp, fourth in senior boys pole vault; Sam Evers, seventh in senior boys long jump.
Other top 10 results from Leeds and Grenville athletes included: Brian Farnsworth, Grenville Christian College, eighth in midget boys pole vault; Jessica Rupert, South Grenville of Prescott, fifth in midget girls triple jump; Zoe Kamenz, South Grenville, seventh in midget girls shot put; Shannon Mueller, Rideau of Elgin, eighth in junior girls 80-metre hurdles; Erika Kamenz, South Grenville, 10th in junior girls long jump and triple jump; Shannon Ferguson, St. Mary, seventh in junior girls javelin; Kevin Puddicombe, GCC, seventh in senior boys pole vault.