It’s going to be a grueling three weeks for a pair of St. Thomas, Ont. track and field athletes. Teammates Xavier Sauer and Nash Okkerse of the St. Thomas Legion Track and Field Club (STLTFC) will be at major meets each of the next three weeks. “We have AO’s (Athletics Ontario) provincial championships and then a week after that is [Ontario} Summer Games in Waterloo and then we have Legion Nationals in Saskatchewan,” said Okkerse. Tuesday night the pair were at practice at Parkside Collegiate Institute fine tuning some technique with head coach Harry Stantsos. “Speed and technique for sure,” said Sauer. “I’m looking for PB’s (personal best). I want to break 11 [seconds] in the hundred (100m) for sure and just doing the best I can do.” At the recent Legion Ontario provincial outdoor track and field championships in Sudbury, Okkerse won the U16 boys 1200m and the 2000m. Xavier Sauer won the U16 male 200 metre dash, earning their spot at Nationals in Regina. “From high school season all the way to now it’s been a long season for them,” said Stantsos, who has been working with the young duo for two to three years. “I’m trying to hold them healthy without any injuries, but they’re doing pretty good. These guys are going to be competitive together during nationals.” Okkerse was typically a middle distance runner until he took up cross country in high school. After dominating the field winning OFSAA, he’s moved towards long distance competition. “I just, I love running, it’s just great,” said Okkerse who is going into Grade 10 this fall. “I really started to like it more after cross country. I never liked distance too much before that, but I started to really like it after.” Other local athletes are ready to take on the world in upcoming competition. Damian Warner and Julia Tunks of London are headed to the Commonwealth Games in Scotland to compete next week. Jenna Tunks and Ryan Georgeson of London were named by Athletics Canada as part of the U20 team who will head to the World Championships in Oregon next month. LONDON LIGHTNING WIN U23 PROVINCIALS A London Lightning fastball team is looking for the trifecta. The U23 squad recently won gold at the PWSA Provincials in Windsor, going undefeated in the tournament and now representing the province as Ontario 1. The young ladies are the reigning back-to-back Canadian Eastern Champions and will head to Nova Scotia August 7-9 for an attempt at three titles in a row. The two previous titles were at the U19 level, but with older players now, they are competing at U23. This will be their fourth appearance at the Eastern Canadians in the last five years. TITANS WIN SLO-PITCH ELMINATIONS The Skater’s Edge Titans are the Ontario Elimination Slo-Pitch champions. Fresh off a championship at the Classique PIF, the Titans won the most recent title at Slo Pitch City in Dorchester, Ont. this week. The Titans needed a pair of wins against the 8Two Apparel Aftershock and got them 23-6 and 15-2 in the final to win the crown. With the victory, the Titans have officially secured a berth to the 2027 Canadian Championships in Alberta as ON1. The win was key to give them a better schedule for next year’s tournament. “I think we gelled together pretty good,” said Rod McKenzie, founder and general manager of the Titans. “We’ve had a couple of individuals from certain teams come across over the last couple of years, and I feel like we’ve added the right pieces and obviously results have proven that we have. We’ve got people from Sudbury, the Toronto and Barrie area as well as guys from London and Windsor. We definitely have a mixture to the province of Ontario.” The Titans are also the top seed for next month’s Canadian Championships in Niagara Falls.
