Sabers snap Raiders Young Canada Day streak

There’s a new sheriff in town.

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Delhi District Secondary School’s streak of 11 consecutive Young Canada Day overall points championships at the Norfolk County Fair and Horse Show ended Tuesday. Delhi’s streak lasted 13 years due to the pandemic.

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Simcoe Composite School edged the Raiders in overall points, finishing second in home craft, road racing, and tug of war, and first in special effects, to take the 2023 crown.

“It’s exciting – we finally beat Delhi,” said SCS cheerleader Jacey Donkers. “It’s very unexpected because Delhi wins every year. I’m really happy that we won.”

“It’s our first fair, too,” said Simcoe teammate Rhya Anderson. “We’re in Grade 9, so first time winning, and I think we’re all pretty hyped as you can tell. It was really cool.”

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“I thought it was more than cool,” smiled cheerleading teammate Hanna Mejia, noting only two of the Sabers cheerleaders were not in Grade 9.

“I thought HT (Holy Trinity) was going to win,” Mejia admitted.

“I felt like we were pretty well tied with HT,” Donkers nodded.

Simcoe Composite and Delhi filled the largest sections of the grandstand, however, and the two schools seemed to be making the most noise.

“We cheered our hearts out – we’re going to have our voices gone by the end of the night,” said Donkers.

Delhi finished third in cheerleading behind runner-up Waterford and the cheerleading fields, Holy Trinity.

“I have to give (credit) to everyone at the high schools, they all did really well,” said Donkers.

Now that they are Young Canada Day ‘champs,’ the question is… can they repeat? Can they improve their cheerleading routine?

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The answer was ‘yes’ and ‘yes.’

“Maybe add a few more dance moves,” said Donkers.

“And we could get more people on our team,” said Mejia, “because it was only 11 people and mainly Grade 9s this year.”

The team had limited cheerleading experience, said Donkers.

“But it’s fun to try new stuff when you get into high school – try everything new in high school, embrace your surroundings, see what you like.”

Two new road-racing champs were crowned Tuesday, both from Valley Heights, which VHSS coach Geordie Thompson said was “unprecedented.”

First at CWOSSA cross-country and fifth at OFSAA last year, Amilya King was the runner-up to Waterford’s Kennason Boudreault in the 2022 Young Canada Day race.

This year, King, now in Grade 10, was a clear leader in the female race for both laps of the 800m track, raising her fist to salute the grandstand and vocal VHSS supporters on her first lap.

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“I tried to go faster than a normal pace,” said King, who still had enough left in the tank to sprint to the finish line, “because I didn’t know if they were close behind me or not. And everyone was cheering, so… it was nice.”

King, a graduate of Langton Public School, said she was looking forward to the next race which included teammate Eytan Mirie, who went on to win Tuesday’s male road-race, completing the running sweep for VHSS.

“Eytan is amazing,” King smiled.

Mirie, a Grade 12 VHSS student, ran her first Young Canada Day race last year, while under the weather, finishing fourth or fifth. This year the cross-country and track runner (3,000m and 2,000m steeplechase), who competed at OFSAA West last year, stuck to an easy 65-70 per hundred pace.

“I just wanted to win today and have fun,” said Mirie, who took the lead on the first back corner. “I expected some of them to be sprinting the first lap, but they didn’t… so I just went for it.”

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