Athletics Action – Highlights and Results from Field Hockey, Basketball, Volleyball, Cross Country, and more!

Our student-athletes are getting into the rhythm of competitive sports events and are becoming great hosts for games held at LCS. This week, we welcomed students from neighbouring schools to our campus to compete in the LCS Cross Country Running Invitational for CISAA schools, Junior Basketball, and Junior and Senior Volleyball. Students are also slipping back into the routine of visiting other schools to compete on new turf in Field Hockey and Soccer. 

Our First Girls’ Field Hockey team competed against Trinity College School in a close match that ended in 2-1 loss. Congratulations to Harper ’22 for scoring the opening goal. Grace ’22 and Liv ’22 are credited with holding up the midline and defence. A special shoutout to Laura '23 for her amazing work in her very first game, playing a strong right forward position. 

The Junior Girls’ Field Hockey Team worked well together at their first away game, setting the tone of the game through their consistent energy and determination to earn a 1-0 win against TCS. Ms. Reid recognizes Emilia ’25 for consistent hitting and defending, Gabi ’24 for unwavering persistence to distribute the ball, Taya ’24 for a shutout during her Goal Keeping debut, and Mackenzie ’24 for earning the winning and only goal of the game. Well done, team!

Our Senior Boys’ soccer team ventured to Villanova College for a tight game that resulted in a 2-3 loss. Congratulations to Brad ’23 for scoring the first goal of the game and to Sacha ’23 for scoring the second. Villanova scored a game-winning goal in the last minute of the game. 

The Junior Boys’ team also headed off campus to Ridley College for a close match in which we fell two points behind a tie game (1-3 loss). Congratulations to Abdul ’23 who scored our goal of the game on a penalty kick.

Our Girls’ Basketball team welcomed students from Greenwood College School to the courts for a tough game that put their skills to the test. Greenwood dominated the game, winning by 38 points. Well done to our players who put forth a great effort against a strong team. 

Our Junior and Senior Boys’ Volleyball teams welcomed students from Country Day School to the courts for incredible matches in which LCS won all three sets in both age divisions. Well done, volleyball players! 

The Junior Boys Volleyball team won the first three sets of the game. Middle players Jud ’25 and Cooper ’25 were notable on the court for their blocks, hits, and overall quick thinking in the heat of the moment. Calum ’24 also displayed his love of the game, chasing down any ball he could and saving many a rally. Overall, it was an excellent match, serving to highlight the boys’ ability to work as a team on and off the court.

This week, we hosted our first cross-country race in over two years! For many runners, this was one of their first races since the start of the pandemic. Congratulations to Gabriel ’24 and Richard ’24 who placed 2nd and 3rd respectively. Tommy ’22 achieved a 2nd place finish in the Senior Boys’ race. Clea ’22 placed 4th in the Senior Girls’ race and Ali ’24 placed 5th in the Junior Girls’ race. 

There is an old Irish prayer that says, “May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face”.  For LCS runners, this was not that day because in our sport, it’s never that day. A lot has been written about achieving a state of transcendence through sport, where the puck seems to follow a player, the ball always goes in, and where exertion is effortless. This flow state, while commendable in life and other sports, means being left for dead in a cross-country race. Our races are earned one gruelling meter at a time and Wednesday’s CISSA Invitational was no exception. 

Senior athlete, Clea ’22 and Junior athlete, Ali ’24, placed fourth and fifth respectively, not because of innate talent but because of their willingness to adhere closely to what the sport demands. Richard ’24 and Gabriel ’25 earned second and third places in the Junior boys division, not because of the shoes they wore, but because the sport has become their reason to go to bed early and the reason to rise in the morning. Tommy ’22 cut his hair and moved up from third to second place because...maybe it works that way too sometimes.

Neophytes to our sport often mistakenly believe that the true measure of a race’s severity lies in its distance. This is not the case. In a race that is never flat and is over in 16 to 30 minutes, there simply isn’t enough time to hang back, ease off or coast. A cross-country race properly executed involves “red-lining it” from start to finish. It’s why people collapse at the finish.  

After vomiting.  

It’s why most races invariably involve ambulances. Athletes like Jana ’25, Katiana ’22 and David ’25, step to the line knowing that all of these outcomes wait for them. And then proceed to run anyway.

It is also the reason that on any course, kindness among strangers is common.  Nate ’24 and Alistair ’24 vocally encouraged athletes from other schools to keep going. Assistant Faculty members also took time out of their busy schedules to help with everything from registration to crewing the finish line. Teachers directed athletes through the course and our maintenance team assembled fences and poles to mark the course. But it was Mr. Todd Harris and Lakefield College that did something else altogether. They made it possible. After two years with no events at all, this will be the one athletes remember not because it happened but because it happened anyway.