Montreal – Opeongo High School’s two outstanding athletes from the 2023/2024 school year continued their impressive performances recently by medalling at the U20 Canadian Track and Field Championship in Montreal from June 28-30.
Quinn Coughlin won bronze in the 400-metre hurdles and Liam Davis won silver in the shot-put competition mere weeks after being honoured at Opeongo with the top award of the evening. The two athletes were competing for the Ottawa Lions Track team where Quinn has been training and competing for two-and-a-half years and Liam for about one year.
It was the first medal for Quinn at the U20 level after medalling twice in the U18 category last year.
“I won bronze in both the 400 metre and 400 metre hurdles last year,” she said. “I’m still U18 but I was moved up in the competition for this meet.
“I’ll be competing in the U18 meet later this summer,” she added.
Quinn said it felt good to compete and do well against the older runners, adding she had raced against some of the winners at other events this year. She said she knew going into the competition she would have to run under 1:02, and she finished in 1:01.1, which she said was not her personal best. Her PB is 1:00.3.
Knowing this was her first year at the Senior level, she is very pleased with the success she had competing against Grade 12 and fifth year athletes.
“I think I did pretty good,” she humbly remarked. “I think I probably could have done better, but it just didn’t work out in the moment.
“I’m happy with it and it’s reassuring to know I can compete with the older athletes,” she continued. “And next year, I’ll be the oldest.”
Quinn had battled shin splints early in the season took the time off early to do the suggested rehab and they are much better now. She admitted taking time off was something she never enjoyed, but as she matures, she understands the importance of it.
“It was still really hard to take the time off knowing everybody else was still practicing. But I knew I had to do it if I wanted to have a long and healthy season.
“So, it was worth it,” she added.
Quinn, 17, said it’s nice to attend these meets having a team-mate from her high school competing in the meets alongside her.
“We drive down together to the track too (in Ottawa) and stuff, so we’ve gotten pretty close as team-mates. We’re really supportive of each other and we stick together and look out for each other.”
As she enters Grade 12 at OHS in the fall, it will be her last year of high school. She will be competing in the U18 Canadians later this summer in Calgary and she and Liam will be competing in the U20 provincials at York University in Toronto at the end of July. She noted the U20 Canadians were held before the provincials this year as they served as the Olympic qualifier as well.
Liam, 19, of Eganville, has accomplished a great deal since starting to participate in track and field during his Grade 11 year at Opeongo, having previously focused on basketball and volleyball.
“I started in Grade 11 just for something to do and shot put just kind of came naturally to me,” he explained. “I went to OFSSAA in my Grade 11 year and I did not do well there.
“That lit a fire under my belt, and I wanted to do better,” he added. “After that, I joined the Ottawa Lions and started taking it more seriously.”
He credits his coach, Tim Nedow, for putting in the time and effort for his progress to his current level of success.
Anyone who knows Liam also has witnessed how seriously he has taken the sport by the very obvious changes in his physical presence. Simply put, he’s a big boy!
“I started working out during COVID, just for something to do. Right along the time I joined the Lions, I started taking my lifting more seriously, and Tim gave me a program to help me bulk up and help me peak at this time of year.”
He admits being “pretty stressed” heading into his first national competition knowing he had to be at his best to advance to the finals.
“You had to come first in the qualifying round to move on. I feel like after I came first, I had that confidence going into the final round.”
He unloaded a 15.23 distance on his second of three throws to move on to the final, noting they were using a six-kilogram shot which is approximately 1.5 pounds heavier than what they use at high school.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it does make a difference,” he said.
In the final round of 15 athletes, only one of the other competitors was an athlete he had seen before.
“They were all university kids but one,” he said. “Three were from Ontario and the rest from other provinces.”
Going into the meet, he said Mr. Nedow felt a gold medal was a realistic goal.
“But I’m still really happy with second place.”
Like Quinn, he will be attending the Provincial championship in Toronto and may participate in some Twilight meets after that. He will be attending the University of Guelph in the fall having been recruited by their track and field team. He also had offers from Windsor and the University of Toronto. He said the campus, the facilities and the people in Guelph felt right for him, adding his dad is a Guelph alumni as well.
And like Quinn, he said it was great to have a fellow Wildcat at the meet supporting him.
“We carpooled down to Ottawa and we support each other through the whole thing. It’s pretty cool . . . Ottawa’s a big city and to have a team-mate from Opeongo is likely pretty rare.
“It was really important to have that support,” he added.
Both Quinn and Liam extended their genuine thanks to their parents, Jon and Jackie Coughlin of Cobden, and Jason and Christina Davis of Eganville for their unending support of their careers.
