The Mohawk Mountaineers men's cross country team are the 2025 OCAA champions, capturing gold at Marydale Park on Saturday. It marks the first time the Mountaineers have won the title on home soil.
It is also the second time in three years Mohawk has been crowned champions and the fourth consecutive year the team has earned a provincial medal. The last time the Mountaineers achieved as many straight podium finishes was from 1990 to 1994, when they collected five in a row.
Mohawk finished 20 points ahead of the St. Clair Saints to claim first place, with four runners finishing inside the top 10.
Blaise Uglow (Schomeberg, Ont.) narrowly missed an individual medal, placing fourth overall. Gavin Mathieson (Cayuga, Ont.) finished fifth, Sage Sulentic (Dundas, Ont.) crossed the line eighth and Christian Jarosz (Burlington, Ont.) placed ninth. Santiago Mendoza (Mississauga, Ont.) finished 12th and Thomas Giammichele (Carlisle, Ont.) came 18th, giving Mohawk six runners in the top 20.
Uglow and Mathieson were named OCAA All-Ontario First-Team All-Stars, while Sulentic, Jarosz and Mendoza earned Second-Team honours.
The Mohawk Mountaineers women's cross country team captured its fourth consecutive OCAA medal, earning bronze at the 2025 OCAA Championships on Saturday.
It marks the third time in four years the Mountaineers have claimed bronze, following last year's championship title. It is also the first time Mohawk has won four straight provincial medals since the 1980s, when the team captured eight consecutive golds from 1981 to 1988.
The Mountaineers finished with 47 team points, just three behind the second-place Fanshawe Falcons and 16 ahead of the fourth-place Conestoga Condors.
Zoe Crookham (Grimsby, Ont.) and Raina Hartnell (Waterford, Ont.) led the way with top-10 finishes, placing ninth and 10th respectively. All five Mohawk runners finished inside the top 22 of 52 competitors, with Abril Sena (Mendoza, Argentina) placing 12th, Tahlia Henry (Grand Valley, Ont.) 21st and Addison Cann (Paris, Ont.) 22nd.
Crookham, Hartnell and Sena were all named to the OCAA All-Ontario Second Team.
With the success of the two teams, head coach David Hopton was named the 2025 OCAA Cross Country Coach of the Year, as voted on by his peers.
This marks Hopton's second time receiving the honour in his five-year tenure leading the Mountaineers. He last earned the award in 2023, when he was also recognized nationally as the CCAA Coach of the Year.
Hopton becomes the first coach to win the OCAA award twice in three years since former Humber Hawks coach Teresa Armini, who claimed back-to-back honours in 2015 and 2016.
Both teams have qualified for the CCAA Championships, taking place Nov. 8 in Charlottetown, P.E.I., and hosted by Holland College.
