Run a few days earlier, the
2019 LU Black Flies Track and Field Meet might have been
more aptly dubbed the Snowflake Festival.
Thankfully, with the unwelcome May mid-week
dumping of the white stuff receding nicely by Saturday,
entries from a handful of high-schools just chomping at
the bit to begin their outdoor season locally were putting
the wheels in motion for what they hope will be a memorable
summer.
St Charles College senior Eric Struk feels
that motivation perhaps a little more than most. “With
it being my last year, you want to make your mark, you
want to be remembered,” he said, shortly after capturing
the 400m dash in a solid time of 52.79 seconds. “Last
year, I was really distracted and not motivated. This
year, I really want to do well and make it to OFSAA.”
Raising the stakes by committing to three
day a week workouts with Olympic gold medal winner Robert
Esmie, Struk has been a mainstay in the shorter sprints
(100m/200m) during his time as a Cardinal, but may have
stumbled across an intriguing change, with the city championships
only weeks away.
“I did my first 400 metre race in
two years today,” noted Struk. “I wasn't expecting
to do this well. I thought I would just try my best and
see what happens. But all of the training we have been
doing seems to have shaped me to more of a 400 metre runner.”
By contrast, the junior boys 400m event
could well be the domain of the Lasalle Lancers. While
“AAA” hockey talent Tyson Belland captured
the distance as a midget last spring, it is Lancer teammate
Aidan Lowe who is looking particularly quick out of the
blocks, crossing the line first on Saturday in a new meet
record of 54.91 seconds.
“It's one of my favourite races,”
said Lowe. “My first five steps are like a sprint
for me, and then I try and carry it through. At the end,
I push my hardest. You have to keep up momentum.”
Belland and Lowe are but two of a nice
young influx of track talent at Lasalle Secondary, a grouping
that also included top performances from Jasmine Savignac
(1st in MG 100m/200m), Janelle Chhun (1st – JG 400m),
Josh McKay (1st – MB 100m/200m), Bradley Kroft (1st
– MB high-jump) and Callum Passi (2nd – Open
Boys 3000m) at the season opening meet.
Unfortunate news circulating around the
soccer pitch yesterday, as it seems that Passi, the first
local OFSAA cross-country medal winner in over twenty
years, has sustained a fracture in one of his feet and
will likely have to bypass the high-school track season
entirely this spring.
“Right now, we're doing really good
so far, but it is the first meet, so we can't really say
too much,” said Lowe. “But our midgets are
fast.” Of course, even with an impressive group
of grade nine and ten athletes, the Lancers are still
a ways from posing a real serious team threat to the juggernaut
that is the Lo-Ellen Park Knights.
Many of those leading that charge have
become familiar names in these circles and are looking
strong, including defending OFSAA bronze medal winner
Kurtis Wennerstrom, who unleashed a PB of 6.54m in the
long jump last June to finish third in Windsor, but kicked
off 2019 with a meet record leap of 6.84 metres this weekend.
“I've been dealing with a bit of
an injury in my quad,” said the grade 11 student
at Lo-Ellen, back on the track on Sunday to help coach
Jim Taylor, up from the Kitchener area to run a Jump/Throw
clinic in Sudbury. “I wasn't going to do my events,
I skipped the triple jump, but I decided to do the long
jump because it started to feel better. I was rolling
it throughout the day.”
“That jump gave me a lot of confidence,
heading into the season.”
That jump also brought a huge smile to
the face of coach Taylor, a mainstay on the local scene
for several years, before moving south with his family.
These days, he works with a large number of OFSAA medal
winning jumpers, all while keeping an eye on son Ryan,
a sophomore at Central Michigan University and graduate
of Northeastern Public School in Garson.
While Ryan and Jim were almost always
side by side, at the track, as the talented youngster
worked his way up the ranks, father sees the current separation
borne largely out of his very busy schedule in coaching
as a very positive thing.
“I think it's been beneficial for
both of us,” said Jim, having completed his workshop
with the local crew on Sunday. “It's beneficial
for Ryan, in that he gets a different perspective from
his coaching. It's beneficial for me, because sometimes
it's a tough, tough go in separating the father-son connection
from the athlete-coach thing.”
“We kind of experimented with it
last summer at the national championships. It was the
best competition I ever had, because I really enjoyed
just being a dad at that event.”
Taylor did not travel north alone, however,
bringing along fellow Brantford Track Club coach Sean
Doucette. “I would say that he is our best youth
development throws coach in the country,” said Taylor.
No surprise then that this is where OFSAA silver medal
winner (discus) Lauren Fearn of Lo-Ellen has hitched her
wagon.
“I started training in January with
Sean,” said Fearn, who did not compete in the Black
Flies, given that no throwing events are included. “We
trained once a month and he taught me some new techniques.”
Still, the reality for the grade ten student at Lo-Ellen
is that she is still only just cutting her teeth in the
troika of events (shot put, discus, javelin) that require
an incredible attention to technical detail to succeed
at a truly elite level.
“I'm still just learning the javelin,
so that's my weaker discipline, for sure,” she said.
“I've always been good at the shot put, but it's
an event that I don't like as much as the discus. But
Sean says I can be really good at shot put, because I
have the best build for that.”
“The good news is that each of them
involve the fact that my whole left side will block, so
there is some consistency, and every single one includes
hips,” said Fearn, who acknowledges a very well-earned
reputation as being more than a bit chatty at times. “My
coaches like to say, “more hips, less lips”
because I talk so much,” she noted with a smile.
While some of the athletes are off to
North Bay for the Nipissing Invitational this weekend,
upcoming local events include the SDSSAA Track Relay meet
on May 15th, leading into the city championships on May
22nd and 23rd.
Other local winners are listed below:
Midget Division
400m - G - Maeve Caddel (Lockerby) - 1:11.96
800m - G - Allison Symington (Lo-Ellen) - 2:24.23
80m hurdles - G - Ali Bertrim (Lo-Ellen) - 15.34
High Jump - G - Kendra Galipeau (Notre-Dame) - 1.35m
Triple Jump - G - Ali Bertrim (Lo-Ellen) - 9.57m
400m - B - Cameron Bauer (Lo-Ellen) - 59.51
800m - B - Patrick Wiss (Lo-Ellen) - 2:18.10
100m hurdles - B - Ethan Shoup (Lo-Ellen) - 18.31
Long Jump - B - Brady Ducharme (Lockerby) - 5.02m
Triple Jump - B - Brady Ducharme (Lockerby) - 11.00m
Junior Division
100m - G - Naomi Palmer (Sacré-Coeur) - 13.29
200m - G - Naomi Palmer (Sacré-Coeur) - 27.72
800m - G - Kalila Bachiu (Lo-Ellen) - 2:29.41
80m hurdles - G - Isabelle Maki (Lo-Ellen) - 14.97
Long Jump - G - Chandyn Bachiu (Lo-Ellen) - 4.51m
Triple Jump - G - Chandyn Bachiu (Lo-Ellen) - 9.82m
100m hurdles - B - Bryce Desabrais (Lo-Ellen) - 16.93
High Jump - B - Logan Spicer (Lo-Ellen) - 1.87m*
Long Jump - B - Bryce Desabrais (Lo-Ellen) - 5.24m
Senior Division
100m - G - Christina Robert (Lo-Ellen) - 13.20
100m hurdles - G - Fiona Symington (Lo-Ellen) - 17.70
3000m - G - Avery Sutherland (Lo-Ellen) - 11:44.98
100m - B - Zachari Mainville (Track North) - 11.16
200m - B - Zachari Mainville (Track North) - 22.97 |
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