| “It
definitely felt faster, like I was more on my toes,”
noted Richardson.
Fresh off her appearance
at OFSAA Track & Field, Lo-Ellen Park senior Brooke
Gibeault had no choice but to be on her toes. The 17 year
old long-time Manitoulin Island resident who moved to
Sudbury in recent years in part to take advantage of the
glut of sporting opportunities participated in no less
than four events on Saturday, winning three of them (U18
– shot put; 100m hurdles; long jump – plus
third in the 200m dash).
It was all part of the master
plan as the super active teen who will be suiting up with
the U19 Team Ontario girls basketball team at the North
American Indigenous Games in Dartmouth next month (July
15th – 23rd) looked to qualify for the heptathlon,
an event not offered at the district level but contested
at provincials.
“I did four events
today, which happened to be almost all at the exact same
time,” Gibeault said with a laugh, trying hard to
catch her breath. “For me, I think my biggest challenge
is that I mentally block myself a lot. I kind of like
relying on my muscle memory from all of my training to
perform well.”
“I don’t have
to think; I can just do it,” she stressed. “It’s
like it’s encrypted in me.”
Leaving from track to catch-up
with her softball teammates at weekend tournament action
in the late afternoon, Gibeault is facing the conundrum
so many multi-sport athletes her age come to face. “It’s
hard to find a balance, at least that’s what I find
when it comes to athletes my age who are trying to get
into a single sport so that they have time to train.”
“For me, it’s
mostly speed and agility – and that translates from
basketball to hockey to all of my different sports.”
Though not all that interested
in something like the heptathlon, Gavin Patterson was
just busy as Gibeault, throwing in an appearance in the
100m/300m races, along with his specialty, the hurdles
(200m – 1st place – 27.92). The addition of
the 1500m steeplechase, well, that was kind of another
matter entirely.
“I did it because my
friend (Nolan Millette) wanted to do it and he asked me
because there was just two of us,” explained the
15 year old grade nine student at Bishop Alexander Carter
who finished 18th in the 300m hurdles at OFSAA at the
beginning of June.
“It (the steeplechase)
was horrible,” he laughed. “It’s tiring
and your legs are just numb.”
Grade nine is often a year
of discovery for the incoming secondary school class,
and when it comes to track and field athletes in particular,
nothing is more eye-opening than an appearance at OFSAA.
“OFSAA was amazing,”
beamed Patterson, who took almost a full second off his
personal best time once pitted against the very best hurdlers
in Ontario. “There were a ton of people, really
fast people. They are so good at track; they train all
the time.”
“I haven’t really
trained yet but I am trying to get in with Track North
or Robert Esmie. I would like to start doing that.”
Among the more notable remaining
results for local Legion competitors were new records
by:
Melina Doiron – U16
- 1st place – 200m – 26.02; 1st in 100m –
12.70
Darren Joiner – U16 - 1st place – 200m –
23.53; 1st in 300m – 38.54
Ava Bebawy – U12 - 1st place – 100m –
14.24; 1st in 200m – 29.41
Blaire Rickard – U14 – 1st place – shot
put – 8.80m
Maren Kasunich – U18 – 1st place – 3000m
– 10:40.60; 1st in 2000m SC – 7:31.98
Caleb Mead – U16 – 2nd in 2000m – 6:15.23
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