It was a long day, but for the students and coaches who make up the Barrhead Elementary School (BES) track team it was well worth it.
On Saturday, March 12, both the BES boys’ and girls’ combined team competed in Running Room Indoor Game Finals in Edmonton and brought back silver medals in the 8 X 200-metre relay race.
The Indoor Games finals has been taking place, under one name or another, for the last 38 years. The event allows school children from Grades 3 to 12 the opportunity to experience the thrill of competition against hundreds of other schools across the province. This year about 300 schools competed in the competition.
Depending on the age group, events include 200 and 800 metre individual races for boys and girls as well as the 8 X 200 metre relay, the only event in which BES competes. In past years, the event has also included the long jump and a teachers’ relay race.
Brent Wierenga, BES track team head coach, said the team’s day started at 6 a.m. from the school when the 20-member track team (10 boys, 10 girls) plus associated coaches and chaperones boarded the bus which would take them to the Indoor Games finals at the Butterdome.
Both the boys’ and girls’ teams guaranteed their spot in the final day of competitions by finishing first in their perspective heats on Feb. 17.
“Our first race was about 8:30 a.m.,” he said, adding that despite the early start both teams were ready for the competition to begin.
Once again both the boys’ and girls’ teams finished first in their heats, which earned them an automatic entry into the semi-finals.
“Both teams have trained and worked so hard to get to this point,” Wierenga said. “To have both of the teams not only win their heats, but to do it so convincingly it was very gratifying to see,” Wierenga said.
Because both teams automatically received the bye from the quarterfinals their next race was at 2:30 p.m.
However, that didn’t mean the team had a lot of free time. Race organizers assigned the Barrhead team an alumni education room at the University of Alberta for the day, and after their heat, the team retired to the room to rest and talk about what went well for the teams and what they could do to improve.
Shortly before their semi-final heat the team made the short walk from the university to the Butterdome feeling confident. And their confidence it seems was well founded.
In their semi-final heat, just like in the previous qualifying heats, both the boys’ and girls’ teams finished in first place. In the semi-finals there were five heats, with the winner of each heat, plus two other wildcard positions based on time moving forward to the finals.
“The girls ran first. They finished in first place with a time of 4:19.77, which was three seconds faster than their previous time and despite the fact that one girl took a fall they won easily,” Wierenga said, adding the boys also won their heat in convincing fashion with a time of 4:12.58.
Once again, after their semi-final heat, the team had yet another long wait ahead of them with the final 8 X 200 metre race scheduled for 8:30 p.m. The team spent the majority of this time in their room at the U of A, relaxing, eating, and going over video of their previous heats.
For the third time in the day the girls’ team took to the starting line first. When the starting pistol sounded, Barrhead got off to a strong start and led after the two first runners, but they couldn’t hold the lead and finished in second place with a time of 4:16.09.
“It was the first time that the girls actually saw some real competition and they held their own,” he said, adding the team learned a lot about running under pressure. “And despite making a few minor errors and the pressure, they were able to improve upon their previous time, so we are super happy about that.”
As for the boys’ race, the Barrhead team once again started well, with lead runner Kolby Miller taking the lead early. Barrhead was able to maintain this lead for the next six runners.
“With every pass (of the baton) we would get a couple steps ahead then one team or another would catch up and try to pass,” Wierenga said, adding the team, through sheer determination managed to hold onto the lead until the anchor leg. “Our anchor runner ran a good fast race, but the first place team fielded an anchor that was just a little faster.”
The BES boys finished with a time of 4:09.51, almost a full 12 seconds faster than their first race of the day, and only fractions of a second behind the first place finisher.
Actually, less than a second separated the first four teams.
“Laurin Lamothe said that in the 25 years he has been coaching he has never seen a closer finals,” Wierenga said, adding the entire coaching staff couldn’t be prouder of the team. “Coming home with two silver medals, out of about 300 schools around Alberta, that is something the kids can hang their hats on.”
And talking to some of the members of the BES Track Team agree. On Tuesday, March 15, the Barrhead Leader talked to Kianna Rauscher, Gracie Versoza, Kolby Miller and Keaton Branden.
They said although they were disappointed about not capturing the gold medal they were proud of what they were able to accomplish.
“I’m actually really proud of ourselves because I think we did the best that we could and that we worked so hard with our training to get us to that point,” Versoza said.
Miller said one of the things he will remember most is his teammates.
“It was really a fun year working with this fast group of people. It really was a fun thing to do and being able to finish with two silver medals was great,” he said.
Rauscher said the thing she will take away from the whole experience was how the group all came together.
“I think it will help us through our entire life,” she said. “How we learned how to work with all these different people and work as a team.”
However, the group said it might not be the last time they are able to compete as a team. Even though next year most of the group will be going to BCHS, Wierenga said if they got enough people together for a team he would be willing to coach them again.
