Westlock is sending nine athletes to the high school provincial track and field championships next month.
Eight R.F. Staples athletes and one from St. Mary will be in Calgary on June 6-7 for the provincial meet after placing first or second in their events at the May 22 zone meet at Foote Field in Edmonton.
“The results speak for themselves,” said R.F. Staples coach Meaghan McKenzie. “Both Mike (co-coach Febbraro) and I were really pleased with how well the athletes did.”
The school’s eight athletes will be competing in 13 different events.
Amelia Kulmatyski will compete in senior girls discus, javelin and shot put.
Mariah Letts’ events will be the intermediate girls long jump, triple jump and 100 metres.
Conne Lategan will challenge for glory in the senior girls 800 metres and 1,500 metres.
Keenan Wildman goes for gold in the senior boys discus, while James Coleman will compete in senior boys javelin.
Honey Tkachyk is headed to Calgary for the senior girls discus event, while Jordan Tippel will compete in the junior boys discus. Colby MacLean will be competing in junior boys high jump.
“I think they’re looking forward to provincials and pushing themselves a bit harder,” McKenzie said.
While finishing in the top two at zones and advancing to provincials is one thing, medalling at provincials is a completely different task.
Ever pumping her athletes’ tires, McKenzie has both high hopes for the team, especially for her graduating athletes.
“My hope for them would be that they place top-three at provincials,” she said. “They’ve been training really hard for the last couple year, so to go out on top would be just great for them.”
However, she recognizes that will be a challenge.
“I’d just be happy if they were to place in the Top 10,” she said. “Top 10 in the province for your age group, I would say, is doing pretty well.”
At the zone meet, 13 athletes represented R.F. Staples, McKenzie said, and brought home 14 medals — 10 gold, three silver and one bronze.
She added she was really impressed by the camaraderie the team showed.
“When they knew somebody had an event, they were all over there cheering them on,” she said.
St. Mary School’s performance at the zone meet was one for the ages.
“One hundred per cent of our team is going to provincials,” said coach Darcy Romanuik.
Dusty Halfe was the lone athlete representing the school at zones, and will be travelling to Calgary to compete in the senior boys shot put event after earning a silver in the event at zones.
Halfe also competed in the long jump and discus events, where he placed third and out of the medals, respectively.
Romanuik credited Halfe with a strong performance at zones, adding it was just another sport for Halfe, who competed and excelled at almost every sport he played this year.
“You have to give him credit, first of all for going out and competing, and secondly to be fairly successful,” he said. “Looking at that one individual, he’s got a lot of ability. You’re only in high school once and he chose to go in everything he possibly could and did well.”
Conne Lategan- senior girls, 800m gold, 1,500m gold
Jordan Tippel- junior boys, discus silver
Mariah Letts- intermediate girls, long jump gold, triple jump gold, 100m gold
Keenan Wildman- senior boys, discus gold, shot put bronze
Ameila Kulmatyski- senior girls, discus gold, javelin gold, shot put gold
Honey Tkachyk- senior girls, discus silver
Colby MacLean- junior boys, high jump silver
James Coleman- senior boys, javelin gold
Dusty Halfe- senior boys, shot put silver, long jump bronze
