Eleven R.F. Staples athletes will be making a trip to Foote Field in Edmonton June 3-4 to compete for provincial track and field glory.
The entire team of 16 athletes travelled to Edmonton May 26 to participate in the zone track meet. Only those athletes who placed in the top two of their events earned the right to return to Edmonton in search of provincial gold.
“Everyone worked very hard and had a lot of fun,” said coach Allan Hope.
Although only 11 athletes are attending provincials, several of those athletes will be competing in more than one event.
In addition to sending 11 athletes to provincials, Hope said R.F. Staples as a whole placed second overall at the zone meet, falling only 10 points shy of first-place Morinville Community High School.
St. Mary School only sent one athlete to the zone track meet, said athletic director Darcy Romanuik.
Grade 11 student Darien Ringuette was St. Mary’s lone representative, competing in the high jump and shot put competitions.
In high jump, Ringuette finished in third place after posting a personal best jump of 1.75 m, which was only five centimetres less than the winning jump of 1.80 m.
In the shot put event, Ringuette’s best throw was 10.71 m. that throw was good enough for fourth place, 14 cm less than the third-place throw of 10.85 m.
“We were short in numbers, but we were represented very well by the one athlete who did go through with it,” Romanuik said.
With the graduation ceremony on Friday, and the track meet on Thursday, Romanuik said many of the athletes dropped out so they would be able to get ready for graduation.
He also said the size of the school may have played a factor as well.
“Another thing at our school is you get the same kids doing everything,” he said. “With a small student population, they get a chance to participate in everything, and there’s this tendency to burn kids out.”
Since only the top two finishers in each event advance to the provincial track meet June 3-4 at Foote Field in Edmonton, this marks the end of the senior track and field season.
However, the junior high track and field divisionals are scheduled for May 30 in Barrhead, with those who qualify moving on to the zone meet June 2 in St. Albert, Romanuik said.
