The R.F. Staples track team came home with two medals and a dozen personal bests after the provincial track meet in Edmonton last weekend.
Coach Allan Hope said not only was he impressed by the slew of personal bests his team earned, but also with the team spirit they displayed throughout the two-day meet. “It was a great two-day event with a lot of team bonding and support for one another,” he said.
The two medals both went to Maya von Rennenkampf, who took first place in the senior girls triple jump, with a 11.25-metre jump, and second place in the long jump, with a 5.21-metre jump — just four centimeters from the gold. While none of others finished on the podium, Hope said their performances were nonetheless impressive.
“We had quite a few finishing just off the podium, and a weekend full of personal bests,” he said. “Lots of personal bests.”
Among the track events, Briana Carlyon, James Coleman, Patrick MacLachlan and Dana Vansevenandt all shaved time off their own personal bests for their respective running events, as did the boys’ 4x100 metre relay team of Kees Koeman, nick Toporowski, Cam Teske and Aaron Graf.
On the field side of things, Amelia Kulmatyski increased her distance in the shot put by 35 centimetres and Keen Wildman increased his discus throw by a whopping three metres.
“He really stepped up.”
Jessica Martin and Darien Ringuette also had strong performances in their respective events. Hope said the quality of the competition was excellent, and he was proud of how every one of his athletes put forth an incredible effort.
“Some of them really surprised me,” he said. “I knew I was going to see a lot of personal bests but they stepped up to the plate and really showed me what they can do.”
He was not surprised by the strong team spirit, however, since they had been displaying exceptional teamwork all season long. “We’ve had a really good squad all year, and they’ve definitely been very supportive of each other,” he said. “In general during the whole two-day event, it was just very positive as a team.”
