Westlock athletes represented our community well at the provincial track meet in Edmonton last weekend, coach Allan Hope says.
Eleven runners, jumpers and throwers from R.F. Staples took part in a wide variety of events, earning four podium finishes and many more personal bests.
“I want to say how proud I am of my team. They did their very best and had a lot of fun,” Hope said.
The team’s success comes despite uncooperative weather over the weekend, with a downpour on Friday and chilly single-digit temperatures on Saturday.
The highlight of the event for Hope was just the opportunity to be there with his team, but he conceded it was nice to see so many personal bests and podium finishes.
Maya von Rennenkampff took the team’s only gold medal, with a personal best 11.49 metres in the triple jump. She also earned one of the team’s bronze-medal finishes in the long jump event, as well as taking ninth place in the 100-metre dash.
Jordan Blais also won a bronze medal for his performance in the triple-jump event. He added a fourth-place finish in long jump, missing a second bronze by two centimetres, while finishing seventh in high jump.
Jessica Martin won the team’s other bronze medal, with a 9.57 metres throw in the shot put, as well as fourth place finish in discus.
“I guarantee that’s farther than I can throw,” Hope said.
Sierra Cairns got two personal bests, in both the 800-metre and 1,500-metre running events.
Brianna Carlyon posted personal bests in the 200-metre and 400-metre events.
Aaron Graf took sixth-place in the 400-metre run.
Harley Knorr got top-10 finishes in the 1,500 metre and 3,000-metre runs, posting personal bests in both events.
Dana van Sevenendt posted a personal best in the 1,500-metre event, knocking a full 34 seconds off the time she posted at zones.
The boys’ 4x100-metre relay team, which consisted of Graf, Nick Toporowski, Cam Teske and Justin Rogers was slowed down somewhat by an injury, but nonetheless did well.
“They gave it their all and placed top 12 despite having an injury on the team,” Hope said.
Although the events were mostly individual competitions, Hope said there is a definite team dynamic amongst this group of young athletes, and it was very noticeable with everyone competing together at the provincial meet.
“We had some really good bonding time during the event, and at zones as well. Lots of cheering on your whole team and whatnot,” he said. “They just get better and better as the year goes, and hopefully next year will be even better.”
