It only took 24.2 seconds in total for a Barrhead native to etch his name into the record book.
On Saturday, June 13, Kolton Schmidt, along with his partner Sawyer Barham, defeated their closest rivals by a total of 1.4 seconds to become the National College team roping champions.
They are a little more tan, a little lighter and certainly more fit, but that is what one might expect after paddling more than 2,200 kilometres.
On Wednesday, May 13, Barrhead native, Dylan Bajer, along with his friends, Justine Wilmot, Liam Law and Sarah Johnston left Barrhead, via the Paddle River en route to Fort Simpson, N.W.T.
“The trip was supposed to take us 68 days, but we did it in 63,” Bajer and Wilmot said, during a visit to the Barrhead Leader office.
It was everything a baseball game should be.
At times there was good pitching, great defensive and offensive plays and the game was close.
The only thing anyone might want to change, at least if you are a Barrhead player or fan, is the score.
On Sunday, July 26, the Barrhead Bantam AA Orioles lost the provincial gold medal game to Beaumont by a score of 6 to 5 in Calgary.
Mosside teen ranked number one in Alberta
In his short running career Maximus Thiessen has amassed an impressive amount of victories.
In the last year, the Barrhead Composite High School Grade 9 student had no fewer than 15 first place finishes and that doesn’t include his cross-country results. He also is the number one ranked midget (14 and 15 years-old) in the 2,000 metres distance. Thiessen also holds the sixth fastest time in Alberta in the 2,000 metres in his age group.
The Barrhead area is becoming known on a national and international scale for producing some of the best young rodeo talent.
In the July 7 issue, the Leader told readers the story of Barrhead native Kolton Schmidt, a young college rodeo athlete who became the first Canadian to win the National College team roping championship in June, at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyoming.
A month later, another Barrhead native has come to prominence on the large rodeo stage, this time at the national level.
Quentin Branden, a recent Barrhead Composite High School graduate, placed fourth in the team roping event at the National High School Rodeo Association (NHSRA) finals in Rock Springs, Wyoming.
Barrhead is becoming known as a powerhouse in minor baseball.
For the second straight week a team from Barrhead has made it to the Alberta Baseball Association provincial finals, this time winning the championship by going undefeated in the provincial midget tier II tournament on the Hertitage Day long weekend.
The old Johnny Horton song North to Alaska tells the story of a young man from Seattle who goes up North to pursue his dreams of riches during the gold rush.
Of course North to Alaska is only a song, but one Barrhead area native hopes his own trip to Alaska will help him achieve his lifetime goal of being an NHL hockey player.
Come September, Nikolas Koberstein will be enroling at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) in an effort to further his education and his hockey career.
Last year, in the 2014 NHL entry draft, the Montreal Canadiens selected the 19-year-old Koberstein in the fifth round, 125th overall.
Volleyball has always been a big part of Heidi Peters’ life. In fact, the popular sport may be responsible for helping save her life.
Peters, a Neerlandia native, is a volleyball player with the Canadian Women’s National Sitting Volleyball Team. The team recently competed in and won the bronze medal in the Parapan Am Games in Toronto in July. By winning the medal the team qualified to play in the 2016 Summer Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Barrhead Composite High School Senior Boys Gryphons volleyball team captured the provincial high school championship on Saturday, Nov. 28, in Grande Prairie, losing only one set in the process.
The Gryphons won the right to go to the Provincial 3A Championships after winning one of the provincial zone qualifying tournaments in Westlock on Nov. 21.
