Congratulations to all of the athletes – Rebecca, Amanda, Grace Chalmers, Paige, Anna, Hanna Svensson, Amelia, Tyra, Adrienne, Shaniah, Arba, Molly, Eden, Maddie, Avery, Penny, Cole, Dylan, Liam Murray, Alex Oglinzanu, Kells, Evan, Thibaut, Yohan, Andrew, Scott, Adeem and Max – who competed at New Balance Meet #1 this past Sunday. I thought all twenty-eight athletes competed very well, and there were many highlights.
Arba, Avery, Dylan and Kells were each competing in their first meet, and all did very well. Dylan made a particularly impressive debut, beating the track record in the 100m by 1.15s. Dylan’s time of 12.24s placed him 7th of twenty-five athletes. Avery and Kells are bantam athletes, so they were competing against midget athletes who were two to three years their senior. Avery, a first-year bantam, finished the 200m in an impressive 31.93s, while Kells ran an excellent 100m, finishing in 13.74. Both of these young athletes finished ahead of several of the older athletes. First-year midget Arba competed well in her first long jump competition, finishing in the middle of a strong field of athletes and clearing 3.85m. Well done new athletes!
There were 23 personal best performances at the meet: Grace (200m, LJ), Amelia (80mH, 200m), Adrienne (100m, LJ), Cole (800m, JT), Thibaut (100m, SP), Scott (100m, SP), Paige (200m), Liam (800m), Alex (800m), Tyra (LJ), Anna (80m hurdles), Shaniah (800m), Molly (100m), Evan (LJ), Yohan (LJ), Andrew (100m) and Adeem (SP). Of these, some of the most noteworthy are:
One of my favourite events of the meet was the midget men’s 800m, a close-fought and fast race, with the three JD boys all running personal bests to finish second, third and fourth of sixteen athletes. JD Captain Cole ran a very strategic race, kicking in the last 150m to finish 2nd in 2:10.37s, a personal best of just under two seconds. JD captain Alex went out hard and looked very strong, placing 3rd of sixteen athletes in 2:10.73s, an outstanding personal best of 8.93s. Liam was not far behind, finishing in 3rd in 2:12.14s – a strong performance and a personal best of 4.57s. Well done boys – that was a fun race to watch! Coach Blair will be most impressed!
- JD captain Grace ran a personal best 27.62s in the 200m, to finish 4th of eighteen athletes. Grace also added another 7cm to her PB in the long jump, where she cleared 4.35m to finish 6th of twenty-two athletes.
- Cole added just over half a metre to his PB in the javelin, winning the competition with his throw of 35.12m.
- First-year midget Tyra added another 16cm to her PB in the long jump, where she cleared 3.71m.
- Paige took more than half a second off her PB in the 200m, finishing in 31.72s.
- Amelia ran her best hurdle race of the year, taking 1.35s off her PB in the 80m hurdles.
- First-year midget Shaniah beat the track record in the 800m by an impressive 8.19s, finishing 2nd of ten athletes in 2:27.51, a personal best of 1.26s.
- First-year midget Molly’s personal best time of 13.27s in the 100m placed her 7th of twenty-six athletes.
- First-year midget Yohan impressed Coach Juerg in the long jump, where he cleared 4.63m to place ninth.
- First-year midget Andrew ran a big PB in the 100m, taking almost half a second off his time and finishing in 13.95s.
- First-year midget Scott added another 29cm to his PB in the shot put, finishing 4th with a personal best 8.73m throw.
- First-year midget Adeem added an impressive 65cm to his PB in the shot put. Adeem’s throw of 10.19m placed him 2nd of seven athletes.
Other highlights of the meet include:
- Clearly, first-year bantam Penny is not one to be intimidated. This young athlete, competing in only her second meet and against athletes two to three years her senior, ran an outstanding 100m, finishing 10th of twenty-six athletes in 13.66s – a very fast time for a 2002 athlete. Well done Penny!
- There were several top five finishes at this meet: Cole 1st in the javelin, 2nd in the 800m, Shaniah 2nd in the 800m, Adeem 2nd in the shot put, Alex 3rd in the 800m, Hanna 3rd in the shot put, Grace 4th in the 200m, Liam 4th in the 800m and Scott 4th in the shot put.
- It was good to see some of our youngest athletes taking the opportunity to gain some extra competition experience. Although there were no events for bantams at this meet, bantams Eden, Maddie, Penny, Avery, Kells and Max chose to compete amongst the older midgets and, at times, I had to remind myself that they were competing up an age category.
Well done athletes! Another great meet!
