WESTLOCK – Athletes from Westlock’s two high schools dominated the North Central Zone track and field meet held May 26, scoring 49 medals and earning 28 berths to the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association’s Provincial Track and Field Championships held June 2-3 at Foote Field in Edmonton.
And while no one from St. Mary School (SMS) or R.F. Staples School (RFS) were able to medal at provincials, with the best local result a Top 5 finish in the junior girls shot put, coaches from both programs say they’re proud of their athletes and predict big things for the future — to make provincials the athletes needed to finish first or second at zones.
RFS took 19 students to the zones at Foote Field and nearly came home with the 3A zone banner and finished second. Stefanie Morel, who along with Meaghan McKenzie split the coaching duties, said they were proud of their athletes and pointed to the strong junior contingent that netted four gold medals, four silvers and six bronze medals as reason to be optimistic for next year.
“There’s a lot of natural talent on the team. We started practicing at the end of April and managed to get in a couple of practices a week,” said Morel, who’s also in her first year as a teacher. “The result for the juniors is encouraging and hopefully they can keep improving. I really enjoyed the experience.”
RFS senior medalists included Ruby Kubinec who took gold in 3,000m along with silver medals in the 400m and 1,500m; Corbin Duperron, first in discus and shot put; Preston Bruens, silver medals in the 1,500m and 3,000m races; Tyson Cena, bronze in the shot put; Vicki Brett, gold in the 1,500m and Haley Ford, who finished third in the 400m.
Intermediate-aged athletes medaling included Samuel Bowsfield, gold in the 100m hurdles and high jump; Dane Jesperson, silver in the 3,000m and bronze in the 1,500m and Harvalee Tomlinson, silver in the discus.
In the junior category, Jenna Snyder won gold in the long jump, shot put and discus along with a bronze in the triple jump and finished fifth in the shot put at provincials; Kourtnie Menzies won gold in the 400m; Cailie McKenna was second in the high jump; Skye Kubinec finished second in the 3,000m and 200m races; Tristan Hale won silver in the 100m hurdles; Graycen Born won bronze medals in the triple jump, 100m and high jump; Josef Pidsadowski finished third in the discus and Allyse Borst took bronze in the 1,500m.
Super Sharks
Meanwhile, SMS athletes also had a fantastic zone experience, with coach Ty Snell saying the dozen kids he took to the event really bought in and trained hard.
Overall, the school finished fourth in 1A team competition at zones which was amazing as most of the other 1A schools “bring 30 or 40 kids.”
“It was a fantastic day. The group of kids we took really worked hard not only at our practices, but on their own,” said Snell. “So, it was encouraging to see the fruits of their labour pay off at zones. All things being considered, I think we did really well.”
Medal-wise, Riley Chattargoon won gold in the open pentathlon at zones, and managed to finish 14th at provincials with Snell saying he probably would have ended up higher if he hadn’t gotten 0 points in the high jump — as an “open event” Chattargoon competed against Grade 10-12 athletes at both zones and provincials.
“This is my first coaching track and I had no idea that the pentathlon was even an option. Riley is such a well-rounded athlete, so it was the perfect fit for him,” said Snell.
As for intermediate athletes, Reint Boelman won the 800m and finished second in the 400m, while Thamir Kiss took gold in the 400m and netted a bronze in the 200m and high jump, Brelayna Muller won a silver in the 800m and Angel Lizano won bronze medals in the triple jump, long jump and discus.
Finally, it was a golden sweep for both the 4x100m junior boys relay team of Jaxon Magus, Hayden Bennett and Chattargoon, along with Kyler Tuininga, who’s from Barrhead and subbed in for an injured runner, along with the 4x100m intermediate boys relay team of Kiss, Boelman, Jackson Churchill and Abraham Quilonio.
