High school athletes from Okotoks and area had a field day for the first time in three years.
The Foothills Falcons hosted the Foothills Athletic Council Divisional Meet on May 17 at Holy Trinity Academy with the top two finishers in each event pushing through to next week’s South Central Zone championship.
“One of the biggest (takeaways) was just how many kids we had after not having track for a few years,” said Knights track and field coach Michele Wade. “I was just excited about how many athletes, we had 45 and all but seven of them are moving onto zones.
“It was a really, really successful day and I was really proud of them.”
The Knights topped the team rankings with 736 points, Foothills was second with 696.5 with Notre Dame Collegiate in third, Highwood in fourth, Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School fifth, Edison School sixth, Oilfields seventh and the Centre for Learning eighth.
Foothills had 46 athletes at the event, 33 of whom earned a berth at zones.
“It’s an interesting year this year,” said Falcons track and field coach and event organizer Joanne Schoneck. “I think HTA and us are both finding the same thing where kids are really nervous and hesitant just because it has been three years since their last track meet.
“So our numbers are down a little bit just because our kids haven’t done it in three years so they’re not sure what their skill level is like.”
Despite the challenges, dozens of athletes made their mark in several disciplines of the sport.
Falcons Grade 12 ace Ryden Thomas, a club track athlete, sprinted to top spot in the 100m and 200m dash and Mac Hillestad excellied in the long-distance races with first in the 1,500m and second in 3,000m.
In the intermediate ranks, Falcons Grade 11 student Tia Glazier was first in 100m dash, 100m hurdles and high jump with teammate Brynn Holditch finishing first in the 800m and 1,500m runs. Grade 10 student Sydney Neukom had three firsts in the 400m, 800m and 1,500m races.
Foothills’ Kaleb Brown and Jake Stone both finished first in the shot put and discus events in intermediate and senior boys, respectively.
The Knights made hay across the board, particularly on the track.
Cadence Laplante had a dominant showing in the senior girls distance events with a clean sweep of first in the 400m, 800m and 1,500m races. Fellow senior Tian Wiens was first in the 100m sprint, just edging out Isabella Bregliano at the line, and won the long jump and discus events.
"It was awesome and such a good feeling to get back outside and be in the group environment with the team after the two years of COVID. Getting back to running just felt good," Bregliano said. "Tian and I were really close, I love racing her, she's super fast and pushes me to be faster and I love that, I always love a good chase.
"I was quite nervous, I haven't participated in track in a few years so I kind of went in just for fun, to play around with a few things and I'm super happy on how things turned out and I was honestly surprised with myself."
Wiens, Bregliano, Judith Owusu and MJ Mabasa also teamed up for a first place showing in the 4x100m relay.
"We were really prepared, we practised lots," Bregliano said. "Our relay team, me and the girls have a good dynamic and I feel like that's really helpful in the team event in knowing your partner and trusting your partner and having them trusting you and it's all kind of built on that."
Grade 11 Chris McLarty soared to first place with a 5.73m leap in the long jump with the HTA wide receiver also showcasing his sprint speed with top spot in the 100m.
Among Grade 10s, Leon Spatz won the 200m, 400m and 800m runs. Ife Talabi made her mark in the junior girls events with firsts in both 100m and 200m and as the anchor of the team’s 4x100m relay.
“The competition does get a little tougher as you go, but like I told the kids, looking at some of our times and how far some of our javelin and discus flew, it’s competitive with the 2008 numbers that we have and they always had track, so they’ve done quite well considering they haven’t had anything major,” Wade added.
The Spartans struck in a number of field events with Grade 11 Jenny Sorenson finishing in first in discus and shot put with Grade 10 Kalaya Gili skipping her way to the apex of the triple jump.
Top performers from Edison included Lucas Miller’s top-spot in the intermediate boys high jump at 1.70 metres while Oilfields Driller Micah Raugust soared to first place among junior boys in the high jump.
“I felt like we were starting from scratch,” Wade added. “I was working closely with (Schoneck) and both of us felt the same way, like ‘Oh my goodness, you kind of forget everything.’ Some of the kids were nervous because they haven’t had competition, especially the Grade 10s because junior highs don’t really have a big meet like this.”
The school teams divided up responsibilities at the divisional meet, with schools being assigned a particular event, be it high jump, discus or the running events on the track, lightening the load for all involved.
“We have all forgotten where the hurdles are supposed to go,” Schoneck said with a laugh. “But, I’m very thankful that the rest of the division is all great, we all worked together well and got it done.”
The South Central Zone competition runs May 25 at Calgary’s Foothills Athletic Park.
The top-two finishers at zone move through to the ASAA Track and Field Championships, June 3-4 in Medicine Hat.
“They’re all really excited and nervous,” Schoneck said. “In terms of times or distances, it’s really hard to gauge because the only results I have are three years ago so we weren’t exactly sure if our zone would be up or down.
“Athletes are athletes, yes they’ve been off for a little bit, but most of them have been training or are multi-sport athletes and track and field is just an extension of that.”
