Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School’s track and field team worked hard last week but didn’t reach the podium at provincials.
Coach Lori Meville said she was proud of the seven students, who competed among 1,000 plus athletes from 250 schools.
“They did their best, they were all positive and they were there for only one event each,” Meville said.
The team arrived in Vancouver Thursday to find an atmospheric river dumping water across the track and field course. Despite these adverse conditions, several of the athletes, including Emily Tinney, Megan Holyk and Bruce Dohan, still competed.
In the senior men’s 400-metre dash, Dohan placed 29th with a time of 1:00.46.
“The entire lane past the 200-metre mark was underwater and the marshal was saying my hand was on the line when it wasn’t on the line,” Dohan recalled. “Other than that, it was a fun trip.”
Tinney, who competed in the senior women’s discus throw, was unable to beat her record as the “rain was not with me on that day.” Although she ended up throwing for 20.42 metres, Tinney said she was seeded in 22nd place and that’s where she remained so it was a good result.
“With discus, you really need a good grip on that disc to go somewhere and you can’t if it’s wet, it’s just that simple. A lot of the girls down there practice in the rain all the time but for me, not so much,” she said. “I’m hoping if I could work on my technique I can throw a really good distance next year.”
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Holyk said it wasn’t as difficult competing in the senior women’s long jump in the rain, as her track was relatively dry and she was wearing spikes. She placed 30th with a distance of 3.89 metres, which was a record for her. Holyk found it “crazy” that a lot of her competitors were jumping up to five meters at a time.
Claire Kreschuk placed 17th overall in the junior women’s 1,500-metre steeplechase with a time of 6:22.83, taking 51 seconds of her time set at Zones. Meville said it was an excellent race to watch and Kreschuk came away from it “with a big smile on her face.”
Jenny Schroevers placed 27th in the junior women’s high jump with a height of 1.25 metres, matching her record at Zones, while Miriah Anderson scored a personal best in the junior women’s long jump with a distance of 4.17 metres, finishing in 26th place.
Israel McLelland, meanwhile, was unable to complete the men’s 100-metre hurdles after he pulled a muscle in his hip and had to go to the hospital.
Meville said hurdles aren’t McLelland’s preferred event and he’ll have to do some physiotherapy to get back on his feet. He told her afterward that “I think I’ll do javelin next year.”
“We didn’t have any top 10 finishes but for my kids, it was about making sure you did your best and achieve some personal records. Every one of these kids has come away from this saying ‘we know what we need to do’ and we have to start training earlier.”
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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