I would like to congratulate the twenty JD athletes – Brent B, Nicholas, Charlie, Matthew,Patrick, Sean, Ben,Katie, JiWon, Jasmine, Lauren G, Ellie, Maria, Jessica, Antha, Lauren F, Emily, Delainy, Emma and Mia – who participated in the Alberta Indoor Games and Provincial Relay Championships in Edmonton this past weekend. The results were truly outstanding! –Robyn
The JD athletes and coaches would like to sincerely thank JD parents James Martin, Chris Buettner, Curtis Galey, Jaylyne Galey and Sue Hirst, who gave up their long weekend to accompany and drive the team to Edmonton. Without your assistance, the team would not have been able to travel to Edmonton and enjoy the success that it did. We are most grateful to you all. We would also like to thank the Springer, Meister, Thuna,Conibear, Kalmakoff and Hull families, who drove to Edmonton to watch the athletes compete. We appreciate your support!
I would also like to thank the athletes who, during the meet on the weekend, quietly collected money without my knowledge and presented me with a Starbucks Card. I was very touched by your thoughtfulness.
On Sunday, towards the end of the meet, I was approached by three Athletics Alberta officials, who commented on how polite the CALTAF athletes had been throughout the weekend. All were grateful for the handshakes that they had received from CALTAF athletes, and all were grateful for the respect that they were shown during the competition. I wouldn’t have expected anything else. Well done!
I would like to congratulate the twenty JD athletes – Brent B, Nicholas, Charlie, Matthew,Patrick, Sean, Ben,Katie, JiWon, Jasmine, Lauren G, Ellie, Maria, Jessica, Antha, Lauren F, Emily, Delainy, Emma and Mia – who participated in the Alberta Indoor Games and Provincial Relay Championships in Edmonton this past weekend. The results were truly outstanding!
Nineteen JD athletes recorded a personal best performance in at least one event – JiWon, Jasmine, Maria, Lauren F, Mia, Brent, Charlie, Matthew, Patrick, Ellie, Sean, Ben, Katie, Lauren G, Jessica, Antha, Emily, Delainyand Emma – while Brent, Charlie, Matthew, Patrick, Ellie, Sean, Ben, Katie, Lauren G, Jessica, Antha,Emily, Delainy and Emma achieved multiple personal bests. Well done! It is rewarding to see you benefiting from your hard work at training sessions.
Congratulations to JD’s seven 2010 Alberta Provincial Champions Jasmine, Ellie, Jessica, Delainy, Patrick, Seanand Ben, who captured gold in at least one championship relay event. Just think! No matter what happens for the rest of your life, you will always be able to tell people that you were an Alberta Provincial Track and Field Champion. That is something of which you should be very proud. Well done!
Nineteen JD athletes returned to Calgary as provincial medalists, having won at least one medal in the championship relay events. Many athletes won multiple provincial championship medals. Congratulations to Alberta Provincial Medalists: Ellie (gold, gold, silver), Jasmine (gold, gold, silver), Jessica (gold, silver, bronze), Lauren Fridman(silver, silver, bronze), Emma (silver, silver, bronze), Patrick (gold, silver), Ben (gold, silver), Sean (gold silver),Delainy (gold, silver), Nicholas (silver, bronze), Katie (silver, bronze), Brent (silver), Charlie (silver), Matthew(silver), Antha (silver), Emily (silver), Lauren Garnett (bronze), Mia (bronze), and Maria (bronze). In total, the JD athletes captured 9 gold, 18 silver and 8 bronze provincial championship medals! Congratulations to you all. That is a huge accomplishment.
In addition to the provincial championship relay medals, eight JD athletes won medals (midgets) or ribbons (bantams) in non-championship (individual) events: Nicholas (gold in the midget 300m, bronze in the midget 60m), Emma (2nd in the bantam 60m, 3rd in the bantam 600m, 3rd in the bantam long jump), Ellie (silver in the midget 60m, bronze in the midget 300m), Emily (silver in the midget high jump, bronze in the midget 60m hurdles), Jessica (bronze in the midget long jump), Matthew (bronze in the midget long jump), Brent (bronze in the midget 60m Hurdles) and Sean(2nd in the bantam long jump). Well done athletes!
Needless to say, there were many highlights for the JD Group at the meet. Here are some of my favourites (in no particular order):
Originally, there were eight teams entered in the midget women’s 4x200m relay. However, only the three CALTAF teams showed up for the race, so the twelve CALTAF midget women raced each other. The team of Jasmine toEllie to Jessica to Allison Stephen of CALTAF’s Power and Speed Group captured the provincial gold medal in 1:53.40s, while the team of (bantam) Emma to Nicole Squires of CALTAF’s Power and Speed Group to Emily toAntha won the provincial silver medal in 2:00.92s, and the team of (bantam) Mia to Lauren G to Maria to Lauren Fcaptured the bronze medal in 2:04.45s. It was a special moment to watch twelve CALTAF midget women standing on the medal podium receiving their medals. It was an impressive sea of CALTAF singlets! Well done ladies!
We had only three bantam boys participate in the meet, which left us one athlete short for the relays. Delainygraciously agreed to run with the boys, so that Patrick, Sean and Ben would not miss out on the opportunity to compete in the relays. The boys and I are very happy that she did, because the team came home with gold in the medley relay, silver in the 4x200m relay and a 4th place finish in the 4x100m relay. Delainy was not in the least intimidated by the boys, and earned the respect of her coaches, teammates and opposition for her strong running and competitive spirit. The medley relay race of Delainy (200m) to Ben (100m) to Sean (100m) to Patrick (400m) was particularly memorable, with Patrick, who was running the final leg, bringing the team from the bronze medal position to 1st place with a very impressive 400m run, coming from 50m behind to overtake the runners from Meadowlark Christian School and the St. Alberta Track and Field Club in the last 30m. The 4x200m relay race was shrouded in controversy, when one team was disqualified for interference against CALTAF during the 3rd leg of the relay. Despite being elbowed rather roughly three times, Sean soldiered on, running a very strong leg and helping the team to capture the silver medal. Ben, our youngest competitor, held his own amongst the older bantam athletes, running very well in all three relays and keeping his team in the races. Well done bantams – Delainy, Sean, Patrickand Ben!
Like the midget 4x200m relay, the 60m final demonstrated the depth and strength of CALTAF’s midget women. Six of the ten places in the 60m final went to CALTAF midgets based on the results from the preliminaries – Allison(8.49s, a personal best), Nicole (8.58s, a personal best), Ellie (8.61s, a personal best), Jessica (8.65s, a personal best), Jasmine (8.72s, a personal best) and Emily (8.80s, a personal best). In the final, Ellie captured the silver medal in a personal best time of 8.47s, while Allison and Nicole tied for 4th in 8.55s, a personal best for Nicole,Jessica was 6th in 8.71s, Jasmine was 7th in 8.77s and Emily was 9th in 8.98s. There were many personal best performances in both the heat and final, and it was great too see the midget women rising to the challenge. Well done ladies!
The midget women’s 4x400m relay included a strong field of seven teams from CALTAF, Leduc T&F, the Edmonton Harriers and the Edmonton Olympic Club. The team of Ellie to Allison to Nicole to Jasmine captured the gold medal in 4:21.97s, while the team of Jessica to bantam Emma to Katie to Lauren Fridman won the silver medal in 4:33.49s. The two CALTAF teams were the strength of the field, finishing more than six seconds ahead of the 3rdplace team from Leduc. Our youngest team of 1st-year midget Emily to 1st-year bantam Mia to JiWon to 1st-year midget Antha ran very well, finishing in 5:13.93s. Well done athletes!
The midget men’s 4x400m relay team of Nicholas to Charlie to Brent to Matthew beat out a strong and determined team from Leduc T&F to capture the provincial silver medal.
Six teams were entered in the midget women’s medley relay and CALTAF captured the silver and bronze medals. The team of Jasmine to Allison to Ellie to Lauren Fridman won the silver medal in 4:38.40s, while the team ofNicole to Jessica to bantam Emma to Katie captured the bronze medal in 4:41.93s. The team of Antha to Lauren Garnett to Emily to bantam Mia finished 6th in 5:31.62s.
CALTAF’s youth (1993/1994) men’s medley relay team of Bryce Clements from Power and Speed to Thomas Kellner from Power and Speed to JD midget Nicholas to Cuauhti Olguin of CALTAF’s Middle/Long Distance Group captured the bronze medal in the youth medley relay in a time of 4:19.38s.
Matthew demonstrated just how much stronger he is becoming by achieving personal best performances in all of his individual events. Matthew added 68cm to his PB in the long jump, clearing 4.29m to capture the bronze medal.Matthew also added another 10cm to his PB in high jump, clearing 1.40m to finish 5th. Finally, in the 300m,Matthew took an impressive 2.41s off his PB to finish 8th of thirteen athletes. A provincial silver relay medal, an individual bronze medal and three personal best performances – congratulations Matthew!
In the midget men’s 300m preliminaries, Nicholas finished 2nd of thirteen athletes in 43.28s to qualify for the final. In the final, Nicholas captured the gold medal, finishing in 42.37s. In the midget men’s 60m timed final, Nicholas won the bronze medal, finishing 3rd of nine athletes in 7.75s. Gold and bronze medals in individual events, a provincial silver relay medal in the midget 4x400m, and a provincial bronze relay medal in the youth medley relay – well doneNicholas!
In the midget women’s long jump, Jessica competed in the event for the first time. I suspect that Jessica surprised herself by clearing 4.02m to finish 3rd of ten athletes and capture the bronze medal. Jessica also ran a personal best time of 45.84s in the 300m preliminary to finish 4th of fifteen athletes and qualify for the final, where she placed 5th.Jessica also finished 6th of eighteen athletes in the 60m, where she improved her PB from 8.80s to 8.65s. Provincial gold, silver and bronze medals in the relays, an individual bronze medal, and two personal best performances – congratulations Jessica!
Emily captured medals in two of her five individual events, recorded PBs in four of them and took home a provincial silver medal in the 4x200m. In the high jump, Emily added another 8cm to her PB, clearing 1.43m to finish 2nd of nine athletes and capture the silver medal. In the 60m hurdles, Emily took almost a full second off her PB, finishing in 10.96s to place 3rd of nine athletes and capture the bronze medal. In the long jump, Emily added another 4cm to her PB, clearing 3.96m to finish just out of the medals in 4th place. In the 60m, Emily ran a PB of 8.80s in the preliminary to quallfy for the final, where she placed 9th. A provincial silver relay medal, silver and bronze individual medals, and four personal best performances – an outstanding achievement at any time, but particularly for a first-year midget, who was competing against older athletes. Well done Emily!
Bantam Emma had a truly outstanding meet, finishing in the top three in three of her five individual bantam events, earning two provincial silver and a bronze relay medal, where she ran up as a midget with the older athletes, and achieiving personal best performances in four of her five individual events. In the bantam 60m, Emma finished 2nd of twenty-nine athletes in 8.89s. In the bantam 600m, Emma finished 3rd of twenty-seven athletes in a personal best time of 1:53.64s, a PB of 5.86s. In the bantam long jump, Emma added another 41cm to her PB, clearing 4.02m to finish 3rd of twenty athletes. In the high jump, Emma cleared 1.10m, a PB of 10 cm, while in shot put, she finished 8th of twenty-nine athletes with a 34cm personal best throw of 6.15m. To earn two provincial silver and a bronze relay medal as a bantam running up with the midgets, along with three top-3 finishes in your individual events and four personal best performances is an outstanding accomplishment. Well done Emma!
Ellie ran a personal best of 8.61s in the midget women’s 60m preliminary to finish 5th of eighteen athletes and qualify for the final. In the final, Ellie ran another personal best of 8.47s, the fastest of the six CALTAF athletes in the final, to win the silver medal. Ellie also finished 3rd of eighteen athletes in the 300m, to win the bronze medal. Two provincial gold and a silver medal in the relays, silver and bronze individual medals and two personal best performances. Well done Ellie!
Jasmine ran a personal best of 8.72s in the midget 60m preliminary to qualify for the final, where she finished 8th.Jasmine also ran the first legs for the midget 4x200m and medley relay teams, in both cases acquiring leads for her teammates, helping to assure the teams of the provincial gold and silver medals.Two provincial gold and a silver relay medal and a personal best performance – congratulations Jasmine.
Bantam Sean had an outstanding meet, finishing 2nd in the long jump with a personal best jump of 3.97m and recording personal best performances in four of his five events. Sean added 70cm to his PB in long jump, took more than a second off his PB in the 600m, added more than a half a metre to his PB in the shot put and added another 5cm to his PB in the high jump. Provincial gold and silver relay medals, a second place ribbon, and four personal best performances – congratulations Sean!
Brent won a bronze medal in the 60m hurdles, where he finished in 12.81s. Brent also added another 5cm to his PB in the high jump and another 62cm to his PB in the shot put. A provincial silver relay medal, an individual bronze medal and two personal best performances – well done Brent.
Patrick ran a PB of 9.41s in the bantam 60m timed final to finish 8th of twenty athletes. In the long jump, Patrickcleared 3.62m, a PB of 16cm, to finish 5th of twelve athletes. In the 600m, Patrick finished 7th of eighteen athletes, while in his first high jump and shot put competitions Patrick was 10th and 13th respectively. Provincial gold and silver relay medals, two personal best performances and an outstanding leg in the medley relay as outlined above. Well done Patrick!
In her first high jump competition, first-year midget Lauren Fridman cleared 1.30m to finish just out of the medals in 4th place. Lauren also ran a 1.79s PB of 47.56s in the midget women’s 300m to finish 8th of fifteeen athletes. Two provincial silver and a bronze relay medal and a 4th place finish in the high jump – a huge accomplishmant for a first-year midget. Congratulations Lauren!
First-year bantam Ben, our youngest male competitor, did extrememly well competing against the older athletes. In his first high jump competition, Ben cleared 1.20m to finish 6th of sixteen athletes. Ben also added another 1.28m to his PB in the shot put, throwing 5.65m. Ben also finished 6th of twelve athletes in the long jump, clearing 3.60m, a 3cm PB. Provincial gold and silver relay medals and two 6th place finishes – an excellent meet for our youngest athlete!
Katie, the only athlete to tackle the combination of relays and distance races, produced some excellent results, finishing just out of the medals in both of her individual events. In the 600m, Katie finished 4th in 1:47.35s, a PB of more than three seconds. In the 1000m, Katie took more than seven seconds off the PB that she had just established last month at the Dino Classic, finishing 5th in 3:27.38s. Provincial silver and bronze relay medals and 4thand 5th place finishes in your individual events – well done Katie!
Lauren Garnett took more than half a second off her PB in the 60m hurdles to finish 5th of nine midget athletes in 11.61s. In her first high jump competition, Lauren cleared 1.25m to finish 6th. Lauren also ran a PB in the 60m and was 7th in her first long jump competition. A provincial bronze relay medal and two personal best performances – congratulations Lauren!
First-year midget Antha finished 5th of ten athletes in the long jump, clearing 3.91m, a PB of 28cm. Antha also ran a PB of 48.99s in the 300m, where she finished 10th. A provincial silver relay medal and two personal best performances. Well done Antha!
Charlie ran a personal best of 9.36s in the midget 60m, where he finished 8th. Charlie also added another 15cm to his PB in high jump, where he cleared 1.35m and finished 7th. A provincial silver relay medal and two personal best performances – well done Charlie!
In her first out-of-town meet, JiWon ran a personal best in the 60m and finished 8th in her first 60m hurdles competition. JiWon also impressed long jump coach Ed in her first long jump competition. Well done JiWon!
Despite a rather nasty fall during the warm-up, where she left a considerable amount of skin on the unforgiving track,Maria showed a gutsy determination and competed in the hurdles despite the fall. In the midget shot put, Mariafinished just out of the medals in 4th place, with a throw of 7.89m. Maria also cleared 3.82m in the long jump, a personal best of 5cm, to finish 6th. A provincial bronze relay medal, a personal best performane, a 4th place finish, and a gutsy performance in the hurdles – well done Maria!
In addition to helping the bantam boys’ relay team win provincial gold and silver medals, Delainy took more than 7 seconds off the PB in the 600m that she had just established three weeks ago at the Jack Simpson Open. Delainyalso added more than a metre to her PB in the shot put. Provincial gold and silver relay medals while competing in the men’s competition, and two personal best performances – congratulations Delainy!
Mia, a first-year bantam and our youngest female competitior, was also one of our busiest, competing in five individual events and three relays. Mia took more that two seconds off the PB in the 600m that she had just established at the end of January in the Jack Simspon Open. Mia placed 10th of twenty-seven athletes. In her first shot put competiton, Mia placed 7th of twenty-nine athletes with a throw of 6.16m. Mia was also 12th of twenty-nine athletes in the 60m and 11th of twenty athletes in the long jump. A provincial bronze relay medal, a personal best performance and some impressive individual results. Congratulations Mia!
Congratulations to all athletes! Those are very impressive results. Well done!
–Robyn
