Report from Coach Robin:
Hello athletes and parents,
Congratulations to all of the JD athletes – Adeem Andrew Annette Cam Cole Corrina Deia Hanna Harrison John Kamila Kiannah Lauren Lisa Madeline Mehrdad Sarah Thomas and Vienna – who competed this past weekend at the Alberta Indoor Games, which were the Provincial Championships for the Combined Events and Relays. Among them, these nineteen athletes produced some outstanding results.
Fifteen athletes (Sarah, Madeline, Kiannah, Corrina, Vienna, Deia, Cam, Hanna, Lauren, Annette, Harrison, Thomas, Mehrdad, John and Adeem) recorded a total of 38 personal best performances, two JD athletes are now Alberta provincial record holders (Kamila, Corrina), and the JD Group now boasts 2 provincial champions/provincial gold medalists (Corrina & Kamila), 7 provincial silver medalists (Thomas, John, Harrison, Mehrdad, Hanna, Corrina & Annette), 6 provincial bronze medalists (Annette, Hanna, Thomas, Mehrdad, Cole & John), two EMOC (Edmonton Meet Organizing Committee medals for non-championship events) gold medalists (Hanna, Mehrdad), an EMOC silver medalist (Kamila), and three EMOC bronze medalists (Sarah, Harrison and Thomas). That is an impressive list – well done athletes!
The number of personal best performances demonstrates just how well the JD athletes rose to the occasion.Harrison and Kiannah led the way, with each achieving a personal best (PB) performance in all of their events – an outstanding 7 PBs (60mH, 60m, 1000m, HJ, LJ, SP, pent) for Harrison, including all the events in the pentathlon, and an equally impressive 5 PBs (60m, 300m, SP, HJ, WT) for Kiannah. Lauren recorded personal bests in 5 of her seven events (1000m, 800m, HJ, LJ, SP), while Cam recorded 4 personal bests (1000m, 800m, HJ, SP), Deiaachieved 3 personal bests (1000m, 800m, SP), Vienna (60m heat & semi), Hanna (LJ, SP), Annette (HJ, SP),Thomas (60m heat & final), and Adeem (SP, 600m) each achieved 2 personal bests, and Sarah (TJ), Corrina(1000m), Mehrdad (LJ)and John (300m) each recorded 1 personal best.
Some of the most impressive personal bests were as follows:
Sarah (almost half a metre in TJ), Madeline (16.04s in the 1000m), Corrina (11.9s in the 1000m), Kiannah(1.33m in the weight throw, 21cm in the shot put and 7cm in high jump), Deia (1.96m in the SP), Cam (5.42s in the 1000m, 83cm in the shot put and 6cm in HJ), Hanna (1.00m in the shot put), Lauren (6.47s in the 1000m, 7.71s in the 800m, 17cm in HJ, 33cm in LJ and 13cm in SP), Annette (10cm in HJ, 73cm in SP), Harrison (12.75s in the 1000m, 14cm in HJ, 10cm in LJ and 1.36m in shot put), Mehrdad (27cm in LJ), and Adeem (56cm in SP, 7.34s in the 600m). Well done athletes!
First-year midget Kamila placed 2nd of twelve athletes in the midget women’s 1000m, finishing in 3:03.94s and beating the old record for first-year-midgets (14yrs) of 3:04.10s, which was set in 2006. In addition to setting the new provincial record, Kamila was awarded an EMOC (Edmonton Meet Organizing Committee medal for non-championship events) silver medal for her second place finish. Congratulations Kamila – the new Alberta provincial record holder for 14-year-old girls in the 1000m! An outstanding achievement! When your record is posted on the Athletics Alberta website, I will send you the link. It usually takes a couple of weeks.
CALTAF’s midget women’s medley relay team of Corrina to Emma Chong (of CALTAF’s Provincial Development Group), to Mia Hull (of CALTAF’s Provincial Development Group) to Kamila also set a provincial record, finishing 1stof nine teams in 4:30.87 and capturing the gold medal. Corrina ran the 400m leg, followed by Emma and Mia, who each ran a 200m leg, and Kamila ran the final 800m leg. The team beat the provincial record set in 2008 by an impressive 4.19s. The fact that the team beat the provincial record is even more impressive when you realize that two team members – Kamila and Corrina – are only 1st-year midgets (14yrs), and it was the record for 2nd year midgets (15yrs) that the team beat. Congratulations to Corrina, Emma, Mia and Kamila – the new Alberta provincial record holders in the medley relay, provincial medley relay champions and provincial medley gold medalists – well done ladies! In the same race, JD’s team of Cam to Vienna to Deia to Madeline finished 8th in 5:14.17s.
Our men’s 4x200m relay team of Harrison to Mehrdad to John to Thomas captured the provincial silver medal, finishing 2nd of five teams in 1:46.97s. The fact that the team consisted of three first-year midgets (14yrs) and only one 2nd-year midget (15yrs) makes this 2nd place finish even more impressive and bodes well for next year. Congratulations provincial silver medalists in the 4x200m – Harrison, Mehrdad, John and Thomas!
CALTAF’s women’s 4x400m relay team of Mia Hull (of CALTAF’s Provincial Development Group) to Hanna toCorrina to Annette won the provincial silver medal, finishing 2nd of six teams in 4:27.65 – an impressive feat at any time, but especially given that Annette is a bantam (13yrs) and Hanna and Corrina are 1st-year midgets (14yrs). The team finished less than 4 seconds behind a strong team of four 2nd-year midgets (15yrs) from the Calgary Warriors. Well done provincial silver medalists in the 4x400m – Mia, Hanna, Corrina and Annette. Our team of Vienna to Lisa to Lauren to Sarah finished 5th in 5:00.00s.
Our men’s 4x400m relay team of Mehrdad to Thomas to Cole to John captured the provincial bronze medal, finishing 3rd of four teams in 4:09.15s – again, an impressive feat given that all four boys are 1st-year midgets (14yrs), and were competing against teams of 2nd year midgets (15yrs). Congratulations provincial bronze medalists in the 4x400m – Mehrdad, Thomas, Cole and John! This result bodes well for next year, when you will compete in the same age category.
CALTAF’s women’s 4x200m relay team of Emma Chong (of CALTAF’s Provincial Development Group) to Annette toHanna to Mia Hull (of CALTAF’s Provincial Development Group) won the provincial bronze medal, finishing 3rd of nine teams in 1:58.68s. The team missed the silver medal by just 15/100s. Again, this is an impressive result given that Annette is a bantam and Hanna is a 1st-year midget (14yrs), and the team was competing against 2nd-yr midgets (15yrs). Well done Emma, Annette, Hanna and Mia – provincial bronze medalists in the 4x200m! Our younger team of Vienna to Corrina to Kamila to Lisa finished in 6th place in 2:01.49, while the team of Madelineto Lauren to Deia to Kiannah were 8th in 2:14.97s. Well done ladies!
I was very pleased that several of the JD midgets were willing to try the pentathlon at this meet. A challenging combination of five events (60m, long jump, high jump, shot put and 800m women/1000 men), which take place over one day, the pentathlon is a physically and mentally demanding event. Congratulations to Hanna who placed 5th of eleven athletes, Harrison who was 5th of eight, Lauren who was 8th, Cam who was 9th and Deia who finished 10th. Well done pentathletes!
Although under the weather, Sarah competed very well in the triple jump, impressing CALTAF’s Combined Events Coach Juerg Meister by finishing 3rd with a jump of 9.21m, a personal best of almost half a metre. Sarah was presented with an EMOC (Edmonton Meet Organizing Committee) bronze medal for her third place finish in a non-championship event. Well done Sarah!
In his first long jump competition, Thomas finished 3rd of eleven athletes, clearing 5.16m and capturing an EMOC (Edmonton Meet Organizing Committee) bronze medal. In that same event, Mehrdad was not far behind, finishing 4th with a jump of 5.03m. Well done Thomas and Mehrdad!
In the midget 60m hurdles, Harrison ran a personal best 9.89s to finish 3rd of seven athletes and capture an EMOC bronze medal in the non-championship event. Well done Harrison!
First-year midget Hanna impressed CALTAF throws coach Paul by capturing the EMOC (Edmonton Meet Organizing Committee) gold medal in the weight throw completion, finishing 1st of 6 athletes with a throw of 9.51m. Well doneHanna!
Our two bantam girls – Annette (13yrs) and Lisa (12yrs) – spent much of the weekend competing up with the midget (14 and 15yrs) women in the relays. They even sacrificed their 600m in the bantam multiple event to run on the midget 4x400m teams. There are not many young athletes who are able to run competitively against athletes who are two (in Annette’s case) or three (for Lisa) years their senior. Both girls ran extremely well and impressed their coaches not only with their impressive running but also with their nerves of steel. Congratulations Annetteand Lisa – two very strong bantams!
Mehrdad was the only competitor in the midget triple jump competition but earned his EMOC (Edmonton Meet Organizing Committee medal for a non-championship event) gold medal by clearing an impressive 10.45m. Well done Mehrdad!
Despite being 1st-year midgets, both Vienna and Thomas qualified in the 60m preliminaries to move on to the next round. Both athletes ran personal bests in the preliminaries and then improved upon those results, recording another personal best in the second round. Thomas finished 5th of nineteen athletes overall in a personal best time of 7.96s, beating the 8 second barrier for the first time, while Vienna placed 16th of thirty-three athletes in a personal best 8.81s, beating the 9 second barrier for the first time. Well done Vienna and Thomas!
The most exciting individual race of the meet for Blair and me was the midget women’s 1000m. Deia, Cam,Kamila, Lauren, Madeline and Corrina were all entered in the race and, apart from Kamila and Madeline, all of the girls had just run the 1000m at the Jack Simpson Open meet at the end of January. All of the girls who had run the event on 27th January ran a PB at this meet, and the improvement in their times in just two weeks was impressive, with Corrina achieving a PB of 11.90s, Lauren 6.47s, Cam 5.42s and Deia 2.54s. Corrina missed the bronze medal by just 1/1000s! Madeline improved her 800m time from the same meet last year by 16.04s. It was also in this race that Kamila set the provincial record as outlined above. Well done ladies – it was a memorable race.
Another exciting race was the 800m in the midget women’s pentathlon, in which Deia, Hanna, Lauren and Camwere entered. Lauren led her 800m heat from start to finish, and placed 1st of eleven athletes overall in a personal best time of 2:40.40s, a season’s best of 7.71s. Lauren looked very strong and ran with great determination, and I believe it was the best I have seen her run. Cam also ran a personal best and finished 5th overall, while Deia ran a personal best to finish 9th. For Hanna, the 800m was a new event, and she finished 7th. Well done ladies – a very strong showing at the end of a long day of pentathlon events.
In her first shot put competition, first-year bantam Lisa placed 3rd of forty-one athletes with a throw of 6.32m. In that same event, Annette added 73cm to her PB to finish 9th with a throw of 5.38m. Great throwing ladies! Coach Michelle will be pleased! Well done Lisa and Annette!
It was good to see the JD athletes supporting each other throughout the weekend. The stands were most often empty, with the athletes either competing or supporting those who were. Well done (all) athletes!
In the bantam girls’ high jump, Annette added 10cm to her PB, clearing 1.30m to finish 3rd of thirty-four athletes. In the midget women’s high jump, Corrina, in her first high jump competition, cleared 1.35m, to finish 4th of nine athletes. High jump Coach Ed looked very pleased! Well done Annette and Corrina!
One of the most poignant moments of the meet came at the end of the midget and 65+ masters men pentathlons, which ran simultaneously. The only Master competitor was 80-year-old Arnold Nett, who shattered the Canadian record of 2419 points, earning an impressive 3049 points. At the end of the 1000m, the last event of the day in the pentathlon, the midget competitors gathered at the finish line to congratulate Arnold as he finished his race. It was a special moment to watch the young midget athletes, who included Harrison, shaking the hand of the master athlete, who was more than 60 years their senior.
In her first long jump competition, first-year midget Vienna cleared 4.33m, to finish 5th of thirteen athletes. Well done Vienna! Great jumping!
First-year midget Cole ran a strong 600m, winning his heat and finishing 6th overall in a time of 1:45.30s. Well done Cole!
Bantam Adeem added more than half a metre to his PB in the shot put to finish 3rd of twenty-six athletes with a throw of 7.93m. Well done Adeem!
One of JD’s midget women, who shall remain anonymous at her request, ran a very impressive 1000m, and was promptly ill after her race – a sign that she had pushed herself hard to achieve what was a personal best result. When the coaches offered to pull her out of the 4x200m relay, which was the next event on the track, she looked scandalized and insisted that she was fit to run. In fact, she ran a very strong leg for her team, proving yet again just what a strong and determined athlete she is. Well done……you know who you are J!
Chaperone Micki Chong commented several times on how well behaved the JD athletes were, but she noted that the room of Harrison, Thomas and Andrew was particularly polite and respectful when she did the room checks in the evening. Thank you boys!
There were two heats of bantam boys’ 600m, and Adeem was in the first and Andrew in the latter. As soon as he had finished his race, Adeem headed trackside to cheer on Andrew in his race. I also noticed Adeem shaking the hands of the officials at the end of the high jump competition. Well done Adeem – always the gentleman and good sportsman!
The athletes and coaches would like to offer our sincere thanks to parent Micki Chong, who gave up her weekend to accompany the team as chaperone. Micki went far beyond the call of duty, tending to athletes who were ill or injured, cleaning the garbage out of the stands at the end of each day, fetching ice and drinks for those in need, and working tirelessly to ensure that the athletes competed to the best of their abilities. We are most grateful for your assistance, Micki – thank you!
The coaches and athletes would also like to thank the Harrop/Mintz, Fowlow, Olguin, Svensson, Berry, Cozma, Dunlop, Huard, Shokoohi and Vasanji families, who traveled to Edmonton to cheer on the team. We are most grateful for your continued support.
I will see you later today at the Talisman – we will work on long jump and starts. With the provincial championships for individual events less than three weeks away, we have much work to do.
Congratulations again to all athletes – well done!
Robin
