Congratulations to the forty-nine JD athletes – Katie, Lauren Garnett, Ellie, Maria, Jessica, Melissa, Julia, Bailey, Kendall, Antha, Lauren Fridman, Jane, Chase, Josie, Siri, Emily, Delainy, Dana, Anna, Emma Martin, Rebecca, Teaghan, Madelaine, Emma Chong, Rhea, Mia, Heather, Brent Bester, Nicholas, Rui, Tim, Austin, Matthew, Tynan, Eric, Patrick, Scott, Alex McDuffie, Abtin, Matthew Schalm, Jackson, Tyler, Brent Stephen, Michael, Alex Charlesworth, Nathan, Nolan, Sean and Liam – who competed at the CALTAF Track Classic this past weekend. Among them, they produced some outstanding results.
Two midget athletes beat meet records, the team captured seven gold, eight silver and eleven bronze medals, and there were 80 personal best performances recorded by JD athletes. We also have four athletes ranked in the top two in the province in one or more events, which puts them in contention for a place on Team Alberta that will compete in Winnipeg at the Western Canadian Midget Championships in July. Well done athletes!
Here are the highlights:
We had several athletes – Julia, Jane, Josie, Rebecca, Tim, Abtin, Nolan, andLiam – who were competing in their first meet. Among them, they produced some excellent results. I also thought you looked remarkably composed out on the track and at the field event venues. Spectators would never have guessed that you were competing in your first meet. Well done new athletes!
I witnessed many acts of good sportsmanship throughout the weekend. The one that caught my eye in particular was the handshakes and exchanges of good luck at the start line of the bantam boys’ 80m hurdles. Thank you to AlexCharlesworth, Nathan, Sean and Michael for being such fine ambassadors for CALTAF.
I was particularly pleased to see our young first-year (1998) bantam athletes trying some new events this weekend. Heather and Mia entered the hurdles for the first time, while Emma Chong tried the 800m. The bantam boys – Alex Charlesworth, Michael, Sean and Nathan – after considerable persuasion/coaxing by high jump coach Melissa, all entered the 1200m, where they did very well, although several (who shall remain nameless) announced firmly after the race that it was absolutely the last time that they were running a distance race. J
When javelin throw was not offered to bantam athletes, bantams Teaghan, Danaand Madelaine entered the midget javelin competition, where they had to compete against athletes two years their senior. Not in the least intimidated by the older competitors, Madelaine finished just out of the medals in 4th place with a throw of 15.45m, while Teaghan was 6th (13.87m) and Dana was 7th (12.98m). Well done ladies!
Austin is now ranked 1st in the province in the javelin, having won the javelin completion on Friday night with a personal best throw of 45.27m. Austin is also ranked 1st in the province in the triple jump, having placed 1st amongst the midgets in the open triple jump competition on Sunday with a personal best jump of 11.30m. Austin is also ranked 2nd in the province in long jump and 2nd in the shot put. Nicholas is ranked 1st in the province in the 100m, having run the 100m heat on Saturday in a personal best time of 11.76s. Ellie remains ranked 2nd in the province in the 300m, recording a personal best time of 42.15s at the Calgary Spring Challenge. Scott remains ranked 2nd in the province in the shot put, having recorded a personal best throw of 31.53m at the first New Balance meet. Good luck this weekend at the trials for the Western Canadian Midget and Youth Championships. I hope you are able to earn a spot on Team Alberta. If you wish to view the provincial rankings to see where you are ranked, then go toathleticsalberta.com. On the main page under the flag, click on “competitions” and then in the column that comes up on the left “rankings” and follow the links.
Several meet records fell this weekend, and two were the result of JD athletes.Austin set a new meet record in the midget javelin with a throw of 45.27m, a personal best of 4.16m. Austin beat the record of 44.28m, which had been set in 2009. Ellie beat the meet record of 43.55s in the midget 300m, finishing in 43.22s. The new 300m record was set by Leduc athlete Nicolle Harysh, who finished in 41.69s. Well done Austin and Ellie!
In addition to setting a meet record and winning the gold medal in the javelin, where he added another 4.16m to his PB, Austin captured the bronze medal in the shot put, with a personal best throw of 9.95m. Austin was also 5th in the discus with a throw of 24.38m, a PB of 3.96m. In the open men’s triple jump, Austin finished 1stof the midgets, clearing 11.30m. To prove how versatile an athlete he is, Austinwas also 4th in the long jump and 5th in the sprint hurdles. Well done Austin!
Tynan had an outstanding meet, winning a gold and three silver medals. In his first attempt at the hammer throw, Tynan threw the hammer 23.69m, good enough for the gold medal. Tynan also won silver medals in the javelin, with a personal best throw of 36.04m, the shot put, with a personal best throw of 11.84m, and the discus with a personal best throw of 31.74m. Tynan added 4.37m to his PB in the discus, 3.44m to his PB in the javelin, and 1.32m to his PB in the shot put. Tynanalso added more than half a metre to his PB in the long jump, where he finished 8th. Well done Tynan!
Emma Martin had another outstanding meet, capturing the gold medal in the bantam girls’ multiple events on Saturday. With outstanding performances in the 80m, long jump, shot put and 800m, Emma was able to accumulate enough points to finish first of twenty-two bantam athletes. Emma finished 3rd in the 80m in a personal best time of 11.16s and 2nd in the 800m, where she finished in 2:36.11s. In the long jump, Emma added another 14cm to her PB, clearing 4.16m, while in the shot put, she finished 3rd with a personal best throw of 7.32m, a personal best of 73cm. On Sunday, in the multiple events which included 80m hurdles, the discus, high jump and 1200m, Emma finished 5th of twenty-two athletes. Emmatook more than a second off her PB in the 80m hurdles and was 2nd in the 1200m, where she finished in 4:10.10s. Well done Emma!
Alex Charlesworth captured the gold medal in the bantam multiple events on Sunday, with outstanding performances in the 80m hurdles, discus throw, high jump and 1200m. Alex accumulated 36 points, enough to capture the gold medal.Alex finished 1st in the 80m hurdles in a personal best time of 13.72s, and was 5thin the dreaded 1200m, where he finished in 4:39.18s. Alex added another 10cm to his PB in the high jump, clearing an impressive 1.45m to finish 1st and recorded a throw of 22.32m in the discus, where he also finished 1st. On Saturday, in the multiple events which included the 80m, long jump, shot put and 800m, Alexfinished 5th of thirteen athletes. Alex added another 8cm to his PB in the long jump, where he cleared 4.32m and finished 3rd, added another 1.15m to his PB in the shot put with a throw of 8.12m and also placed 3rd and finished the 80m in 5thplace in a personal best time of 11.60s. Well done Alex!
New athlete Tim, who was competing in his first meet, captured the silver medal in the midget long jump, clearing 5.21m to finish 2nd of eleven athletes. Tim was also 10th of 23 athletes in the 100m, where he finished in 12.61s. Well done Tim!
Nicholas won the silver medal in the midget 100m, finishing 2nd of twenty-three athletes and recording a personal best time of 11.76s. Nicholas finished just out of the medals in the 200m, where he finished 4th of fifteen athletes and recorded a personal best time of 25.13s. In his first attempt at the 100m hurdles, Nicholasqualified for the final, where he finished 5th in a time of 17.59s. Nicholas was also 7th of sixteen athletes in the 300m. Well done Nicholas!
Maria captured the silver medal in the midget discus with a throw of 20.36m.Maria was also 5th in the javelin, where her throw of 15.42m was a PB of 1.33m, and 6th in the shot put. Well done Maria!
First-year midget Lauren Fridman entered a javelin competition for the first time and walked away with the bronze medal. Lauren’s throw of 16.01m placed her 3rdof eight athletes. Lauren also added an impressive 10cm to her PB in the high jump, clearing 1.45m to finish just out of the medals in 4th place. Well doneLauren!
Rui captured the bronze medal in the midget long jump, clearing 4.97m to finish 3rd of eleven athletes. Rui also ran a personal best of 12.65s in the 100m preliminary, where he just missed qualifying for the final. In his first attempt at the 100m hurdles, Rui qualified for the final with a time of 17.59s. Unfortunately, in the 100m hurdle final, Rui was a victim of the new false start rule, and was disqualified. In the 200m hurdles, Rui finished 6th in a time of 29.59s. Well done Rui!
JD captain Katie looked very strong in the 1200m, where she captured the bronze medal, finishing 3rd of fourteen athletes in 4:05.80s. Katie was 4th in her first attempt at the 2000m, where she finished in 7:40.32s. In the 800m, Katie took more than two seconds off her personal best, finishing 7th of fifteen athletes in 2:29.52s. Well done Katie!
First-year midget Chase finished 3rd of six in the 2000m, capturing the bronze medal in 7:20.79s. Chase was also 7th in the 1200m and 8th in the midget long jump, where she cleared 4.28m. Well done Chase!
First-year midget Scott won the bronze medal in the discus with a throw of 28.66m. Scott was also 6th in his first long jump competition, where he cleared 4.60m, and ran a personal best of 12.90s in the 100m preliminary, where he finished 14th of twenty-three athletes. Well done Scott!
First-year midget Matthew Schalm won the bronze medal in the javelin, throwing the javelin 25.76m, an impressive PB of 4.29m. Matthew finished just out of the medals in the shot put, finishing 4th with a personal best throw of 8.39m, a PB of over half a metre. Matthew was also 4th in the discus, where he recorded a throw of 24.63m. Well done Matthew!
Our relay teams captured several medals. In the bantam girls’ 4x100m, the team ofEmma Martin to Dana to Mia to Emma Chong captured the gold in 56.60s. The team of Delainy to Rebecca to Madelaine to Teaghan captured the silver in 1:01.77s, while the team of Heather to Anna to Rhea to Cheetah Alison Martinwere not far behind, capturing the bronze medal in 1:02.89s.
In the midget men’s 4x100m, the team of Nicholas to Alex McDuffie to Tim toRui captured the silver medal, finishing 2nd in 48.66s. The team of Austin to Abtinto Jackson to Scott won the bronze medal, finishing 3rd in 51.70s.
In the midget women’s 4x100m, the team of Antha to Emily to Kendall toJessica won the bronze medal in 55.19s, while the team of Melissa to Jane toBailey to Lauren Garnett finished not far behind in 56.78s.
The bantam boys’ team of Alex Charlesworth to Sean to Nathan to Liam had no opposition, but earned their gold medals by finishing strongly in 58.84s.
In the midget women’s 4x400m, the team of CALTAF’s Power and Speed athletesAllison Stephen to Nicole Squires to Jasmine Galey to JD athlete Ellie won the gold medal in an impressive time of 4:15.03s. The team of Chase to Lauren Fridman to Katie to Siri captured the bronze medal, finishing in 4:31.26s.
The midget men’s 4x400m team of Tynan to Brent Bester to Brent Stephen toMatthew Springer finished just out of the medals in 4th place with a time of 4:27.31s.
Madelaine had another outstanding meet, recording personal best performances in four events and finishing 5th of twenty-two athletes in the bantam multiple events on Saturday and 6th of twenty-two bantam athletes on Sunday. Madelaine won both the shot put and discus competitions, finishing 1st of twenty athletes in the shot put with a personal best throw of 8.05m, a 7cm PB, and 1st of fifteen athletes in the discus with a personal best throw of 21.40m, a PB of over a metre.Madelaine was also 4th in the midget javelin, 8th in the bantam long jump and 9thin the bantam high jump. Well done Madelaine!
First-year bantam Emma Chong took more than a second off her PB in the 80m hurdles, finishing an impressive 5th of 17 athletes in 15.71s. Emma was also 8th of nineteen athletes in the high jump, clearing 1.20m. Well done Emma!
In addition to beating the meet record in the 300m, JD captain Ellie was the only female JD midget to qualify for the finals of the 100m. Ellie finished 8th of thirty-five athletes in the preliminaries, 8th of sixteen athletes in the semi-final, but rose to a 5th place finish in the final. Well done Ellie!
Dana had an excellent meet, recording personal bests in three of her four bantam events. In the 80m, Dana finished 5th of twenty-three athletes in a personal best time of 11.66s. In the shot put, Dana added another 36cm to her PB, throwing the shot 6.71m to finish 6th of twenty athletes. In the discus, Dana finished 4th of fifteen athletes, recording a throw of 17.79m, an impressive PB of almost two and a half metres. Well done Dana!
JD captain Brent Bester recorded PBs in both of his distance events this weekend. In the 2000m, Brent took an impressive 12.51s off his PB, finishing 7thin 6:55.38s. In the 800m, Brent took just shy of three seconds off his PB, finishing 12th in 2:31.96s. Well done Brent!
First-year midget Alex McDuffie demonstrated yet again how much stronger he is becoming by recording personal best performances in all four of his events. In the high jump, Alex added an impressive 10cm to his PB, clearing 1.55m to finish just out of the medals in 4th place. In the 100m, Alex took almost half a second off his PB, finishing 13th in 12.84s. Alex also recorded PBs in the 200m and 300m, where he finished in 26.97s and 43.04s respectively. In his first long jump competition, Alex cleared 4.24m to finish 9th. Well done Alex!
In his first meet, first-year midget Abtin placed 4th of ten athletes in the 100m hurdles preliminaries, finishing in 16.26s. In the final, Abtin improved his time to 16.14s and finished just out of the medals in 4th place. Well done Abtin!
Bantam Teaghan demonstrated her strength in the throws by finishing 2nd in both the shot put and discus. In the shot put, Teaghan’s throw of 7.46m was a PB of 36cm, while in the discus, her throw of 19.32m was an impressive PB of over 5 metres. Well done Teaghan!
Despite an odd set of circumstances where nine athletes showed up for the fast 300m heat on Saturday evening that saw first-year midget Tyler having to share his lane with a Leduc athlete, Tyler still managed to finish 6th of sixteen athletes in 41.10s. Tyler – I didn’t have a chance to tell you this at the meet, but one of the officils came over after the race to tell me how gracious you were under trying circumstances. She said that you were polite and didn’t argue with the officials and accepted the race conditions without question, even though they were clearly not in your favour. She said it was the sign of a true gentlemen – she had little doubt that few athletes would have kept their cool under those circumstances. Well done! Thank you! Tyler also ran a personal best time of 12.53s in the 100m to finish 9thof twenty-three athletes and just miss qualifying for the final. Well done Tyler!
Bantam Nathan demonstrated just how much stronger he is becoming by recording five personal best performances. Nathan finished 2nd in the discus with a throw of 21.33m, a PB of exactly 2.00m. In the shot put, Nathan added another 83cm to his PB, throwing the shot 7.31m to finish 7th. In the 80m hurdles, Nathantook 1.4s off his PB, finishing in 16.18s, while in the long jump, Nathan added another 23cm to his PB. Nathan also ran a PB in the 80m, where he finished in 12.44s. Well done Nathan!
In his first meet, new bantam athlete Nolan finished 3rd in the discus with a throw of 18.77m and 5th in the shot put, where he threw the shot 7.36m. Well doneNolan!
Matthew Springer added another 5cm to his PB in the long jump, clearing 4.67m to finish 5th of eleven athletes. Matthew was also 6th in the high jump, where he cleared 1.50m. Well done Matthew!
New bantam athlete Rebecca entered her first high jump competition and cleared 1.20m to finish 7th of nineteen athletes. Well done Rebecca!
Rhea, our youngest athlete, recorded personal bests in two events at the meet. In the shot put, Rhea added another 17cm to her PB, throwing the shot 4.00m. Rheaalso took almost half a second off her time in the 80m, finishing in 13.90s. Well done Rhea!
First-year bantam Mia demonstrated how much stronger she is becoming by recording personal bests in four events. Mia added another 5cm to her PB in the high jump, clearing 1.20m to finish 5th of nineteen athletes. Mia also shattered her PB in the 800m, where she finished 8th of sixteen athletes in 2:58.18s, a PB of 12.37s. Mia also ran a personal best of 11.94s in the 80m, where she finished 9thof twenty-three athletes, and added another 8cm to her PB in the long jump, where she finished 11th of twenty-five athletes. Well done Mia!
Lauren Garnett ran a personal best of 14.65s in the 80m hurdles preliminary to qualify 8th of fourteen athletes for the final, where she finished 8th overall. Laurenalso took more than half a second off her PB in the 200m, where she finished in 30.92s and was 9th in the 200m hurdles. Well done Lauren!
Jessica ran a personal best of 13.70s in the midget 100m preliminary, and just missed qualifying for the semi-final by one place. Jessica also ran a personal best of 45.35s in the 300m, where she finished 12th of twenty-two athletes. Well doneJessica!
Melissa ran a personal best in the 300m, where she finished in 48.34s, and added another 23cm to her PB in the long jump. Well done Melissa!
First-year midget Siri added another 6cm to her PB in the long jump, where she cleared 4.07m and finished 12th. Siri was also 14th in the 300m, where she finished just off her PB in 46.67s. Well done Siri!
First-year midget Emily ran a personal best 14.49s in the 80m hurdles and finished 7th of fourteen athletes overall. Emily also finished 5th in the high jump, where she cleared 1.40m. Well done Emily!
Bantam Delainy shattered her PB in the 1200m, finishing 7th in 4:52.54s, a PB of 10.46s. Delainly also ran a PB in the 800m, where she placed 9th in 3:00.70s, a PB of 1.5s. Well done Delainy!
Bantam Anna added 69cm to her PB in the shot put, where she recorded a throw of 5.34m. Anna also ran a PB in the 80m, where she finished in 12.57s. Well doneAnna!
First-year midget Jackson recorded personal bests in both of his events, finishing the 100m in a personal best time of 14.11s, a PB of almost half a second, and the 300m in a personal best time of 49.24s, a PB of over a second. Well doneJackson!
First-year midget Kendall demonstrated how much faster she is becoming by recording PBs in both the 80m hurdles and the 100m, where she finished in 14.90s and 14.20s respectively.Well done Kendall!
First-year midget Antha broke the 30s barrier in the 200m for the first time, recording a personal best of 29.60s. Antha also ran a personal best of 48.87s in the 300m. Well done Antha!
First-year bantam Heather, another of our youngest athletes, ran a personal best of 12.57s in the 80m. Heather was one of our busiest athletes, competing in seven individual events and the 4x100m relay. Well done Heather! I was especially pleased to see you try the hurdles.
First-year midget Bailey ran a personal best in the 100m preliminaries, where she recorded a time of 14.30s. In her first javelin competition, Bailey recorded a throw of 12.60m. Well done Bailey!
First-year midget Patrick took more than a second off his PB in the 100m hurdles where he finished 9th in 17.81s. Patrick was also 11th in his first 800m, where he finished in 2:28.03s. Well done Patrick!
First-year midget Eric added another 66cm to his PB in the discus with a throw of 13.52m. Eric also took on the challenging 1200m, where he finished in 5:18.53s. Well done Eric!
First-year midget Brent Stephen decided to try the challenge of a distance race and finished the 1200m in 4:28.10s. Well done Brent!
In his very first meet, first-year bantam Liam finished 6th in the 80m in 11.65s and 7th in the 800m in 2:43.22s. Well done Liam!
Bantam Sean took almost a second and a half off his PB in the 80m hurdles, where he finished 4th in 15.37s. In the bantam multiple events on Sunday, Seanfinished 5th in the overall standings, with a 4th place finish in the 80m hurdles, 6thin the discus, 6th in the 1200m and 7th in the high jump. Well done Sean!
Congratulations to you all. You should be very proud of those results. To see the complete results, go to caltaftrackclassic.com and click on “results” at the top of the main page.
I would like to thank the many JD parents who I saw volunteering at the meet. Without your help, this meet could not have taken place and certainly wouldn’t have run as smoothly. Thank you for your dedication and hard work. Thank you also to those parents who worked behind the scenes, some for many months, to ensure the success of the meet. I appreciate the many hours that you dedicated to the cause. Thank you especially to my fellow CALTAF coach Derrick Johnston, who took on the challenging and often thankless job of meet director. Derrick worked tiressly for many months to ensure that the 2010 CALTAF Track Classic was a high-calibre and very successful meet. Job very well done, Derrick! Enjoy a rest – goodness knows, you’ve earned it!
I will see you all on Wednesday at Glenmore for our regular training session. Robin
