Report from Robin:
Results from the Rocky Mountain Relays and the Alberta Provincial Midget Track and Field Championships on 7th and 8th June 2008
I would like to congratulate the JD athletes who traveled to Medicine Hat for the Rocky Mountain Relays and Midget Provincial Championships this past weekend – Alex Bymoen, Alex Saizew, Alex Smith, Allison, Anders, Billy, Bryce, Drew, Ellen, Jane, Jennifer, John, Kelly Ann, Meghan, Nicky, Nicole, Rebecca, Reed, Ryan, Sam Babcock, Sam Kean, Scott, Sean, Stuart and Thomas. They should all receive a medal for tolerating, with little complaint, another soggy, cold weekend at the track. Despite the trying conditions, these twenty-five athletes produced some excellent results.
Ryan, Sam Babcock, Alex Smith, Nicky, Alex Bymoen, Anders, Scott, Thomas and Bryce all came home Alberta Provincial Midget Champions, having placed first in at least one of their midget events. Congratulations!
As a group, these 25 athletes brought home three meet records, thirty-seven PBs (personal bests), six midget provincial championship gold medals, six midget provincial silver medals and five midget provincial bronze medals in individual events. They won an additional two midget provincial gold medals and three provincial silver medals in the relays. Our three bantams, whose provincial championships are later this month, brought home two meet gold medals, three silver medals and 1 bronze medal, and all ran up on the midget relay teams. The JD Group should have several athletes named to the team that will represent Alberta in the Midget Dual with Saskatchewan on 28thand 29th June here in Calgary. The team members will be selected later this week and I will notify you as soon as the Team Alberta coaches announce their decision. Another outstanding weekend! Well done athletes!
Ryan McKay led the team with two meet records, three gold medals and a bronze medal in individual events. Ryan won the provincial gold medal in the 100m, finishing 1stof 24 athletes and setting a new meet record of 11.51s – a great accomplishment at any time, but especially considering the wet and cool conditions. Ryan also won the 200m, finishing 1st of 29 athletes and establishing another meet record of 23.45s. Ryan’s times in both the 100m and 200m once again met the Legion National standard for midget men. Ryan also won the provincial gold medal in long jump, finishing 1st of sixteen athletes with a jump of 5.58m, in an event where no athlete jumped close to their PBs because of the windy, wet conditions. Finally, Ryan brought home the bronze medal in the high jump, clearing 1.55m. Well done Ryan!
Sam Babcock also had an outstanding meet, bring home four provincial medals – one gold, two silvers and a bronze. Sam won the provincial gold medal in the high jump competition, finishing 1st of fourteen athletes. Sam also won provincial silver medals in both the 100m and long jump. He finished 2nd of 24 athletes in the 100m and 2ndof 16 athletes in the long jump. Finally, in an exciting and closely fought 200m competition, Sam brought home the provincial bronze medal. Well done Sam! Sam has now met the requirements for Legion Nationals in the 100m, 200m, long jump and high jump.
Alex Smith also had an exceptional meet, bringing home provincial gold, silver and bronze medals. In the 100m hurdles, Alex finished 1st of eight athletes, finishing in a PB time of 15.26s, just 1/100th of a second off the Legion National standard required for midget boys. In the 300m hurdles, Alex won the provincial silver medal, finishing in a PB time of 42.16, just a heartbreaking 3/1000ths of a second out of 1st place. This was the second time that Alex had beaten the 300m hurdle standard of 43.87s required for Legion Nationals. Alex also finished 3rd in the long jump, assuring CALTAF of a clean sweep of the midget men’s provincial medals in long jump, with Ryan in first, Sam Babcock in second and Alex in third! Alex was also 6th of 24 athletes in the 100m. Well done Alex!
Although still a first year midget, Nicky became the provincial champion in the 80m hurdles with a PB time of 12.90s. This beat the Legion standard time of 12.97s. She was 1st in a field of 12 midgets. Nicky also won the provincial silver medal in the high jump, finishing 2nd of 10 athletes with a jump of 1.50m. Nicky ran a PB of 13.24s in the 100m to finish 7th of 24 athletes and also ran a PB of 27.33s in the 200m to finish 11th of 26 athletes. Nicky was also 7th of 21 athletes in long jump. Well done Nicky!Nicky has now met the Legion standard for midget women in the high jump and 80m hurdles.
Scott demonstrated his strength in the throws events this weekend, winning the provincial silver medal in javelin and the provincial bronze medals in both the shot put and discus. In javelin, Scott improved his PB by 2.95m, throwing 38.87m to finish 2nd of 13 athletes. In discus, Scott added another 78cm to his PB, throwing 30.68m to finish 3rd of 11 athletes. Finally, in shot put, Scott finished 3rd with a throw of 9.78m. Well done Scott!
First year midget Kelly Ann decided at the last minute to enter the 300m hurdles and we are ever so happy that she did. She ran a time of 50.44s to capture the provincial silver medal. Kelly Ann also improved her PB in long jump by 24cm, jumping 4.43m to finish 9th of 21 athletes. Kelly Ann was also 8th in high jump, 8th in the 80m hurdles, and ran a PB of 29.20s in the 200m to finish 21st. Well done Kelly Ann!
Ellen once again demonstrated what a determined athlete she is by competing despite a very sore ankle. Not only did she compete, but Ellen won the provincial bronze medal in the 3000m. Well done Ellen!
First year midget Alex Bymoen put a lot of pressure on the older midgets this weekend. In the 100m, despite a large field of 24 athletes, Alex finished just out of the medals in 4th place. Alex was one of only two 1994 athletes to qualify for the 100m final. Thanks to Alex and his teammates, it was a very impressive 100m final for Caltaf, with Ryan finishing 1st, Sam Babcock 2nd, Alex Bymoen 4th and Alex Smith 6th of the 8 athletes in the final. Well done boys! In the 200m, Alex ran a huge PB (more than 2 seconds) of 24.48s to qualify for the final out of a field of 29 athletes. He finished 8th overall. Again, Alex helped to make it an impressive final for CALTAF, with Ryanfinishing 1st, Sam 3rd and Alex 8th! That is very impressive running for a first-year midget, Alex! Well done! In discus, Alex threw a 5.48m PB of 30.55m to finish 4th of 11 athletes. Alex was also 4th of 10 athletes in shot put and 5th of 13 athletes in javelin, where Alex threw 33.66m. Last but not least, Alex demonstrated just what a versatile athlete he is by finishing 6th of 16 midgets in long jump. An impressive weekend, Alex! Well done!
Alex Saizew had an excellent meet, establishing new PBs in all of the events in which she had competed previously. Alex improved her PB in high jump to 1.40m to finish 6th and her PB in long jump to 4.19m to place 15th. Alex also set new PBs in the 200m and 400m and was 5th in her first shot put competition. Billy demonstrated how much stronger he is becoming by establishing new PBs in three of his events. He ran a PB in the 300m hurdles to finish 5th and a PB in the 400m to place 9th. Billy also improved his PB in the 200m to 27.02s. Bryce, another first year midget, finished 4th in the 100m hurdles and ran a PB in the 300m hurdles to finish 6th. Bryce was also 7thin the 800m and 9th in discus. Anders established a new PB of 1.45m in high jump to finish 5th of 14 athletes. Anders also finished 7th in his first attempt at a 1500m and was 13th of 24 athletes in the 100m. Stuart threw a PB of 23.86m in discus to finish 8th and was 7th of 13 athletes in the javelin. In his first attempt at a 3000m, John, another 1994 athlete, finished strongly in 11:19.18s to place 5th. John was also 9th in the 1500m. Sam Kean set a new PB of 4.19m in long jump to place 13th. In his first 3000m, Sean finished in 7th place. Thomas established a new PB in the 200m, taking more than a second off his time. Meghan improved her PBs in both the 400m and high jump. First year midget Nicole ran a PB of 13.57s in the 100m to finish 9th of 24 athletes and established a new PB of 4.29m in long jump to finish 14th of 29 athletes.
Our bantams also produced some outstanding results. Since there was no bantam 100m, Allison ran up in the midget 100m and placed an impressive 12th of 24 athletes with a PB time of 13.73s. In the bantam 200m, Allison won the gold medal, finishing 1st of 14 athletes in a very impressive PB time of 27.56s. Allison also won the silver medal in the bantam high jump, clearing 1.30m, and took the bronze medal in the bantam 80m hurdles. In her first out of town meet, Rebecca produced some excellent results. Rebecca also ran up in the midget 100m, where she finished an impressive 15th of 28 athletes in a PB time of 13.88s. Rebecca won the gold medal in the bantam long jump, finishing 1st of 14 athletes with a PB jump of 4.23m. Rebecca also won the silver medal in the bantam 200m, finishing in a PB time of 29.01s. Finally, Rebeccademonstrated her versatility by winning the silver medal in the bantam javelin with a throw of 18.73m. Jane, still a first year bantam and our youngest athlete at the meet, ran a PB in the 80m hurdles to finish 7th and was also 7th in high jump. However, what Jane will best be remembered for at this meet is for agreeing to run up as a midget in the 4x400m, so that three of her teammates could run the relay. The 400m is a tough distance at any time but, when you are running up against athletes three years your senior, it is a daunting task. Jane rose to the occasion and ran a very impressive 3rd leg for her teammates. Well done Jane!
n the midget men’s 4x100m, the team of Sam Babcock to Alex Smith to Alex Bymoen to Ryan set a new meet record of 46.56s to win the gold medal and become the provincial champions. In that same race, the team of Anders to Scott to Sam Kean to Drew placed 2nd of 5 teams to win the provincial silver medal. The team of Bryce toThomas to Sean to Billy finished just out of the medals in 4th place. Well done boys!
In the midget women’s 4x100m, the team of Nicky to Kelly Ann to Allison to Nicole placed 2nd of 5 teams to win the provincial silver medal – an outstanding result considering that the team consisted of one bantam and three first-year midgets. Well done girls! The team of Rebecca to Jennifer to Jane to Alex Saizew finished 5th.
In the midget men’s 4x400m, the team of Anders to Scott to Thomas to Bryce won the provincial gold medal, beating the 2nd place team by roughly 300m. Well done boys!
In the midget women’s 4x400m, the team of Kelly Ann to Meghan to Jane to Alex Saizew ran a very strong race and finished with the provincial silver medal.
Well done athletes! You should be very proud of those results. It was a very busy weekend and you all competed very well.
New Balance Meet point totals
The point totals after the first two New Balance meets have finally been released. We have several athletes in medal contention for the Midget Grand Prix. In the men’s competition, Alex Smith is in first place (of 26 athletes), Alex Bymoen in 2nd and Sam Babcock in 3rd, while Billy is in 7th, Scott in 8th and Thomas in 10th. In the women’s competition, Nicky is 3rd, Kelly Ann is 5th, Melissa is 6th, and Adrianne is 10th.
