CALTAF Track and Field

Congratulations to the twenty athletes – Adeem, Amelia, Anna, Cam, Cole, Grace, Ethan, Hanna, Harrison, John, Kamila, Katie, Kevin, Lisa, Noah, Rathaine, Rhea, Sarah, Savanna, and Thomas – who competed at the Sherwood Park Track Classic on 20^th and 21^st July, which was the Provincial Championships for the midgets (1998/1999). These twenty athletes certainly rose to the occasion, recordingtwenty-nine personal best performances and producing some outstanding results.

Thomas led the team with an impressive four personal best performances (100m preliminary, 100m final, 200m preliminary, 200m final), while Cole (800m, triple jump, javelin) and Rhea (100m, 200m, shot put) each recorded an outstanding three personal best performances.Sarah (100m, 200m), Grace (100m, 200m), Anna (800m, javelin), Amelia (80m hurdles, discus), Harrison (100m hurdles, 200m hurdles), Ethan (800m, 1200m) and Adeem (150m, shot put) each achieved a personal best in two of their events, while Savanna(800m), Rathaine (discus), Lisa (200m), Kevin (2000m) and John (100m) each recorded one personal best.

Some of the most impressive personal best performances include:

• The PB of the meet must go to Kevin, who took a remarkable 27.11s off his PB in the 2000m, where he finished in 7:04.27s.
• Savanna ran a -9.46s personal best 2:29.19s in the 800m.
• Amelia added half a metre to her PB in the discus with a throw of 17.95m.
• Ethan ran a -6.89s personal best 3:35.10s in the 1200m. Ethan also took more than half a second off his PB in the 800m, where he finished 2:13.24s.

 

• Cole recorded personal bests in both the triple jump and javelin, clearing a +30cm PB 10.09m in the triple jump and adding +43cm to his PB in the javelin with a 31.10m throw. Those PBs earned Cole the bronze medal in both events.
• Harrison ran a -.33s personal best 15.74s in the 100m hurdles to win the bronze medal, and a -.26s PB 27.17s in the 200m hurdles to capture the gold medal.
• Bantam Rathaine added 42cm to her personal best in the discus with a throw of 24.63m, which placed her 3^rd of eight athletes and earnedRathaine the bronze medal – very impressive given that Rathaine is still a bantam (2000) and was competing up against the older midget (1998/1999) athletes.
• Rhea took almost a full second off her PB in the 200m, where she finished in 31.38s, and ran a -.27s PB in the 100m, where she finished in 14.84s.
• Anna had an outstanding weekend, achieving impressive personal bests in both of her events. In the 800m, Anna ran a -8.69s personal best 2:40.68s, while in the javelin Anna’s throw of 18.51m was an 85cm personal best.

 

• Lisa ran a -.39s personal best 29.69s in the 200m – an outstanding time for a first-year bantam (2001) athlete.
• Thomas ran his 100m and 200m races perfectly, running personal bests in both the 100m and 200m preliminaries to guarantee his place in both finals. Thomas then bettered those times in both finals, ensuring a top-eight finish in both events – an outstanding achievement for a first-year midget competing amongst a very competitive field of midget sprinters.
• Adeem added another +18cm to his PB in the shot put with a 9.41m throw, which placed him 2^nd of eight bantam athletes.

Congratulations to our Provincial Champions and gold medalists Kamila, Hanna and Harrison.

In what Coach Blair and I agreed was one of our favourite races of the meet, Harrison captured the gold medal in the 200m hurdles, where he finished 1^st of eight athletes in a personal best 27.17s. Harrison beat both the 2010 stadium and meet records of 27.44s. His victory and records are all the more impressive when you take into account that this was only the second time that Harrison had competed in the intermediate hurdles. Well done Harrison – Provincial Champion and gold medalist in the 200m hurdles.

 

Although Hanna’s 32.66m throw in the hammer was shy of her personal best, it was six metres further than those of any of her five fellow competitors and earned Hanna a first place finish. Congratulations Hanna – gold medalist and Provincial Champion in the hammer throw.

 

First-year midget Kamila finished 1^st of thirteen athletes in the 1200m in an impressive 3:42.94s to capture the gold medal. Kamila’stime, which was just .06s off her personal best, beat the 2010 meet and stadium records of 3:57.69s by a very impressive 14.75s. Well done Kamila – Provincial Champion and gold medalist in the 1200m.

 

 

In addition to the three gold medals, JD athletes captured 9 provincial silver medals and 12 provincial bronze medals. Hanna, Rathaine, Harrison, Ethan, Noah, Cole, John, Thomas, Sarah, Grace, Lisa and Amelia each returned to Calgary as a provincial bronze or silver medalist.

 

 

In the midget women’s 4x100m, our two CALTAF teams captured the silver and bronze medals. The team of Mia Hull to Emma Chong (both of CALTAF’s Multiple Events Group) to Hanna to Sarah placed 2^nd of five teams in 52.04s, while the team of Lisa to Grace to Amelia to Anise Parker (also a member of the Multiple Events Group) finished 3^rd in 54.33s. Both teams beat the meet record of 55.11s, ironically set in 2011 by another CALTAF team which included Emma and Hanna’s sister Siri. The 3^rd place finish by the younger team, which includedGrace, Amelia and Lisa, is especially noteworthy and impressive given that the team included two first-year midgets (Grace and Amelia) and a first-year bantam (Lisa). Congratulations provincial silver medalists Hanna and Sarah, and provincial bronze medalists Lisa, Graceand Amelia. Well done ladies!

 

The midget boys’ 4x100m relay team of John to Harrison to Cole to Thomas finished 2^nd of four teams in 49.49s to capture the provincial silver medal – an impressive feat given that three of the team members are first-year midgets. The team beat the 2008 meet record of 49.67s. Well done John, Harrison, Cole and Thomas – provincial silver medalists in the 4x100m relay!

Despite running a -6.89s personal best in the 1200m earlier in the day, Ethan captured the silver medal in the midget 1500m steeplechase, where he finished 2^nd of five athletes in 5:01.08s. Well done Ethan – provincial silver medalist in the steeplechase!

First-year midget Hanna won the silver medal in the discus throw, where she finished 2^nd of eight athletes with a 25.95m throw, which matched her personal best to the centimetre. Well done Hanna – provincial silver medalist in the discus!

Bantam Rathaine finished 2^nd of five athletes and captured the silver medal in the hammer throw with a 26.44m throw – an outstanding accomplishment for a bantam (2001) competing up against older midget (1998/1999) athletes. Well done Rathaine – provincial silver medalist in the hammer throw!

First-year midget Cole captured bronze medals in both the triple jump, where he cleared a +30cm PB 10.09m, and the javelin throw, where his +43cm personal best 31.10m throw placed him 3^rd of nine athletes. Well done Cole – provincial bronze medalist in both the triple jump and javelin throw.

Harrison ran a .33s personal best 15.74s in the 100m hurdles, to finish 3^rd in a field of seven very strong midget hurdlers and capture the bronze medal. Well done Harrison – provincial bronze medalist in the 100m hurdlers.

Despite being unwell and not really feeling up to competing, Noah ran a strong 1500m steeplechase and finished 3^rd of five athletes. Congratulations Noah – provincial bronze medalist in the 1500m steeplechase.

In addition to her silver medal in the midget hammer throw, bantam Rathaine captured the bronze medal in the midget discus throw, where her +42cm personal best throw of 24.63m placed her 3^rd of eight athletes. Well done Rathaine – provincial bronze medalist in the discus.

In the last event of the meet and after a long weekend of competing, only four girls were willing to take on the challenge of the 4x400m relay, and they were rewarded for their determination with the bronze medal. Congratulations to our midget women’s 4x400m relay team of Savanna to Hanna to Anna to Katie – provincial bronze medalists in the 4x400m relay.

Perhaps realizing that they were running out of time to meet the criteria for a 2012-2013 JD Award, several athletes beat meet records at this meet, including: Kamila (1200m), Hanna (discus, 4x100m), Harrison (200m hurdles, 4x100m), John (4x100m, 4x400m), Cole(4x100m, 4x400m), Thomas (4x100m), Ethan (4x400m), Noah (4x400m), Sarah (4x100m), Grace (4x100m), Lisa (4x100m) and Amelia(4x100m). Well done athletes – that is an impressive list!

Some other highlights of the meet included:

Coach Blair and I were especially impressed with Savanna’s 800m. Savanna led her heat from start to finish, and looked very strong and confident throughout the race. Savanna finished in a -9.46s personal best 2:29.19s.

 

Despite very sore shins, Grace insisted on running the 4x100m relay. Grace was determined not to let her team down!

The coaches especially appreciated the leadership of Ethan throughout the weekend. Ethan will be missed next year when he moves to CALTAF’s high school distance group.

Coach Blair and I both commented that we had never seen Noah run as fast as he did when he anchored one of the 4x100m relay teams.

Katie had just finished running the 800m when she was required to throw in the midget discus competition. Remarkably, despite the fact that she was fatigued from the challenging 800m and it was her very first discus competition, Katie still managed a 18.05m throw, which place her 5^th of eight athletes.

The coaches had been so impressed with Rhea’s running at our training sessions for a couple of months prior to Provincials, that we had predicted that she would be very successful at this meet. It seems the coaches were correct. Rhea had an outstanding weekend, running personal bests in both the 100m and 200m.

It is quite remarkable that Lisa and Rathaine, who are still bantam athletes, looked so at home competing amongst the older midget athletes. First-year bantam Lisa qualified 12^th of twenty-seven athletes for the midget 100m final, and was a member of the bronze-medal-winning midget 4x100m relay team, while second-year bantam Rathaine captured the silver medal in the midget hammer throw and the bronze medal in the midget discus competition. Well done Lisa and Rathaine – a very impressive showing for two young bantam athletes!

 

It bodes very well for next year that many of the athletes who medaled at this meet are first-year midgets (1999) or bantams (2000/2001) competing up as midgets.

Congratulations again to all athletes who competed at Provincials. That is a very impressive list of accomplishments. What a great end to the year.

A results email from the Western Canadian Midget and Youth Championships (WCC) this weekend will follow shortly, but I will reveal that JD’s members of Team Alberta – Kamila, Hanna, Harrison and Mehrdad – did us very proud, with all four athletes each winning multiple medals for a remarkable total of 4 gold, 7 silver and 1 bronze. Well done JD members of the WCC Team Alberta.

To those midgets and bantams who are finished competing until next year, I wish you a wonderful summer. I will see you all in September.Our 2013/2014 training sessions for all bantam and midget athletes will begin on Monday, 9^th September. All JD athletes should participate in the cross-country season (September/October), even if you do not plan to run the cross-country races. At each session, there will be two running workouts – one for those running the cross-country races (either for the club meets or school meets) and a second for sprinters. Sprinters who train during the cross-country season will have a huge advantage over those athletes who wait to join us for the start of the indoor season (November). Sprinters will work on base training, strength conditioning and running form. All JD athletes should plan to return in September.

The JD cross-country training schedule for 2013 will be:

• Mondays: 5:45 to 7:45pm Canmore Park
• Tuesdays: 5:45 to 7:45pm Confederation Park
• Thursdays: 5:45 to 7:45pm Canmore Park

I will send out detailed information in mid-August.

Distance runners, who plan to race during the cross-country season, should start running the first week in September, but no earlier.

All athletes should stay active over the summer, but NO RUNNING – your body needs a rest.

I will see the North American Hershey relay team (Cole, Alex, John, Thomas) tomorrow/Monday from 6 to 7:30pm at Foothills, and the relay team and all Legion athletes on Tuesday from 6 to 7:30pm (4:45 to 6pm for Harrison and Mehrdad only) at Foothills.

Feel free to email or call me if you have any questions. Robin