Report from Robin
I would like to offer my heartiest congratulations to the CALTAF members of Team Alberta, who all contributed to Team Alberta’s victory at the first-ever Western Canadian Midget Championships, which were held in Medicine Hat on July 11th and 12th: Chris,Sean Foster, Alex Bymoen, Kelly Ann, Nicky, Melissa, Adrianne, Allison Stephen, Jasmine, Daniel, John, Bryce, Austin, Nicole and Sarah. Team Alberta won the Championship title with a total of 533 points, to Team Manitoba’s 353 points and Team Saskatchewan’s 347 points. Congratulations Western Canadian Midget Champions!! Well done! Nice trophy!!
Here are some highlights of the Championships:
Team Alberta led the competition from the outset, and all Team Alberta athletes worked very hard to ensure the team’s success. When I was given a hard copy of the results at the end of day one and began to highlight the personal best performances with a highlighter, the pages were a sea of colour. Just about every athlete had established a PB and, by the end of the weekend, many athletes had achieved personal bests in more than one event. It was very rewarding to see the athletes rising to the challenge. At fifteen, CALTAF had the largest contingent of athletes on the team. Their contribution and success did not go unnoticed by the other Team Alberta coaches.
It was wonderful to see how quickly the athletes from the various clubs around Alberta came together as Team Alberta. I think I can safely say that the athletes had a wonderful time.
Adrianne won the 2000m in a personal best time of 6:54.04s. She finished 1st of 9 athletes, and contributed ten points to the team total with this victory. Adrianne is now ranked 1st in the province in the 2000m. Adrianne also contributed 3 points in the 1200m, where she finished 6th of 17 athletes.
Alex won the high jump competition, clearing 1.70m to finish 1st of 14 athletes.Alex’s first place finish contributed ten points to the team total. Alex also finished 4thof 26 athletes in the 100m, running the final in a personal best time of 11.52s.
Of the fifteen CALTAF athletes, Bryce contributed the most points, accumulating an impressive 26 points for the team. In the 100m hurdles, Bryce finished in a personal best time of 15.05s, which beat the Legion standard of 15.13s. Bryce finished 5th and contributed 4 points to the team total. In the 200m hurdles, Bryce finished in an impressive 27.18s, and added another 6 points to the team total by finishing 3rd.Bryce is now ranked 2nd in the province in the intermediate hurdles and 3rd in the province in the sprint hurdles. In pole vault, Bryce cleared 2.70m, a PB of 40cm. He finished 3rd and added another 6 points to the team total. Finally, Bryce teamed up with Dale Nerland of UCAC, Cameron Pickering of Edmonton Thunder, and Chris Roberts of the Capital City Track Club in the 4x400m. The team finished in an impressive 3:39.97s, placing them 1st of six teams. The team’s victory contributed another ten points to the total.
Our first-year midgets certainly demonstrated that they could hold their own amongst the older athletes. Allison placed an impressive 3rd of 24 athletes in the 300m, finishing in a personal best time of 43.54s. Allison is currently ranked 3rd of 36 athletes in the province in the 300m, an impressive accomplishment for a first-year athlete. In the 100m, Allison crossed the finish line in 13.40s and, although she didn’t make the final, it was a personal best performance. Allison teamed up with Sarah,Kelly Ann and Lindsey MacDonald from NEAT in the 4x100m. The team finished 5th of 12 teams and contributed 4 points to the team total.
Jasmine, who is also a first-year midget, was assigned to Team Alberta’s “A” team in the 4x400m. She teamed up with Jenna Westaway from Calgary International and Sage Watson and Arianna Dirk from Medicine Hat and didn’t seem in the least intimidated to be the only first-year midget on the team. The girls finished in 4:07.88s and placed 1st of 6 teams, contributing 10 points to the Team Alberta total.
The gutsiest performance of the weekend came from first-year midget Melissa in the 1200m. Despite being knocked down early in what was surely the roughest race of the meet, Melissa picked herself up, ignored her badly skinned and bruised knee and finished the race. Melissa also ran a personal best time in the 2000m, where she finished 9th.
Kelly Ann was not far behind Bryce in contributing points to Team Alberta, finishing with an impressive tally of 22 points. In the intermediate hurdles, Kelly Ann finished in a personal best time of 29.72s, placing her 3rd of 10 athletes. Kelly Ann is currently ranked 2nd in the province in the 200m hurdles. In the 80m hurdles, Kelly Annachieved another personal best performance, finishing 4th of 8 athletes in 12.55s.Kelly Ann is currently ranked 4th in the province in the sprint hurdles. Kelly Ann’s3rd and 4th place finishes in the hurdles contributed 11 points to the team. In the pole vault, Kelly Ann added another 10cm to her PB, finishing 3rd and accumulating another 6 points for the team. Kelly Ann was also 6th of 24 athletes in the long jump and ran the 3rd leg of 4x400m team that placed 5th of 12 teams.
The PB of the meet must surely go to Daniel, who finished 2nd in the hammer, with a throw of 32.22m, a PB of 12.45m (no, it’s not a typo!!). Daniel contributed 8 points to the team with that remarkable throw. Daniel also anchored Team Alberta’s throwers relay team of Daniel, John Woo of UCAC and Layne Stanley and Gurale McKay of Frog Lake.
John finished the 2000m in a personal best time of 6:34.00s, placing him 8th of 18 athletes. John also teamed up with Paul Sands of the Calgary Warriors, Bryn Wiley of UCAC and Timurlane Cakmak of Leduc Track in the 4x400m relay. The team finished 4th in a time of 3:59.55s, which contributed 5 points to Team Alberta’s total.
Sarah ran a personal best time of 27.46s in the 200m preliminary and just missed qualifying for the final by 3/100ths of a second. In the pole vault, Sarah cleared a personal best height of 1.80m to finish 5th. Sarah also ran the first leg of the 4x100m team of Sarah, Allison, Kelly Ann and Lindsey MacDonald of NEAT, which placed 5th of 12 teams and earned Team Alberta 5 points.
Sean demonstrated how much stronger he is becoming by running PBs in both the 1200m and 2000m. In the 2000m, Sean placed 5th of 18 athletes, finishing in 6:24.82s, a PB of 5.25s. His 5th place finish earned the team five points. In the 1200m, Sean finished 9th of 23 athletes in 3:35.65s, an impressive PB of 7.35s.
Despite a hip injury that hindered his training at the end of the season, Chris was still able to compete in the 800, 1200 and 2000m. His best finish was in the 1200m, whereChris placed 12th of 23 athletes.
Nicky won the high jump competition, clearing 1.70m to finish 1st of 12 athletes. Her victory contributed ten points to the team total. Nicky is now ranked 3rd in the province overall in the high jump behind two older athletes, first of the midgets. In the 80m hurdles, Nicky finished the preliminaries in a personal best time of 12.11s, placing her 2nd of 17 athletes. Her time of 12.11s ranks her 2nd in the province. Unfortunately, injury forced Nicky to withdraw from the meet before she could compete in the hurdles final and her other events. We wish you a speedy recovery,Nicky!
Nicole added another 10cm to her PB in the pole vault, clearing 1.90m. Nicolefinished 4th and added another 5 points to Team Alberta’s tally.
Lastly, but certainly not least, my favourite moment of the whole meet came at the very end, when all events but the men’s javelin were over. All three teams and their coaches crowded onto the field to watch the athletes who had qualified for the javelin final complete their last three throws. Amongst the finalists was our very own Austin, the only first-year midget to qualify for the final. If Austin was intimidated by suddenly acquiring a cheering section of well over one hundred screaming, tambourine-shaking people chanting Aus-tin, Aus-tin, it certainly didn’t show in his results. On the contrary! On his 4th attempt, Austin threw the javelin 36.39m, a personal best throw of 5.80m.Austin placed 6th of 13 athletes in the event and earned much respect for his throwing and composure. Austin is now ranked 24th of all athletes, including the seniors, in the province in the javelin, 1st of the midgets.
Well done CALTAF athletes! Those are impressive results! If you wish to see the complete results, go to the Athletics Alberta website, click on “results” and scroll down to the Championships.
My sincerest thanks to Jaylyne Galey and Jean Leong, who gave up their weekend to accompany the team as chaperones, and who contributed in so many ways to the team’s success. Jaylyne and Jean worked tirelessly on behalf of the athletes and coaches, beginning with the wake-up calls first thing in the morning and finishing with the room checks last thing at night. The athletes and I owe you both a huge debt of thanks! Thank you also to Jacqueline Clements, who revived the coaches with her daily delivery of iced coffees, and to all of the CALTAF parents who supported the athletes in so many ways – not just on the weekend, but all year. I am most grateful to you all!
If you wish to see some photos from the Championships taken by the Ronsky family, go to:
www.flickr.com/photos/tweenaavoltage08/sets/72157621420849132
It was truly a great privilege to coach such a talented team of midgets and to work with such an experienced group of coaches. I am so pleased that fifteen CALTAF athletes shared the experience with me. I enjoyed every minute of it! I wish you all a safe and most enjoyable summer and I look forward to seeing you all in the fall. Go well! Robin
