For a large number of local track and fieldstudents, ranging in age from Gr. 4-8, they will be involved in the one of the two biggest track meets scheduled to get going this afternoon and going until late tomorrow afternoon at the Kinsmen Century Field.
The 2010 East Central Districts of track and field start up in a few hours' time at the field in behind the Yorkton Regional High School.
This track meet marks the one chance that some 500 athletes will have to prove themselves worthy of going up the best from all over Saskatchewan.
At the same meet last year, the two Yorkton high schools sent competitors to Prince Albert for competition in the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association Provincial track meet.Four track coaches out of the Sacred Heart High School (SHHS), Scott Hoffort, Rachel Sterzuk, Laura Dean and Garrett Karcha will lead the runners, throwers and jumpers from SHHS into action and according to Hoffort, it's one of those events that just doesn't come around often enough.
"I'm pretty excited about this," he told Yorkton This Week as Sacred Heart students were getting ready to get out of school for the opening long weekend of the summer.
"The kids are getting ready. There's a steady core group showing up this year. We've got some pretty strong athletes."
Hoffort said that SHHS has 5-6 students that are athletes all year around and that should mean more success.
"We hope for the best on that day."
SHHS has had much success at recent track meets with several students placing in the top three in more than one event. Some of them are gone, however a few are still around this year and have more expectations on them then Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby have on them come playoff time.
"We lost some pretty solid athletes last year," he acknowledged.
Preston Liebrecht is one of the runners that Sterzuk and Hoffort say should be a top-three finisher easily.
"Preston had a really strong year last year in jumping," says coach Hoffort.Others include Brooke Mentanko, Olivia Blenner-Hassett (see related story on Page C3), Tierney Howe and Shannon Rehaluk.
"There's been some success across the board," offers Hoffort, who has been working mostly with the throwing team this year.
He said it's a complicated process involving proper technique, strategy and skill, but adds that there are a handful of students at SHHS who are expected to do well today and tomorrow, including Howe, Rehaluk, Bailey Inglis, Ashley Chillog, Stephanie Koroluk, Anthony Fetsch, Sarah Kruger, Ryan Shumay.
It's a process that involves proper hand and body movement too, says Hoffort when describing the technicalities of discus.
"You have to use your entire body to throw the implement."
As simple as it may seem to be able to be a good thrower, that is actually farther from the truth in reality, says Hoffort.
"It's technical, oh yeah, for sure," he said without hesitation.
"It's very technical."
Students from all over the city will be competing in events broken down into three categories: sprints, throws, jumping and long distance.Sprints include hurdles, 100-metre, 200-metre, 400-metre, as well as the long distance laps of 800-metre, 1500-metre and 3000-metre.
Throwing events are: javelin, discus and shot put. Jumping events are long jump, triple jump, high jump, and pole vault.
