Wonky weather and a touch of nerves couldn’t stop the Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs track and field team from earning some of their best results of the year in the final meet of the season last weekend.
Thirteen members of the Elecs competed at the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association (SHSAA) provincial finals at the Canada Games Athletic Complex in Regina’s Douglas Park on Friday and Saturday. Seven of these athletes scored a season or personal best at the meet including Morgan Fichter who earned a silver medal in the triple jump competition and a bronze medal in the relay event.
“I was really happy and shocked when I jumped 11.08 metres in triple jump because my personal best going into the meet was 10.6 metres and I never expected it,” said Fichter, a Grade 10 student at ECS. “My dad was coaching me and helped me focus on different things. Slowly I improved until my last jump, which was my best by far. The girl who won with 11.13 metres jumped right before me and that motivated me to put in a big jump.”
Caitlin Giesbrecht, coach of the Elecs track and field team, said all of their athletes from all different levels of training and backgrounds stepped up their game at provincials and that was helped by the unique atmosphere of a track and field meet. She said there are still the regular rivalries in track and field, but when the kids are out on the track, the field or the jump pits everyone gets along.
“Everyone out at that meet is cheering and yelling,” said Giesbrecht. “There is team chants. There are whole districts supporting one another. People you’ve never really met, but you kind of know their face, are coming up to you and congratulating you. It’s definitely a different atmosphere and I think it really highlights how great the kids are that compete in track and field.”
In the senior girl’s category, Carly Kreklewich placed 22nd in the 800m run with a time of 2:54.54 and 20th in the 3,000m run with a time of 13:29.55. Jenna Kreklewich followed that up by placing 10th in the quadrathlon with a score of 1,946 points, while Nikita Leblanc earned 21st in the long jump competition with a distance of 4.31 metres.
Donny Mortenson led the senior boys out of the gate by scoring a fourth-place finish in the high jump event with a leap of 1.8 metres. Justin Weinraugh then completed the 100m sprint in a time of 11.68 seconds before Dylan Massicotte and Jacob Shurygalo placed 19th and 21st in the quadrathlon with scores of 1,880 and 1,803 points respectively.
Junior girl’s athlete Tatiana Dutka leaped a distance of 4.73 metres in the long jump event to earn a sixth-place finish, while also hitting a mark of 9.64 metres in triple jump to finish 16th. Sammy Wade then earned 11th place in the discus event with a throw of 22.75 metres before running the 1,500m race in a time of 6:10.45 to finish 24th.
Carter Davenport took 18th place in the junior boy’s 1,500m race with a time of 5:07.03 and the 19th position in the 800m event thanks to a 2:24.83 run, which was followed by a Carson Benning ninth-place finish in the relay competition with a 48.08 result. In the midget girl’s category, Reese Handley hit a 8.64 metre mark in the triple jump event to finish 27th.
Fichter placed seventh in the long jump competition with a leap of 4.66 metres, while also placing 22nd in the high jump event on a score of 1.3 metres. She said the seventh-place finish in the long jump was disappointing, but she made up for it by hitting a mark of 52.67 in the relay competition later on.
“It was really fun practise and getting to know everyone,” she said. “We have a lot of fast girls in the junior age group in the southeast, so it was fun to run with them.”
