The provincial podium was in sight in distance events for the Foothills Falcons.
Falcons athletes MacKendrick Weber and Noah Heuver ran to silver medals in the 1,500m and 3,000m events to highlight a strong showing from the Okotoks school at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association Track & Field Provincial Championships on June 7-8 in Edmonton.
“It feels great,” Weber said. “It’s really nice to be able to be top-three in the province.”
Weber, a Grade 11 student, wanted to atone for what he characterized as not a great race in the 800m, a fourth-place finish, with the 1,500m distance on day two.
“I came back the next day and wanted to have a strong race to really put myself in it,” he said. “I was excited to go back and get after it and ended up running a personal best (4:06.23).
“It was nice to come back and redeem myself.”
Weber was part of a lead group of four for much of the race in his preferred event.
“It’s my favourite event,” he said. “It’s a good combination of strength and endurance and speed, I really enjoy it.”
Heuver, a Grade 10 student, took silver in the ultimate distance event at provincials along with a fifth-place finish in the 1,500m.
“It’s the longest event they have so it’s definitely endurance and it always comes down to the last lap,” Heuver said. “You’ve really got to kick on the last lap because everyone wants to medal and it always comes down to the last 400.”
Amid windy conditions, Heuver stayed near the front of the pack in fourth entering the final stretch.
“At about the 300 I really started passing the next two guys and just held it through the last 100,” he said. “With the (kick) you just have to do it otherwise you’re going to get passed and you’re really tired at that point, so it’s just give whatever you have left.”
Other highlights for the Falcons included Nathan Heuver’s fourth place finish in the 300m hurdles, Fraser Halbert’s fifth place finishes in the senior boys 3,00m and 1,500m, Owen Andrews’ 8th in the discus, Ella Kilsham 10th in the 1,500m along with Sydney Neukom, Nate Selmser and Nash Byam who were 11th in the 800m, high jump and 3,000m, respectively, along with Amelia Lean’s 15th in the high jump.
“The Falcons track team is really strong,” Weber said. “We did really well at divisionals and zones and it was nice to come to provincials and show what we can do.”
The Holy Trinity Academy Knights were the picture of consistency in the capital.
All 16 of the Knights athletes earned top-10 finishes in running events, with the relay events proving to be a source of success.
The mixed 4x400m open relay team featuring Eva Gustafson, Michael Makowsky, Peter Wonderham and Jean Lim won bronze with the team’s 4x100m junior boys and 4x400 girls open squads both posting fifth-place finishes.
Gustafson, a Grade 11 student, had a strong showing in individual events with a fifth in the 400m and seventh in the 200m. Wonderham was sixth in the 400m and seventh in the 800m.
Grade 10 Jadien Pellerin took seventh in the 100m sprint and 13th in the shotput, Makowsky was seventh in the 100m while Jaelyn Wood took eighth and ninth in the 800m and 3,000m junior girls events.
Elsewhere, Grade 11 Maia McGillivray led the charge for the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans with a sixth place showing in the 100m.
For more information, go to asaa.ca/championships.
