A mere 6.5 points separated Cochrane High from defending their provincial 3A track and field championship title, June 7-8 in Calgary.

It was St. Paul Regional High School who came out on top with 239 points, compared to Cochrane High's 323.5.

Cochrane High athletes competed in 26 events compared to the St. Paul Regional High School's 35. While the size of the team was smaller, the athletes shined at the provincials, says head coach Esther Sieben. Cochrane High.

Dawson Laye won silver in the senior boys' pentathlon. Other top six individual performers were recorded by Lauren Denton in 100m, Ben Dobson in 100m/200m, Logan Machale and Tyson Steele in the pole vault and Jared Wunder in 400m. Their 4x400m relay was fifth and only 0.7 of a second away from silver and both their junior 4x100m girls and intermediate 4x100m boys were sixth.

Darcie Petersen, 15, of the St. Timothy High School, was the only two-time medallist from Cochrane.

Competing in her first provincials, the athlete ran through dreary wet and cold weather Friday morning to claim silver in the 3,000m, then won bronze in the 1,500m event on Saturday.

"I was very happy because it's kind of cold and rainy and it's really windy," she said after her Friday morning performance. "In my other races, there weren't as many people of that calibre so it was really exciting to see how I would do."

Even though she was already assured second, Petersen showed an incredible burst of speed to drive to the finish line and secured a time of 10:41.29, better than her seeding of 10:59.14. 

"I always get a surge of energy at the end, but today was provincials so I wanted a give little bit more."

In the 1,500m she shaved off more than eight seconds from her seeding to finish with a time of 4:53.08.

The distance runner continues to build upon her success at the junior high level. In October 2017, she ended her junior high cross-country career with St. Tim's by winning the Meet of Champions for the third consecutive year, becoming the first runner in St. Tim's history to accomplish the feat. Last fall, she won the City Championships cross country and claimed bronze in the provincials.

Dawson Laye was consistently strong across the board in the 100m, long jump, high jump, hurdles and 800m to medal in his final provincials at Cochrane High. He's heading to the University of Regina in the fall, where he'll be playing for the Regina Rams football team.

Other notable finishes include a 4th place finish in senior girls 80m hurdles by Isabelle Ison, of Bow Valley High School (BVHS). Amy Miller was fifth in the 3,000m and 6th in the 1,500m. The BVHS's senior girls relay team of Isabella Ison, Amy Miller, Morgan Boot and Taylor Joersisson came seventh in the 4x100m event.