Cochrane was well represented in track and field at the Alberta Summer Games in Grande Prairie, July 19-22, with athletes from all three local high schools participating.
The track contingency included Morgan Boot, Maggie Brolsma, Zoe Cinnamon, Emily Carvalho, Julianna Mackenzie, Makenna Myatt, Liam McCullough, Sophie Pregitzer, Mackenzie Rosebrugh, Brooklyn Solomon, Trenton Spademan, Darci Petersen, and Ryan Hegarty.
Leading the way for Cochrane was a gold medal performance by Ryan Hegarty in the 300m hurdles (also fourth in the 100m hurdles and fifth in the 4x100m relay).
In step with Ryan were the efforts of Darci Petersen, who won a silver medal in the U15 2000m race and narrowly missed out on a medal in the 1200m, placing fourth in an extremely close and entertaining race. Darci also placed sixth in the 800m and anchored Zone 2’s distance medley relay team.
The outstanding performances of Hegarty and Petersen were complemented by many other fine performances.
Morgan Boot placed sixth in women’s U17 shot put, and also placed fourth in the distance medley relay and sixth in the 4x100 relay.
Makenna Myatt placed ninth in the U15 pentathlon.
Zoe Cinnamon had a very strong weekend, narrowly missing out on a medal in the 3000m, placing fourth, and finished ninth in the 1500m.
Emily Carvalho placed seventh in the U17 heptathlon, an event she went up an age group to enter.
Julianna Mackenzie placed sixth in the hammer throw in her first competition in the event. She was also seventh in the javelin and ninth in shot put.
Liam McCullough placed 12th in the 1200m with a big personal best in a very competitive race.
Sophie Pregitzer placed fifth in U17 300m hurdles and also ran on the 4x100m girls' relay team that placed sixth.
Mackenzie Rosebrugh was 12th in the U!7 women’s triple and long jump.
Brooklyn Solomon was fourth in the 100m, fifth in the 4x100m relay and ninth in 80m hurdles in the U15 women’s age group.
Trenton Spademan was eighth in the 4x100m relay, eighth in the discus, and 10th in both triple and long jump in the U15 boys competition.
Springbank natives Kennedy and Mikhail Bond also had some solid top ten finishes.
Kennedy placed fifth in the U17 women’s 400m and was on the girls' distance medley relay that placed fourth. Mikhail competed in the 100 and 200m hurdles, the 2000m, and the 15 & U Boys 4x100m and distance medley relays, placing top ten in all of his events.
Travis Cummings, who was the head coach for the Zone 2 distance team as well as the cross-country team at St. Timothy's High School, says he believes the athletes surprised themselves with their performances.
"I believe what the kids learned is invaluable. It was pretty cool to watch."
"They were all respectful and worked hard and did the best they could and got some awesome results. It's not easy to medal at summer games and they placed well so they should be pretty proud of themselves."
He says gaining that experience is crucial to their development of athletes.
"You don't really learn how to perform at a championship level unless you get championship experience and that's the beauty of summer games. The goal is to develop that type of experience. You do have to qualify but it is, especially in athletics, a very inclusive environment and that's fantastic."
"It takes a lot to learn how to race at a championship level. It's going to be such a benefit for my high school cross-country program is the fall."
He points to the example of Sophia Nowicki and how she has emerged as a top Alberta cross-country runner after she set a record at the Alberta Summer Games.
"That was massive for her confidence so going into her grade 12 year she was more than prepared to perform and it really helped her."
This March she was named the 2017-18 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference cross country female rookie of the year while competing for the Lethbridge College Kodiaks.
Cummings coached a few athletes from outside St. Tim's for the games and he's looking at continuing to do so.
"There's quite a few kids in the community who want to continue this and have been requesting coaching over the last couple of months or so, so I might be going forward with an informal training group. Kids have been asking for it and I'm going to try and make it happen."
"Cochrane is a great community for it. We have an awesome trail system and lots of hills and it's a beautify place to run. It would silly to not have a good youth program where we can try and get the kids going."
Watch for a separate story on Cochrane's triathlon team.
Our thanks to Travis Cummings for compiling these results.
Thu, May 2, 4:30 PM
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