The Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs and Spruce Ridge Cougars track and field teams bested their competition at the South East District Athletic Association (SEDAA) regional championships at the Carnduff Education Complex last Wednesday.
Twenty-six of 31 competing Elecs earned a top-three position in one or more events at regionals earning themselves a berth in the SEDAA district championships at Weyburn Comprehensive School on May 25. Thirteen of 25 Cougars also earned a spot at the district championships, but that doesn’t include the many Spruce Ridge Grade 7 athletes who are too young to qualify despite excelling in their given sport.
Clay McKersie, a Grade 7 student at Spruce Ridge School, earned first place in triple jump, second place in the 400-metre race and two third-place finishes in long jump and high jump. His final test of the day was the high jump event, where he finished just behind Pleasantdale School’s Kaleb Poole and Westview School’s Clark Cabiluna.
“I just tried my hardest,” said McKersie, noting he jumped his record high of 1.31 metres in the event. “I made sure I had good momentum coming up to it and had my feet, like I jumped the right way, and I made sure to keep my legs up before I went over.”
Caitlin Giesbrecht, coach of the Elecs track and field team, said it was evident from the beginning of the season that ECS would have a strong team and having over 80 per cent of their competing athletes qualify for the district championships is not a surprise.
“Amongst our whole team we’ve had success in the throws and the jumps as well as on the track,” said Giesbrecht. “Not everyone did as best as they could necessarily or what they hoped to achieve, but spread out across our whole team on both the girls and the boys side in midget (Grade 9 and 10), junior (Grade 10 and 11) and senior (Grade 11 and 12) we stood out as the strongest athletes here.”
Donny Mortenson, an ECS Grade 11 athlete, finished first in the senior boys 100m hurdles, long jump and high jump events. The first-time high school track and field athlete even earned the top high jump mark of 1.69 metres using a difficult scissor jumping move where an athlete keeps their back upright and solely uses their legs instead of the usual shoulder-first jump.
“I just scissored everything because I forgot how to do the regular technique, so little mistakes cost me there,” said Mortenson, who finished .01 metres off the regional championship record.
Mortenson noted the biggest surprise for him was coming in first in the 100m hurdles considering he first tried the sport only one week earlier. He added the goal now is to earn a berth in the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association (SHSAA) provincial finals at the Canada Games Athletic Complex at Regina’s Douglas Park on June 2 and 3.
“I hope to make it to provincials in most of my events,” he said. “I want to finish first in long jump for at least one of them.”
ECS athletes qualifying for the SEDAA district championships and their respective sports are: Lais Lindquist, long jump, triple jump, high jump; Jordan Reed, 100m, 200m, 1500m, javelin; Cazlynn Barnstable, 100m, 80m hurdles, triple jump; Reese Handley, long jump, triple jump; Jasmine Ireland, 800m, high jump; Claire Miller, 80m hurdles, high jump; Carson Benning, 100m, 200m; Carter Davenport, 400m, 800m, 1500m; Brendan Sorenson, 1500m; Tatiana Dutka, long jump, triple jump, javelin; Morgan Fichter, long jump, triple jump, high jump, 100m; Kourtney Kobitz, high jump; Jasynn Monteyne, discus; Sammy Wade, 1500m, discus; Jarrett Daoust, 100m, long jump, discus, javelin; Donny Mortenson, 100m hurdles, long jump, high jump; Colton Reed, javelin; Cameron Rioux, 400m, 800m, 1500m; Justin Weinraugh, 100m, 200m, long jump; Carly Kreklewich, 800m, 1500m, 3000m; Nikita Leblanc, 100m, long jump, javelin; Tess Lindquist, long jump, shot put, discus; Dylan Massicotte, quadrathlon; Jacob Shurygalo, quadrathlon; Brendan Sovdi, quadrathlon; and Jenna Kreklewich, quadrathlon.
St. Mary’s athletes qualifying for the SEDAA district championships and their respective sports are: Zach Ashworth, 100m, long jump, triple jump, high jump; Sarah Dacuycay, 100m, long jump, high jump; and Nikki Kistanov, 100m, long jump, triple jump, high jump.
Spruce Ridge athletes qualifying for the SEDAA district championships and their respective sports are: Cale Adams, long jump, triple jump; Kylan Fichter, 800m, javelin; Orville Geral, 800m; Joseph Limin, 100m, Alex Vonsprechken, 1500m, long jump, high jump; Hunter Wallster, shot put, discus, javelin; Madison Folkerts, 800m, 1500m; Olivia Kramer, triple jump, shot put, discus; Haylie Lemoine, 1500m; Tulilla Lemoine, high jump; Avery McNabb, 100m, triple jump, high jump; Ally Park, 400m; and Shanelle Rioux, shot put, discus, javelin.
Pleasantdale athletes qualifying for the SEDAA district championships and their respective sports are: Logan Ehrmantraut, 100m, 200m, 400m; Parker Lavoie, shot put; Brennan Struble, high jump, shot put; and Taylor Haux, discus, javelin.
