Andie Wood opened the NWOSSAA track and field championships on Tuesday the best way she knew how – a convincing win in the girl’s 1,500-metre steeplechase race.
It earned the 16-year-old Dryden High School student a trip to provincials, a place the Grade 10 student has been before.
“That was the plan,” Wood said. “It feels really good. It was kind of hard without the other girls to push me, because they weren’t as close as I’m used to, but it felt pretty good, even though we cut it pretty close and got here pretty late and didn’t have a chance to warm up.”
Wood was the first of many winners on a record-setting day at the regional championship, which included schools from Thunder Bay, Fort Frances, Dryden, Geraldton and Terrace Bay.
Thunder Bay’s St. Patrick, who fielded the largest squad at the 14-team, two-day event, held the overall lead after Day 1, picking up 276.5 points, 74 more than nearest rival St. Ignatius. Hammarskjold was third with 139 points.
St. Patrick and St. Ignatius, each with 117 points, were tied atop the girls’ standings, while St. Patrick took a commanding 159.5-85.5 lead over the Falcons in the boys category.
It’s a great way for athletes to showcase what they can do.
“It’s really awesome,” Wood said. “I look forward to this every year. We’ve gotten bigger and bigger teams because everyone said how much fun it is. You get to see all the competition and we’ve made friends on other teams, so it’s really an awesome meet.”
Kim House, who coaches the Superior Collegiate Gryphons, brought 63 athletes to the competition, being staged at Fort William Stadium.
The veteran runner said it’s been tough training this spring because of weather conditions, but was hoping her team would continue the success it enjoyed in 2012, when it copped a surprising second-place finish.
Superior finished in the middle of the pack after Wednesday events, which culminated with the 100-metre sprints, collecting 112 points.
House, who ran in the event in high school, said it’s a fantastic showcase for all participants.
“It’s a great tune-up for the serious athlete who wants to go to OFSSAA and run a personal best,” House said.
“I’ve been coaching for 20 years, and I’ve had several athletes who have continued on to do better things in university on scholarships and to run nationals,” House said, adding the state of the sport in Thunder Bay is pretty good, but improvements could be made.
“Definitely we need more youth programs in the city. The problem is the weather. The conditions make it hard for us to train all year round, but I think it’s got some room to grow, for sure.”
Several long-standing records were tied or broken Wednesday night.
Westgate’s Leah Maki tied the 100-metre mark of 12.7 seconds, set 35 years ago in the junior girls final. Mason Quarrell of St. Pat’s lowered the 1,500-metre mark of 4:02 by nearly two seconds, while in the boys long jump, St. Ignatius’s Thomas Walser crushed Ben Anderson’s 2007 mark of 5.54 metres, hurtling 5.86 metres.
Finally, St. Ignatius’ Ethan Slater set a new record in the boys shot put, throwing 12.6 metres, 0.06 further than Geradlton’s Brett Korocil in 2009.
