THUNDER BAY – Jamie Puhalski blew away the field in the midget girl’s 1,500-metre race on Tuesday.
The 14-year-old St. Ignatius Falcons runner, who beat all but one competitor at the All-Comers meet on May 19, a race that featured athletes from all grades, made easy work of the pack on Day 1 of the annual NWOSSA track and field meet completing three-and-a-half laps around Legion Track in a little over 5:20.
Despite being a heavy favourite in her category, the youngster wasn’t taking anything for granted.
“My legs hurt at the beginning, but you’ve got to go out strong and finish strong, especially. It felt good,” Puhalski said.
“I just focused on how I was doing and how well I can do, not worrying about what everyone else can do.”
A competitive swimmer, she started her track and field pursuit in elementary school, not necessarily going out to win every race, but instead just to have fun with her friends.
It turns out she was pretty good at it.
“In middle school I (realized) I’m kind of decent at this and it was really fun, so I want to continue it in high school.”
Puhalski was one of about 300 athletes who took part in the two-day event, which concludes on Wednesday.
It marks a slight increase over last year, which athletic director David Pineau attributed to a push made by the schools, as well as the return of a few regional schools that hadn’t taken part in the past couple of years.
“I think more and more when we see more and more kids being less active, it’s important to celebrate when we do have people out here and you see the number of volunteers and teachers out here running the events, I think that’s a very positive message to our community that we need to support these kind of things,” Pineau said.
One of the athletes celebrating on Tuesday was Hammarskjold’s Jett Dobson, winner of the senior boys’ 1,500-metre race.
With an name like Jett, he was born to be fast and he lived up to it on Day 1, cruising to an easy win with a time of just over 4:15.
“I went out pretty quick, had a few guys sticking with me at the beginning, but toward the end I started to really feel it. I slowed down a bit, but managed to come through and get a good win,” said Dobson, who will run the 800- and 3,000-metre races on Wednesday.
“The main goal was to qualify at OFSAA and hopefully at OFSAA (set a personal best).”
Final results are not yet available.
