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No real surprises on Day 1 of track and field championships

Some years, there are surprises at every turn at the SDSSAA track and field championships. Not on Wednesday.
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Corey Huffman (LOE) won the senior boys pole vault event with a jump of 3.50 metres. Photo by Scott Haddow.
Some years, there are surprises at every turn at the SDSSAA track and field championships.

Not on Wednesday.

While a total of six different standards were toppled in Day 1 of the annual competition, it was the usual suspects who did the damage, with those under a close watch coming through as expected.

Case in point was Lasalle junior jumper Ryan Taylor, having already signalled through early season competition that both the long jump and the triple jump marks were in jeopardy of falling.

And fall they did as Taylor pushed the long jump record of former Lancer Phillip Wood out another third of a metre, capturing first place with a jump of 6.37 metres. It was a similar story in the triple jump, as Taylor soared well beyond the former benchmark of 12.24m (Sean Moore — 2011), adding more than a metre to the record at 13.31.

Not bad for a young man whose primary concern had little to do with the SDSSAA record book.

"Today's focus was just wanting to come out healthy," said Taylor. "That's my goal for every meet this year. I've cleaned up my technique a lot since last year, so I'm feeling more comfortable."

Ranked No. 1 in his age group in the province but still battling the occasional twinge in his back or hamstring, Taylor now holds all four long jump/triple jump records for midgets and juniors.

Likewise, it came as little surprise that Danika Falvo of Collège Notre-Dame rewrote the junior girls javelin standard, capturing the event with a toss of 37.87 metres, an amazing six metres beyond the previous mark of 31.48m (Ellen Andrews — LOE — 2008).

Given that the OFSAA midget gold-medal winner from 2013 had already etched a throw of 34.29 metres into the meet package 12 months ago, it was almost a foregone conclusion that a new junior standard would follow suit.

A double record-setting performance came in the senior girls pole vault as CND teammates Kendra Koskiniemi (2.69m) and Mikela Gauthier (2.63m) both eclipsed the previous height of 2.62m (Adria Lumley — LOE), while Jeannie Rochon of Horizon lowered her own best of 1:00.85 in the 200m wheelchair race down by a couple of seconds.

Chris Barclay of Lo-Ellen did the same in the 800m blind dash, clocking a very impressive time of 2:40.21. Even the newcomers to the event came in with a certain pedigree. A favourite to take the midget girls 100m dash, Level 9 gymnast Kayla Folz of St. Charles powered her way to a win in the 200m on Day 1, crossing the line in 28.01 seconds.

"I knew that my gymnastics training was going to help me," said Folz. "But I really enjoy doing the 100 metres. It mimics the vault runway. I'm very used to sprinting the vault runway as fast as I can."

Like many of the multi-talented athletes on hand, Folz is moving quickly toward focusing on her primary sport only, gymnastics in her particular case.

"This is pretty much the only sport that I'm still allowed to do on the side," noted Folz.

"The coaches let me do it because they say it mimics much of the same motions as gymnastics."

Making the initial jump to the senior ranks did not appear to phase Hailey Wasyliw of Lo-Ellen a whole lot, taking first place in the 100m hurdles in a time of 16.28 seconds.

"When it comes to Grade 11 hurdling, your steps change," said Wasyliw after the finals. "Everything switches. The distance is different, which was also a big factor for me. I didn't think I was going to do well or adjust properly."

In the end, the hours of work she put in paid dividends, even against older opponents.

"It's all about your technique and really getting it right," she said. "I trained all winter long and really practised my starts. I wanted to be the first one to the hurdles."

In search of a 10th consecutive aggregate championship, Wasyliw and her Lo-Ellen teammates will have to make up some ground on Day 2, trailing the Lockerby Vikings by exactly 20 points (404.50 vs 384.50).

Following is a complete listing of the winners on Wednesday:

Midget Girls
200m - Kayla Folz (STC) - 28.01
800m - Karly Hellstrom (LAS) - 2:28.62
3000m - Kennedy Cresswell (ESMC) - 12:15.96
80m hurdles - Kalea Loewen (LOE) - 14.03
High Jump - Hope Joly (MMT) - 1.36m
Discus - Miranda Craig (CFD) - 19.60m
Javelin - Taylor Wilkinson (LCS) - 17.85m

Midget Boys
200m - Ethan Gladu (LCS) - 26.19
800m - Dawson Nootchtai (STB) - 2:18.01
3000m - Stavros Gallant (LCS) - 11:14.24
100m hurdles - Mukenge Muray (LCS) - 15.59
High Jump - Ryan Rouleau (LIV) - 1.65m
Pole Vault - Joel Huffman (LOE) - 2.62m
Long Jump - Emile Vaillancourt (LCS) - 5.37m
Javelin - Alex Smith (LOE) - 41.66m

Junior Girls
200m - Meagan McGaughey (CND) - 28.00
800m - Brianne Belanger (SC) - 2:31.93
3000m - Alexie Legault (CND) - 11:54.46
80m hurdles - Kennedy Roy (LOE) - 12.68
Pole Vault - Emilie Honse (CND) - 2.27m
Long Jump - Meagan McGaughey (CND) - 4.94m
Shot Put - Tessa Scoville (BAC) - 8.88m
Javelin - Danika Falvo (CND) - 37.87m

Junior Boys
200m - Noah Skuse (LOE) - 24.74
800m - Brendan Costello (LOE) - 2:09.40
3000m - Brendan Costello (LOE) - 9:51.32
100m hurdles - Jeffrey Walton (LAS) - 15.82
Pole Vault - Noah Serre (CND) - 3.00m
Long Jump - Ryan Taylor (LAS) - 6.37m
Triple Jump - Ryan Taylor (LAS) - 13.31m
Shot Put - Tanner Horgan (LCS) - 14.34m

Senior Girls
200m - Laura Graham (LAS) - 26.47m
800m - Karli Marcotte (LAS) - 2:36.75
3000m - Sarah MacLean (LCS) - 11:19.47
100m hurdles - Hailey Wasyliw (LOE) - 16.28m
Pole Vault - Kendra Koskiniemi (CND) - 2.69m
Triple Jump - Laura Graham (LAS) - 10.24m
Shot Put - Victoria Pitawanakwat (LCS) - 8.28m
Discus - Marissa Nazaruk (LAS) - 26.09m
4 X 400m Open - Lasalle (Cashmore/Marcotte/Graham/Hellstrom) - 4:17.15
200m wheelchair - Jeannie Rochon (HOR) - 58.30

Senior Boys
200m - Rudy Giusti (STB) - 23.19
800m - Alex Sarvas (LOE) - 2:09.10
3000m - Liam Passi (LAS) - 9:44.68
110m hurdles - Reinhardt Grobler (LOE) - 15.75
High Jump - Chase Kilganon (SC) - 1.85m
Pole Vault - Corey Huffman (LOE) - 3.50m
Triple Jump - Willem Deisinger (LOE) - 12.51m
Discus - Simon Chartrand (HOR) - 35.66m
4 X 400m Open - Lo-Ellen (Wallingford/Grobler/Brown/Dawson) - 3:41.08
800m Blind - Chris Barclay (LOE) - 2:40.21

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