MOOSE JAW -- Moose Jaw athletes turned in an impressive showing on home soil during the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association track and field provincial championship this past weekend, and as a result, a local school is once again the best in the province.
The Central Cyclones claimed the 4A overall team title for the fourth straight year, racking up six gold, two silver and two bronze to finish with 417.5 points and fourth overall among all schools.
As expected, Cyclones senior girls competitor Katie Rogers led the way for Central, picking up medals in all three long distance races.
After dominating the competition on her way to qualifying for provincials, Rogers didn’t have quite as easy a time in the 1,500m and 3,000m this weekend but still came away with comfortable gold medal wins.
That included a time of 4:33.50 in the 1,500 to finish eight seconds ahead of Lumsden’s Jenna Conrad and a run of 9:54.41 to defeat Conrad by more than a minute in the 3,000m. Rogers also took second place in the 800m.
Intermediate boys competitor Calum Seargeant also continued his winning ways for the Cyclones, taking gold in the 100m in 11.47 while nipping Saskatoon’s Taiwo Animashaun at the line. Things weren’t as close in the 100m hurdles, where he crossed the line in 13.36 seconds to finish with double gold.
Blake Maltais claimed top spot in the senior girls triple jump, clearing 11.35 metres to easily claim the title, while M.J. King claimed the intermediate boys 200m title in a time of 23.23 seconds.
Cyclones senior boys competitor Keaton Belsher joined the South Central 4x100m team to win gold in that event.
Central’s Reid Weiss was also all over the junior boys podium, taking second in the 100m hurdles, third in the 100m and third in the 200m.
Vanier Vikings senior boys sprinter Zayden Anderson put together a stellar meet of his own, picking up two golds and a silver. That included a win in the 100m in a time of 10.88 seconds, top spot in the 200m in 22.09 and second in the 100m hurdles.
Of all the Moose Jaw gold medalists, Cornerstone Christian School throws specialist Ademide Adewumi had paerhaps the most dominant performance, as she won the senior girls shot put by nearly a metre and half over her nearest competitor with a 12.22 metre effort. It was more of the same in the discus, where Adewumi won gold with a 36.97m throw, more than four metres better than second place.
Jorja Grajczyk had the top showing for the Peacock Tornadoes, winning silver in both the 400m and 800m.
Swift Current emerged as the 5A and overall champion with 671.2 points, 230 better than second place Saskatoon St. Joseph.
Vanier was third in 4A with 177.5 points, while Peacock finished 13th in 5A with 168 points.
You can find all the results from the SHSAA track and field provincial meet at www.shsaa.ca.
