Athletes from Meadow Lake to Yorkton and everywhere in between set a total of 10 new records through the two-day meet at Gutheridge Field, one of the most impressive assaults on provincial-best performances in recent history.
Leading the way was Borden’s Savannah Sutherland, who won three junior girls gold medals and in the process picked off three provincial meet records.
Sutherland began Friday afternoon by setting a new mark in the 80 metre hurdles of 11.36 seconds, beating the record of 11.53 seconds set by Saskatoon’s Jenni Hucul in 2004.
Next up was the 400 metres, and her most impressive break of the day – Sutherland’s time of 56.21 seconds cracked the 37-year-old record of 56.57 seconds held by Yorkton’s Gail Harris since 1982.
Finally, there was the 200 metres, where Hucul was again the victim as Sutherland knocked the record from 25.00 seconds to 24.89.
The interesting thing? As impressive as the performances were, they were anything but a surprise, as Sutherland herself revealed.
“Last year at (Under-16) nationals I won three gold medals and this year it’s been going really good, so I’m pretty happy with it,” she said after setting her 400 metres mark. “I’ve moved up an age group and things have been a little tougher but I’m still having good results.”
One of the most impressive breaks came in the senior boys long lump, as Saskatoon St. Joseph’s Michael Akintunde brought the meet largely to a halt in support of his final jump and proceeded to crack 7.31 metres, breaking the mark of 7.13 metres set by Swift Current’s Marcus Kouri in 2015.
“I came in knowing what the record was and I had a feeling I could get it, so I really pushed myself to see if it was possible and it turned out okay,” Akintunde said. “It was good to have the other guys, (Swift Current’s) Scott (Joseph) and (Langenburg’s) Drew (Kirk), we’ve been neck-and-neck, so it was a lot of fun.”
Meadow Lake’s Avery Pearson cracked one of the oldest records on the books as she set a new midget girls 800 metres mark of 2:12.22, breaking the record of 2:14.70 set in 1979 by Regina’s Jane Bolstad.
The junior girls 3,000 metres saw Jenna McFadyen of Maidstone run 10:06.70, besting Regina’s Kate Kujawa’s record of 10:17.70 from 2008.
The midget boys 100 metres record took a beating all day Friday as three competitors bested the standard of 11.36 seconds from Adam Paslawski in 2012 before Prince Albert’s Storm Zablocki finally lowered it once and for all to 11.25 seconds.
One of those 100 metres record-breakers, Waldheim’s Ryan Harder, etched his name in the records earlier in the day, leaping 6.46 metres in the long jump to break the mark of 6.35 metres set by Calvin Napope of St. Louis in 2015.
Last but not least, Dawson Klinger of Clavet ran 22.13 seconds in the junior boys 200 metres to break Paslawski’s mark of 22.51 set in 2013.
