Competing in the 800 metres to close out the four-event competition, Shiferaw found himself in an epic battle down the backstretch with Kindersley’s Tyler Heck. The two looked to go down to the wire when disaster struck – Shiferaw stumbled and went down on the Gutheridge Field track a metre from the finish line. He gathered himself and crawled across, only to have eventual gold medalist Jackson Sitter collide with him as Sitter finished his race.
Shiferaw was helped off the track but recovered moments later and accepted his bronze medal to cheers from the crowd.
“I kind of got turned around, tried to kick a little harder and ended kicking myself and falling,” Shiferaw explained prior to the medal ceremony. “I was just dead at the end, but I had to finish.”
As it turns out, fall or not, Shiferaw’s time of 2:12.01 was a personal best by no less than five seconds. His long jump of 5.88 metres was also a p.b. and good enough for third. Shiferaw’s 100 metres time of 11.60 was third best, with the only setback coming in the shot put, where his 8.35 metre effort put him 26th.
“All my events were good, except for the shot put,” Shiferaw said. “That was probably my best this year (overall), and in total points too, so it was really good.”
Shiferaw finished with 2,329 points, 199 back of second-place finisher Ryan Mills of Southey. Sitter, who hails from Leader, recorded 2,627 points to set a new record in the young event.
The two days of competition saw a total of four multiple medalists from Moose Jaw, with Vanier senior girls competitor Allison Grajczyk-Jelinski winning bronze in the 1,500 metres Friday before closing out her storied senior year with silver in the 3,000 metres Saturday.
“I’m really excited to leave today and go home with two medals, I can’t complain about that in my last season,” Grajczyk-Jelinski said. “I was really excited to get that gold in cross country (this spring) and then finish off with silver and bronze was really cool, especially to do it here in Moose Jaw.”
Central senior boys competitor Crozier Holmes capped an impressive season of his own with silver in the 400 metres Friday and bronze in the 200 metres Saturday. His second place finish was especially close, as he crossed the line on the heels of gold medalist Quincy Telus from Regina.
“I’m a little disappointed, I really wanted that gold, but I’m proud of how I worked and how it eventually turned out,” Holmes said. “It’s been a fantastic meet, everyone here has been so positive and always cheering you on, it’s great to be a part of.”
Central’s Akuol Riak picked up a silver medal in the midget girls 800 metres on Saturday after claiming bronze in an epic race in the 400 metres the day before.
“It’s awesome,” she said of medaling at provincials. “This is what I’ve been training all year for and to get this out of that effort is really special for me and I’m really happy with it.”
Rounding out the double-medalists was Peacock Camryn Gillies, who won bronze in the senior girls 400 metres in a time of 1:01.27 to go along with a third-place showing in the 800 metres in 2:21.36.
The overall success for South Central – a total of 18 medals including four gold, three silver and 11 bronze – saw the team finish fourth overall with 1170.08 points, one of the best showings in district history.
To top it all off, the Vanier Vikings emerged as the top team in the 3A classification, finishing with 309.83 points to take top spot ahead of Peacock, who recorded 277.25 points. Central landed sixth at 201.50 and Caronport 10th with 81.50 points.
Click here for complete provincial results, sortable by tabs.
Top eight finishers for South Central were as follows.
Midget girls
100 metres -- 6. Malea Kletzel, CCI, 13.24.
400 metres – 3. Akuol Riak, CCI, 59.90
800 metres – 2. Akuol Riak, CCI, 2:21.07
3,000 metres – 8. Brooklyn Roney, AEP, 12:13.88
Triple jump – 5. Arianna Wakeford, AEP, 10.45 metres
Discus – 1. Aliyah Block, CCS, 32.91m; 7. Ember Dusomme, CCI, 26.17m
Javelin – 6. Harriett Amor, AEP, 27.64m
Shot put – 1. Aliyah Block, CCS, 11.08m
Junior girls
80 metre hurdles – 6. Ava Viczko, VCI, 13.54.
200 metres – 7. Maurissa Metz, VCI, 27.91.
1,500 metres – 8. Miheret Cridland, AEP, 5:36.88
3,000 metres – 6. Vera Gauvin, CCI, 12:08.90
Long jump – 8. Ava Viczko, VCI, 4.58m
Shot put – 3. Courtney Brisebois, Grav, 9.18m
Senior girls
80m hurdles -- 3. Alexis Thibodeau, AEP, 12.50.
00 metres – 6. Alexis Thibodeau, AEP, 27.03.
400 metres – 3. Camryn Gillies, AEP, 1:01.27; 7. Alyssa Roney, AEP, 1:02.99.
800 metres – 3. Camryn Gillies, AEP, 2:21.36; 4. Alyssa Roney, AEP, 2:22.39.
1,500 metres – 3. Allison Grajczyk-Jelinski, VCI, 4:56.74. 5. Alyssa Roney, AEP, 5:12.25.
3,000 metres – 2. Allison Grajczyk-Jelinski, VCI, 10:58.15.
High jump – 5. Alexis Thibodeau, AEP, 1.51m.
Long jump – 8. Bryn Giddings, VCI, 4.73m
Triple jump – 8. Abby Busch, AEP, 10.33m
Discus – 3. Tessa Neufeld, BCA, 30.79m; 4. Taleah Smith, CCS, 30.36m
Javelin – 1. Delaney Townsend, VCI, 36.16.
Shot put – 7. Tessa Neufeld, BCA, 9.55m
Tetrathlon – 4. Melissa Ellis, BCA, 2048 points; 6. Ryann Handley, VCI, 2024 points
Midget boys
400m – 5. Zidane Closs, VCI, 55.18
1,500m – 7. Jacob King, CCI, 4:43.61
3,000m – 7. Jacob King, CCI, 10:21.37
High jump – 1. Zidane Closs, VCI, 1.78m
Discus – 8. Brodi Noble, VCI, 34.04m
Junior boys
400m – 8. Colton Clemenshaw, VCI, 55.31
High jump – 4. Josh Auger, VCI, 1.73m
Triple jump – 7. Payton Miller, Moss, 11.94m
Discus – 3. Xander Montgomery, VCI, 33.28m
Shot put – 5. Xander Montgomery, VCI, 11.55m
Senior boys
100m hurdles – 5. Cooper Cole, VCI, 14.36; 7. Hunter Lee, BCA, 14.94.
200m – 3. Crozier Holmes, CCI, 22.83.
400m – 2. Crozier Holmes, CCI, 51.23.
800m – 8. Kal McGillis, CCI, 2:08.69.
1,500m – 6. Kal McGillis, CCI, 4:21.82.
High jump – 3. Riley Seaborn, CCI, 1.81m; 6. Tanner Funk, BCA, 1.78m
Long jump – 4. Rayann Cabral, VCI, 6.29m; 6. Cooper Cole, VCI, 6.14m
Tetrathlon – 3. Henok Shiferaw, VCI, 2329 points.
