As it turns out, the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association provincial championships this past weekend at Gutheridge Field were no exception.
The 15-year-old Cornerstone Christian School competitor opened the meet with a gold medal in the midget girls discus on Friday morning and followed with a gold in her specialty event, the shot put, on Saturday.
The only difference this time around is things were a little bit closer than usual: Block was the only competitor to clear 11 metres, cracking 11.08 to finish 10 centimetres ahead of Swift Current’s Kamryn Johnson.
“I don’t know if it’s really clicked yet, but I know it’s pretty amazing,” Block said shortly after the result were made official. “It wasn’t my best throw but it’s hard to be mad at myself because it’s really exciting to win.”
Block’s dominance is hard to overstate – every mini meet, every track and field competition from May through June was just win after win after win, with most of those victories also seeing her set records in the process.
She was unable to crack the mark of 11.54 metres set last year by Bryn Bohmann of Saskatoon Bethlehem, but that mattered little in the end.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Block said of her campaign. “It’s not just what I’ve done, but all the blessings around me. I have put in a lot of work but it’s just luck having an amazing coach whose your dad and having parents who can drive you to everything, it’s just amazing.”
Block wasn’t the only gold medalist for South Central to come out of Saturday’s competition.
Vanier’s Delaney Townsend also capped an amazing season full of victories by taking gold in the senior girls javelin – and by the closest of margins at that.
Townsend cleared 36.16 metres and finished in the unlikeliest of ties with Bellevue’s Nicole Kramchynsky. Townsend had the second longest throw between the two and ended up taking first place in that tiebreaker.
Earlier on Friday, Vanier’s Zidane Closs won gold in the high jump, and you can click here for more on that impressive victory.
