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Liebrecht to receive track and field banner

The good fortunes carried over for Preston Liebrecht at provincials last weekend.
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Preston Liebrecht of Sacred Heart is presented with the gold medal at the 2010 SHSAA Provincial track and field meet in Moose Jaw. Liebrecht added two bronze medals and a silver from competition.

The good fortunes carried over for Preston Liebrecht at provincials last weekend.

Entered into five different events at the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletics Association (SHSAA) Provincial Track and Field meet June 4-5, he had very high hopes for himself.

He was also incredibly nervous. He ended up taking a pretty rough start to in a long jump event, an event that he said he was touted as number-one in the province going into it.

Going back a couple weeks, he had been one of a handful of students that cleaned up like a vacuum at the provincial qualifier, the East Central Districts track meet held here late in May.The Gr. 10 student at Sacred Heart was recognized with a banner that will be displayed in the school gym, recognizing his accomplishment.

Sacred Heart co-coach Rachel Sterzuk said she was pleased with how Liebrecht did at the provincials.

"Leading the way with a new banner for the school gym was Preston Liebrecht with his four golds and breaking of two very old records. His kind of success isn't seen every year."

Liebrecht, who's only been in high school for two years has won almost everything in Sacred Heart track.

He added to his medallion collection with a gold in high jump, bronze in the 100m, silver in the 200m and a second bronze medal in the 4x100-metre relay.

He was also one of a handful that were nervous heading into the provincials because they say it's a much more intense track meet.

"I was so happy," he said after getting home from provincials with a gold medal, a silver medal, coupled with a pair of bronze.

"It wasn't really my goal, but I always wanted to win a gold medal."

His weekend started on the Friday with the long jump where he said he was ranked number-one in the province but ended up coming out of it in 13th.

"I wanted to quit after that," he said.

It is a good thing he didn't allow himself to do that because he came back to win four medals in his next four events.

Also on the Friday, he was competing in the 100-metre relay and placed in third.

He said that the 100-metre and the high jump were both held at the same time, meaning he had to go back and forth between the two events in order to compete.

That didn't seem to effect him in the least bit because he pulled off a gold medal, his first ever at the provincial level, in the high jump.

His coach, Scott Hoffort told him the news after the results were in, Liebrecht said.

In the 200-metre sprint, he came home with a silver and topped it off with a bronze finish with his 4x100-metre relay team.

He said he trained very hard for each of his events and he doesn't think he'll worry as much about provincials at next year's event.