This past weekend nearly 1,400 student athletes from all around the province met at Yorkton’s Century Field for the 2015 Saskatchewan High School Athletic Association (SHSAA) Provincial Track and Field Meet for two days of exciting athletic events, making it the largest event student population wise that the SHSAA puts on out of their 10 activities.
This was the third time that Yorkton has hosted this event and according to SHSAA Executive Director Kevin Vollet the third time really was the charm. “This is the third time that Yorkton has held a provincial SHSAA track championship and the two previous ones were outstanding,” offered Vollet. “But this is the first one since the track was redone and the bunker was built and really it just keeps getting better.
“It’s a great time whenever we come to Yorkton but to have that new bunker and to see how well-run everything is, we’re happy we came back to Yorkton in the rotation.”
The rotation Vollet mentioned is one that the SHSAA uses to decide who will host the next provincial championships. In addition to Yorkton, Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw and Prince Albert are also in the rotation, which is different when compared to the rotation for events such as volleyball. “If it was a volleyball championship then we’d have a rotation of 14 for the 14 districts,” suggested Vollet, continuing, “But for track we have to have an all-weather track. Right now we have Sasktoon, Regina, Prince Albert, Yorkton, Moose Jaw and a couple others around the province that aren’t in our rotation because of logistical things such as enough hotels to house the amount of people we have competing or participating.”
According to Vollet Yorkton has come up in the rotation before, but was bumped because of the projects they were undertaking to improve the facilities. “When the rotation came up for Yorkton we did end up bumping it a year or two to this year because of some of the fix ups they wanted to do here at their facility,” said Executive Director Vollet. “They wanted to redo the track and of course the bunker with washroom facilities and that sort of thing.
“They did bump a couple of years but once they said they were ready we had absolutely no hesitation whatsoever to come to the people in the East Central, especially Duane Miller and Curtis Spelay who are outstanding individuals that got together a large amount of volunteers that are seen throughout the complex here this weekend.”
Provincial medallists
Several local athletes had strong performances at the 2015 SHSAA Track and Field Provincial Championship.
Kelsey Haczkewicz (YRHS) picked up a gold medal junior girls’ 800m run and a bronze in the junior girls’ 400m while Jennifer Haczkewicz (YRHS) won the silver medal in the junior girls’ high jump competition.
Justine Zarowny (SHHS) took home the bronze medal in the junor girls’ 3000m and a bronze in the 1500m junior girls’ race.
Reagan Fedak (Foam Lake) captured the silver medal in senior girls’ shot put while Danielle Fedak (Foam Lake) took home second place honours in junior girls’ discus.
Cole Burkholder (YRHS) finished just behind James Hough (Legacy Christian) to take silver in the senior boys’ 800m run.
Caleb Bymak (YRHS) won the bronze medal in the boys’ open Quadrathlon. Denton Dietz (Kamsack) won a bronze medal in the midget boys’ 100m hurdles event and a silver medal in the midget boys’ long jump while Brendon Weber (YRHS) took gold medal honours on the senior boys’ 100m dash.
Other Yorkton results
Alex Flaman (YRHS) finished sixth in the junior girls’ 800m and fifth in both the junor girls’ 1500m run and pole vault events.
Olivia Tomcala (YRHS) finished just off the podium in fourth place in the senior girls’ long jump while Valentina Roetheli (YRHS) finished seventh in the senior girls’ 3000m run.
Reid Perepeluk (YRHS) finished fourth overall in the midget boys’ shot put competition.
Jaret Porte (YRHS) made the final but finished eighth overall in the junior boys’ 200m dashDerek Campbell (YRHS) finished in fourth place in the junior boys’ 3000m run while Brendon Weber (YRHS) also took home a fourth place finish at the competition but in the senior boys’ 200m dash.
Emma Hoffert (YRHS) finished sixth overall in the junior girls’ pole vault while Derek Campbell (YRHS) ended up in fifth place in the junior boys’ 1500m run.
Ben Fetsch (SHHS) and Evan LaJambe (SHHS) both tied for sixth place in the junior boys’ pole vault event while Jonah Sutter (SHHS) also had a sixth place finish with his coming in the junior boys’ long jump.
