It was a busy but rewarding weekend for Wilkie’s Treyton Pernitsky.
Thanks to strong performance in four events Friday and Saturday at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon, the Grade 10 student at McLurg High School came away with the junior boys aggregate title at the 2017 SHSAA provincial track and field championships.
“It was an awesome feeling but a pretty surprising one when I found out that I had won,” Pernitsky said. “I felt like I would be in the mix to at least have a chance to be in the top three, but I had no idea that I would end up in first.
“It’s not often that someone from a school like ours has a chance to do that, so to have the support from my school and my coach with legion track team in North Battleford (Karen Wharington) has meant a lot.”
After earning a bronze medal last year in his first trip to the provincial championships in Regina, Pernitsky was set for a much more strenuous meet in Saskatoon as he was competing in the 400m, 800m, 1500m and 3000m events.
“I just had to make sure that I was prepared for all of the distances that I would be competing in, and that’s something I had been able to gear up for at other meets during the year,” Pernitsky said.
“I also made sure I was having a lot of water in training.”
His best race came in the 800m race Saturday, as he picked up a silver medal.
“That was probably the most nerve wracking race of the weekend,” Pernitsky said. “Right before the race, one of my toughest competitors pulled out, so that made me even more nervous.
“I felt like I was going to throw up with all of the nerves, but I turned out to be a real exciting race.”
Pernitsky also remembered what happened to him a day earlier in the 400m dash, where he was edged out of a silver medal by just 0.2 seconds.
“I wanted to make sure that I gave it everything I had and didn’t come away with another bronze,” Pernitsky said.
“The 400m race Friday was a fun one, but it’s more of an all-out sprint for me as I’m more of a middle distance runner. It’s one of those events that goes by really quickly. You are in the blocks to get started and all of sudden the next thing you know the race is over.”
Before he competed in the final, Pernitsky’s preparations for the 400m took a strange twist as a massive hailstorm hit the track as he lined up for his heat race.
“I was in my blocks getting ready to race when it started to come down,” Pernitsky said.
“A couple of people started falling in front of me and the officials were screaming at everyone to get off of the track. We ended up having to wait about 30 minutes for them to clean everything up, but it was all good.”
In his other two events, Pernitsky had a fourth place finish in the 1500m and came home in sixth place in the 3000m.
“I would have liked to have placed a little bit higher in the 3000m race, but I ended up with personal bests all across the board, so I was still pretty happy,” Pernitsky added.
After a successful second trip to the provincials, Pernitsky is expecting a tougher challenge next year as he moves up to the senior ranks as a Grade 11 student.
“There’s going to be even better runners that I’ll be racing with, which is a little scary, but I’m looking forward to it,” Pernitsky said.
“That’s the coolest thing about the provincials. There’s such a jump up in competition from the districts and the amount of good athletes that are competing for medals is just amazing.”
