Estevan's Hunter Wallster only took up the field events of track and field a short time ago but has already made some incredible strides in the throwing events at the provincial level.
Wallster is already a recognized athlete in sports like judo and tennis and now can add track and field after the successful summer he had.
“It's kind of like an unrecognized thing and I just naturally had an ability to do that,” said Wallster, who won one of the Bob Adams Foundation awards for excellence in Saskatchewan athletics. Wallster was recognized for his accomplishments in the midget age field events.
One of his coaches at a meet put him into contention for the award, Wallster suspects.
“I received a letter in the mail not that long ago, telling me that I'd won it,” he said. “I was really excited and kind of surprised.”
The award came from working hard just after a spark of interest in the athletic field events relatively recently.
“I started shot put, discus and javelin in last year in the school season but I didn't really get into it,” he said. “Then, starting in May I started getting into it and I found I was excelling compared to other athletes.”
During the high school season under the guidance of coach Caitlyn Giesbrecht, he set a regional record for discus at 42.09 metres and competed in the event at districts and provincials while learning specialized training.
“It's slightly more technical learning compared to others,” he said. “And you learn different techniques and different things.”
He made team Saskatchewan for the throwing events in track and field – shot put, discus, hammer throw and javelin – and went to the tri-provincial meet in Winnipeg where he competed against athletes from Alberta and Manitoba.
“The tryouts for that was after the high school season,” Wallster said. “So I had to go there and make a top three spot and then I signed an application and I got chosen out of that.”
He won gold in hammer throw, silver in shot put and discus and fourth in javelin.
“It was very nerve-wracking to go there,” he admitted. “I never really thought I would get that far this season.”
He went to Brandon for the Legion Youth National Championships where he placed fifth in discus with a toss of 45.39 metres and 12th in shot put.
“Some of those kids were very high level,” he said of his experience at nationals. “I just tried to match that as best as I could.”
Wallster competed later in the summer at a pair of weight pentathlons in Saskatoon and Prince Albert. He set the provincial record for hammer throw at 47.70 metres and also tossed a 48.32 in discus, 13.18 in shot put and 15.78 in weight throw.
“You do that as you would a pentathlon trying to score as many points as you can,” he said. “That was definitely one of my better meets.”
On the junior volleyball team and in taekwondo this year, Wallster is a busy high school student-athlete.
“I just want to go out there and do the best I can in all those sports, and try to raise a great atmosphere.”
