A total of eight Olds High School (OHS) athletes have qualified for the provincial track and field meet on June 1 and 2 in Edmonton.
Carson Jorgensen, Shaelyn Moritz, Courtney Schafer, Alex Groves, Brittany Hepp, Kevin Spicer, Jess Reid and Daniella Aguilar all qualified for the provincials with either first- or second-place finishes in the events in which they competed at the South Central Zone Championships in Calgary on Wednesday.
Jorgensen won the 3,000-metre race and finished second in the 1,500-metre race, while Moritz finished second in the junior girls pole vault. Schafer finished second in the intermediate girls pole vault while teammate Groves took top spot. Hepp placed first in the senior girls pole vault while Spicer won the junior boys pole vault. Reid finished second in the intermediate girls discus and Aguilar won the intermediate girls 400 metres.
“It was a good solid showing with a couple of narrow misses. It was a good solid performance from the team,” said Adam Hogarth, the team's coach, noting that Erin Shultz, Logan Bullock, Tanner Robertson and Mitch Ormann placed third in junior girls pole vault, junior boys pole vault, intermediate boys pole vault, and 800-metre race, respectively.
Hogarth said the junior team also looks good this year, with 20 athletes from Grade 9 alone on that team. He said those athletes will give OHS an excellent track team in the future.
As for Olds Koinonia Christian School, no athletes qualified for the provincial meet, but the school did finish fourth overall out of 13 schools in the team event for 1A schools (under 100 eligible students in Grades 10 to 12). Tyler Jansen finished just shy of qualifying for provincials with a third place in senior boys javelin. He also tied for third in high jump. April Onishenko also finished third in girls javelin by throwing a personal best.
“We sent two senior boys relay teams (to the zone championships), which we've never done before, which was really exciting,” said Ken Terpstra, the track coach at OKCS, noting that a 4 x 100 metre senior boys team and a 4 x 400 metre senior boys team competed at zones.
Terpstra added that there is a bulge in the junior team this year and those athletes will be moving on to the senior team in the next couple of years, which bodes well for the future of track and field at OKCS.
“I think that will be good for the future here so I'm really excited about that,” he said.
"It was a good solid performance from the team."Adam Hogarth, coach, OHS track and field team
