Records set, expectations exceeded at city track meet
To think, one year ago Blake Carriere Smith had never competed in a track meet.
Sure, the Hat High student had taken part in elementary school fun meets, but he never won anything of note. He’d started playing football in high school and thought he was pretty quick, but had no expectation that it would translate when the starter’s gun went off in the 100 metre dash.
Except that it did. And on Tuesday, the Grade 12 sprinter pulled off wins in the 100 and 200 metre events, then added golds in 100 hurdles and long jump to claim his division’s aggregate title.
“Last year was my first meet ever, I didn’t train or anything,” he said. “This year I’ve been training in the weight room all summer, getting running form down has been really fun actually.”
All he managed last year in the 100 was a sixth-place finish — at provincials, pretty much unheard of for someone with such little experience. He ran a 11.54-second time Tuesday, edging Crescent Heights’ James Lee (11.77).
Keep up this progress, and the sky’s the limit for Carriere-Smith. He may not set the world on fire like Canadian star Andre De Grasse, who similarly didn’t take track seriously until late in high school, but a post-secondary opportunity may be waiting in the wings.
“That’s the dream,” said Carriere Smith. “I think that puts a lot of pressure on. Last year I kind of came out and ran, no expectations. I was just like ‘cool, I’m good at something.’ Then this year, I don’t look at the guys in my field but I need to beat myself to go to university. But it’s fun, I love it.”
His other results Tuesday were 23.18 second in the 200, 15.09 in the 100 hurdles and 5.67 metres in long jump.
On an overcast, slightly windy day at Rotary Track, there were a few track records broken but not a lot of athletes in most events. The emphasis — especially for those hoping to make some noise at zones next week in Lethbridge or provincials a week later in Edmonton — was individual accomplishments. The wind might even have been good practice for Lethbridge.
“It’s more personal bests than just medals,” said Crescent Heights’ Lewis Benoy, a Grade 11 jump specialist. “It was nice, wind was a little strong but there’s nothing you can do.”
Benoy wants to clear two metres in the high jump, but settled for 1.91 in the intermediate boys division. The bar was at 1.90 but once he realized that was the old track record, set in 2007 when Medicine Hat hosted provincials, it was an easy choice to go for the extra centimetre. He also won triple jump (12.99 metres) and was second in both long jump and the 100 metre dash, tying for the aggregate win with Hat High’s Ethan Suelzle.
Teammate Enoch Doe’s 47.10 metre javelin throw was the other major record-setting effort. Savanna Zee (49.74 seconds) and Parker Davidson (43.88 seconds) of Hat High set new marks in the 300 metre hurdles, an event rarely contested.
Hat High’s Rhiannon Ware came fourth tenths of a second from the intermediate girls 80 metre hurdles record, crossing the line first in 12.63 seconds, and knows she has a target on her back moving forward as the defending provincial champion. The city meet was just her second of the season, so the hope is she’ll continue to ramp up as the stages get bigger.
“Coming from last year, I was Grade 10 so I had no idea what (provincials) was like,” said Ware, who also surprised herself with a winning javelin throw of 28.40 metres. “This year I’m just going to push myself.”
Also close to a record was intermediate girls aggregate winner Madison Kane-Rissling from Monsignor McCoy. Her long jump of 5.12 metres was three centimetres off fellow Colt Tiana Pisoni’s mark set in 2013. KaneRissling then took second in triple jump, won high jump (1.53 metres) and was second in the 100 metres.
Other aggregate champs were Hat High’s Kayla Stegen in senior girls, Hat High’s Brooklyn Kaczynski in junior girls and Hat High’s Josh Howe in junior boys.