LeBoldus student earns two records at city meet
Natalia McCullough is kicking around her options for the opening weekend of June.
McCullough is preparing for the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association track and field championships, which are to be held June 2 and 3 in Saskatoon — where her soccer team will also be playing.
So what to do?
“I don’t even know,” McCullough said with a chuckle Thursday at the Canada Games Athletics Complex after setting her second record at the Regina High Schools Athletic Association championships.
“It’s going to be a tough weekend, for sure, but I’ll make it work.”
McCullough’s under-17 girls soccer team, FC Regina, has Provincial Soccer League matches in Saskatoon June 2 and 4.
June 2 will be a hectic day, given her track and soccer commitments. She will be able to focus on track on June 3, with soccer being her lone athletic commitment June 4.
McCullough’s finishing kick was on display at the RHSAA championships. On Wednesday, she posted a time of 59.38 seconds to win the midget girls 400m. She eclipsed the 33-year-old record of one minute 0.20 seconds, set by Barb Neeb of Usher.
“That was pretty cool,” said McCullough, a Grade 10 student at Dr. Martin LeBoldus Catholic High School. “I knew I could run under a minute, because I did it last year at high school provincials.”
The following day, McCullough won the 800m in 2:17.78. She erased the previous record of 2:20.51, set in 2006 by Karissa LePage of Riffel.
“I knew I could do it,” McCullough said. “It was just a matter of being mentally prepared. (The 800m race) was a couple of hours after my 1,500m, so I wasn’t sure if my legs would be in it.”
Overall, McCullough was delighted with the twin records.
“It’s kind of cool to be in the same category as those other girls,” she said.
“Having my name in there, it’s awesome.”
McCullough won all four of her events — the 400m, 800m, 1,500m and 3,000m — at the city meet. The 3,000m races were held last week during a mini-meet.
Last year, she won the 3,000m and was second over her other three distances at the city championships before winning a silver medal in the 1,500m and bronze in both the 400m and 3,000m at provincials.
This year, McCullough was tied with Miller’s Kailee Woitas for top spot in the city meet’s midget girls individual aggregate standings.
The other aggregate winners were Kiarash Khandehroo of Riffel (midget boys), Chloe McEachern of Campbell (junior girls), Ifeoluwa Adebogun of O’Neill ( junior boys), Kaila Neigum of Miller (senior girls) and Matthew Exner of Riffel (senior boys).
McCullough wasn’t the only record-setter at the city meet.
Riffel’s senior boys 4x400m relay team posted a time of 3:37.28, bettering the record of 3:37.50 that was set in 1985. The identity of the previous record-holders was unavailable at source.
Exner ran the first leg of the relay on Thursday, followed by Shane Seilman, Jayden Vongphit and Vaughn Taylor.
“It’s very exciting,” Taylor said of the record. “All of us were in individual events, but we came together as a team and we pulled it off in the end.”
The Riffel foursome targeted the record before the race.
“Our personal-best times, if we all did them, were under the record, so we decided to go for it,” Exner said.
The aforementioned foursome helped Riffel win the team title for the second consecutive year.
“We don’t have the same numbers as some of the other schools, so it’s good to do it,” said Taylor, who was second in the senior boys aggregate standings. “This shows that the athletes we have are finishing up high and putting in the work.”
Exner referred to Riffel as “our own community,” and Seilman was quick to concur.
“We don’t give up on each other and we keep supporting each other,” he said.
Riffel finished with 612 points. O’Neill was second with 557.5 points, followed by Miller (487), Campbell (421.5), Luther (299), Sheldon-Williams (236), LeBoldus (185), Martin (131.5), Laval (74), Winston Knoll (73), Balfour (73), Johnson (53), Thom (38.5), Regina Christian (22) and Scott (2).
Miller was first in the female team standings (273), followed by O’Neill (254.5) and Campbell (244.5). Riffel won the male title (411), with O’Neill (303) and Miller (214) next in line.