Taking to the track at TAS
Grade 7 happy with third, second first-place finishes
A total of 78 schools — including 28 from the Peterborough area — took part in the annual KPREAA track and field event at Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School on Wednesday.
Erik Unger, a Grade 7 student from Chemong Public School, placed first in the 1500-metre track event for his third year in a row. He placed first in the 800metre event for his second year in a row.
He was happy with the results. “I’m confident in myself since I’ve been here before,” he said. “I just like to run.”
Chemong coach, Tasha Deline, said she’s proud of Unger.
“Erik’s got some intrinsic drive. He just loves to run and there’s no stopping him when he starts,” she said. “He’s an avid long distance runner and also participates in cross country running outside of school with a club.”
Unger is additionally a part of the Durham Gazelles — a track and field club.
“They’ve got great coaches, great programs and they even have some meets outside of school, which is helpful,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll get seen by universities in the future.”
Deline said a lot of coaches were impressed by Unger’s performance during his events.
“He just gets faster and faster with every lap and I did hear a couple coaches make that comment,” she said. “He’s a very determined young man and he loves the individual run and he works very hard at it.”
Unger said he was glad to be there.
“I’m very glad that I can show my very best performance,” he said.
Unger won first place in the 1500-metre event at the 2017 Elementary School Track and Field Super Meet — the meet that generally follows KPREAA.
This year, the Super Meet was held three days before KPREAA, so finalists from Wednesday’s meet were unable to participate.
Like Unger, Eden Hazeldine, a Grade 6 student from James Strath Public School, also attended the 2017 Super Meet.
Hazeldine placed second in the 100-metre track event at Wednesday’s meet.
Students have to place in the top three at their school’s track and field meets to qualify for KPREAA.
Hazeldine came third at her school’s meet and said she’s happy she improved.
“It’s really fun. A lot of people were cheering me on,” she said. “It was good support.”
Deline said it’s wonderful hosting the event at TASS for another year.
“It was nerve-wracking yesterday morning — We looked at the weather forecaster and we were ready to postpone it to our rain date tomorrow,” she said.
Some events were pushed ahead of time and others were moved indoors in case of rain.
“I was tentative to put my sunglasses on earlier, but there out right now, so hopefully the rain will hold off for another hour,” she said.