Crocker joins UNB track and field team

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This article was published 21/02/2023 (1140 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Juliana Crocker wanted to pursue track and field but wasn’t sure she had what it took.

Then she won a provincial pentathlon gold medal, breaking the provincial record.

“After that, it made me realize if I put the work in, once I have some stable and fundamental training, I will be able to go somewhere,” said Crocker, who has signed a letter of intent with the University of New Brunswick Reds for the 2023-24 Atlantic University Sport season.

The Vincent Massey senior was a gymnast until age 13 and developed into a long-distance runner.

She tried a handful of events at indoor provincials in Grade 9 and performed fairly well, then didn’t get a full Grade 10 season due to COVID-19 but came back strong the following year.

Crocker put up 2,743 points in the pentathlon, which has been part of outdoor provincials since 2017 when the long jump was added to the multi-event. She started with a 7.63-metre shot put, then ran the 100-metre dash in 13.43 seconds. Crocker hit 1.41 metres in the high jump and 4.54m in the long jump.

She had five seconds to make up in the 800m to win gold and did so with ease, crossing the line 16 seconds clear in 2:28.56.

Crocker feels she’s just getting started and UNB coach Chris Belof agrees her ceiling is sky-high.

“Super bright girl, really athletic, is … newer to the sport and even though she has a couple of years of experience is only starting to tap what she can do,” Belof said.

“… She’s probably going to be one of our top two multi-event girls and certainly going to contribute in a couple of the jumps.

“Right off the hop, we’re excited about her scoring points at AUS and making a difference.”

Crocker joined Winnipeg Optimist Athletics this season and feels she’s grown a lot in just a few months. She drives in 2-3 times per week and started with a lot of technical work to improve her fundamentals.

“It was a lot of going back and refining those first few steps, approaches, take off and form, which has really shown improvement in my events,” Crocker said.

She also worked hard in chasing a scholarship. Crocker said she had offers to walk on to NCAA Division I teams and had opportunities at DII and DII schools, as well as a few other U Sports programs including the University of Manitoba.

The Fredericton campus and UNB squad drew Crocker in on her visit.

“Once I got out there I knew,” said Crocker, who plans to study criminology.

“Everybody out there was so supportive and welcoming, the team environment was amazing. A few girls invited me to their apartment to hang out one afternoon and they drove me back to my hotel from practice.

“They have a really good structured program out there. It’s a beautiful campus, a great school and a very pretty city so that was a nice bonus.”

Crocker continues a Westman pipeline to UNB and joins Baldur’s Peighton Johnson and Neepawa’s Ben Perrett on the team.

The indoor pentathlon is slightly different as the 100m dash is swapped out for 60m hurdles.

“You need to be good at everything and great at nothing,” Belof said of the pentathlon. “But Juliana’s kind of in this place where she’s actually pretty great at a few different things and where she’s good, she’s getting better.”

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