Simard shatters personal best for bronze

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This article was published 08/06/2023 (942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

All Nathan Simard wanted was a chance to let his training and grit take over.

He figured the best race of his life could land him on the varsity boys’ 1,500-metre podium. The Neelin junior would run at whatever pace kept the guy in third within reach.

“Three laps in I’m like ‘Holy crap, this is actually happening.’ I’m in fourth place, I see third in front of me and decide to take off,” said Simard, who breezed past Carman’s Nathan Dyck to start the final lap and held on for a bronze medal at track and field provincials at UCT Stadium on Thursday.

“I just wanted to pass that guy and make as much ground as I could so it was harder for it to catch up to me. I just went until I couldn’t hear him.

“I actually executed the plan and got it done.”

Simard was completely gassed, collapsing and laying on his side on the rubber as light rain fell from an ominous sky. His big brother Andrew, home from his NCAA Division I rookie season at Manhattan College, picked him up and congratulated him.

“He’s a huge inspiration to me,” Nathan said. “To see him succeed that much, I see the training he’s doing and think ‘I can do that too.’ Really, I’m just trying to follow in his footsteps and make a name.”

A few minutes later, Nathan nearly threw up over the fence surrounding the track. He truly left it all out there to finish in finished in four minutes 16.48 seconds, a personal best by about 20 seconds.

“I had no idea I was going to go that fast,” he said. “It just goes to show that you’re a lot stronger than you think going into these races.”

Up ahead, Alejandro Civetta led wire-to-wire and blew the field away.

The Vincent Massey Trojans senior, who was previously without a provincial gold medal and desperately wanted one, finished in 4:04.59, more than seven seconds ahead of silver medallist Carson Kroeker of Edward Schreyer.

“Coming in, I knew quick times were going to come and just took it out, stayed relaxed and started to move around the end,” Civetta said.

“You’re running, you know when you’re in the lead it feels good but you’re still concentrating like ‘I need to close.’ Whether you have 500 metres, 700 metres, you still need to work because you can easily lose a lead if you stop working the arms, legs.”

Civetta’s confident in his ability to close, so a healthy lead turned the last lap into a victory lap.

“Coming down the home stretch,” he said, “it was a great high.”

HARZ CLAIMS GIRLS’ GOLD

Logan Harz had no one to follow and almost couldn’t believe it.

Rounding the final turn of the varsity girls’ 1,500m final, she glanced over her shoulder and saw they weren’t far behind.

“I kicked myself because I looked back so I did know where they were,” the Springfield Sabre said. “I was like ‘Oh, I got to kick.’ But it helped me kick so that was good.”

While Harz prefers following and passing opponents, she ultimately raced herself, finishing in 4:54.91 to capture the gold medal.

A hint of frustration lingered as she crossed the finish line since her goal was sub-4:50, but Harz realized that lofty goal drove her to victory.

“I usually have pretty high expectations for myself. I’m kind of a perfectionist so I try to make a standard and go for it,” Harz said.

“It definitely makes me more nervous for a race but during the race, it helps me focus on hitting a certain split, rather than how tired I am.”

The Grade 12 student sure feels better than a year ago, however, when she missed a 1,500m medal by less than a second behind her best friend and Winnipeg Optimist Athletics teammate Lena Klassen. The two train together and have shared a few provincial cross-country podiums, including in 2022 when Klassen won and Harz claimed bronze.

Harz started track in Grade 9 with shorter races and worked her way up to the 800m and 1,500m.

They’re taking her to North Dakota State next year, where she hopes to add the 3,000m to her repertoire.

First, Harz looks to add a second gold in the 800m. The preliminary heats are today and the final is on Saturday.

The majority of Thursday’s events were heats and semifinals on the track and exclusively qualifying rounds in the field. The championships continue today and wrap up on Saturday.

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