Lawrence glides past Birch, Schram for 100m gold

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This article was published 10/06/2023 (892 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — Amira Lawrence used every inch of the 100-metre home stretch to pull off a remarkable come-from-behind victory.

The Garden City Gopher sprinter trailed College Beliveau’s Jazmin Birch and Vincent Massey Viking Kendra Schram most of the way but made up ground and passed Birch in the final few strides of the varsity girls’ 100m final at UCT Stadium on Friday. Lawrence’s time of 12.94 seconds into a strong headwind was enough for a provincial track and field championships gold medal.

“I’m just like ‘Quick arms, push … catch, catch, catch,’” Lawrence recalled of her late charge. “It was definitely a good feeling when you feel like you’re getting closer and closer to them.”

Lawrence had the fastest semifinal time at 12.40 with next to no wind. She knew she had more races ahead but felt it was key to post a good time and run beside her top competition.

“It’s really important for me, personally, because you want to have those people next to you to push you on both sides. You know where you are in the race so it’s important,” Lawrence said.

She was right. Being able to spot Schram immediately to her left and Birch one lane over motivated her to drive through the tough final few metres and edge Birch by .06 seconds.

Lawrence, who also played for a terrific Garden City basketball team that finished second at AAAA provincials this year, is heavily pursuing a track and field scholarship and more. She’s being considered for Team Canada for the Commonwealth Youth Games this summer in Trinidad and Tobago.

“That’s kind of what this meet was for,” Lawrence said. “I wanted to put up good times so they’d pick me to go.”

Schram knew she was in tough with a pair of six-foot sprinters on either side. The five-foot-four Brandonite, who’s headed to Memorial University of Newfoundland with her twin sister Sydney for soccer this fall, still put her head down and posted 13.17 to claim bronze.

It’s a slight dip from her silver medal in Winnipeg last year.

“But that’s OK,” she said. “Coming into this, I knew there were going to be a lot of fast JVs coming in. I still think it was cool we got to compete in Brandon.

“Soccer took up a little bit more of my time this year but I think it’s pretty cool coming in as my second sport and still being able to do well and represent my school.”

NKUNDIMANA WINS

Augustine Nkundimana raced himself, unable to see anyone in his peripheral vision.

It didn’t matter that three competitors were within half a second of him. He never looked anywhere but straight ahead, capturing the varsity boys’ 100m gold in 11.33 seconds.

“Just run my own time. That’s what I always do,” he said.

“It feels good that I won but it’s not the best time I wanted. The headwind was really bad so I’m still happy that I won.”

The five-foot-seven Dakota Lancer was the favourite entering his sprints and is poised to step onto the podium a few more times in the 200m and 4x100m relay today.

He’s no less eager for those — or a full Grade 12 season of races next year — after a taste of gold.

“It always motivates me,” Nkundimana said. “Any time I finish another race I’m like ‘If I did this, I know I can do better, just train more.’”

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