Quick chemistry pays off for Massey boys relay team

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This article was published 13/06/2023 (1077 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Vincent Massey’s varsity boys relay team had never run together before this season.

And while they’ll never run again since the foursome had two graduating seniors, their final outing will be one to remember after they captured gold at the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association’s track and field provincials as the 4×100 took place at UCT Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Lucas Cels said the team, which also included Temi Toogun, Joseph Gemeda and Kevin Garcia, didn’t take long to become a cohesive unit.

“With relays, it does take time to develop chemistry but we had a few practices that all four of us were at together and I think we all just clicked,” Cels said. “It was just easy. It just happened.”

The team raced together four times in total, with their best performance coming later in the season when they beat their time in the city meet by two seconds. They also won every time.

Still, they were underdogs coming in. That changed when they had the fastest time in the preliminaries on Friday, finishing in 45.63 seconds.

“We were ranked eighth coming into provincials so our goal was to hit podium,” Gemeda said. “At least third place. When we ran our heat for the 4×100, we surprised ourselves and ran as fast as we could. We ran 45.6 and were ranked number one, so that boosted our mentality. We walked in like ‘OK, that’s not the best we can do, let’s try to beat that’ and we came and did our best.”

They were also racing on their home track, which Toogun said was another confidence booster.

“It’s an advantage for sure,” Toogun said. “Walking in here I told myself I wouldn’t go home without a medal. I’m really glad we went and got first place. That’s a real good feeling for sure.”

In the final, Massey was up against Neepawa, who finished seventh in the race, and six Winnipeg schools, St. Paul’s, Kildonan East, Kelvin, River East, St. Boniface and Sturgeon Heights.

Cels started in lane three, the same spot that proved to be successful for the Massey varsity girls. Since the inside lane is the shortest way around the track, the starters have staggered launch points to compensate for the distance.

When the Grade 12 student looked ahead, he had five runners in his sights.

“At the start of the race I always get super nervous, right when I’m practising my starts and right when he says ‘On your marks,’ and I’m down on one knee,” Cels said. “We were in lane three and I’m always thinking I want to catch the guy in front of me, because he has about a 10-metre head start. For the whole time, I’m looking at the guy ahead of me trying to catch up to him.”

Toogun, a Grade 11 student, was waiting for the first handoff thinking about some advice given to him by Massey’s track coaches, which include head coach Jason Jones.

“Throughout practice, our coaches always talked about getting a better handoff because that’s what is going to improve our time, which it did,” said Toogun, who eases his nerves with pre-race prayers. “We saw a lot of difference from the city time and our time during the semis and even the finals.

“As soon as I saw him almost getting close to me, I knew this was my time to shine. I got the handoff and felt happy, and ran as fast as I could.”

They were fourth after the first handoff, and Toogun handed off to Gemeda in the same position.

“I saw Temi sprinting up as fast as he can,” said Gemeda, who is also in Grade 11. “We’re in fourth closing up on third so when I saw Temi hit my mark where I start sprinting, I was locked in. Before that, I was saying a prayer. ‘God, I’m here because of you, so you got me from now on.’

“The handoff was great, smooth, and I sped up and passed from third or fourth and now we’re first. Then we got a clear handoff to Kevin.”

There’s nothing better for a relay anchor than having the baton in his hand and no one around him, and that’s what the Grade 12 student Garcia found.

“At first when I saw Temi running, I thought ‘Wow, Joseph has to do a lot right now,” Garcia said. “When I saw Joseph running the curve and in first, I was thinking ‘OK, the only thing I have to do is grab the baton and run.’

“During practices, our handoffs were clean. We had that chemistry.”

“I didn’t see anyone to my left or right from the corner of my eye so I was thinking ‘Hit the line and keep sprinting and keep sprinting and keep that same speed,’” Garcia added. “‘Keep going, no matter what. Don’t turn back.’”

He powered across the line in 45.36 seconds, breaking the city record of 45.5 in the process. St. Paul’s finished second in 45.71, a shade ahead of Kildonan East’s 45.98 seconds.

“That’s really crazy,” Gemeda said. “Coming in. we were like ‘We got to get third,’ and winning gold and the city record is mind-blowing. Wow. We were here. Crazy.”

“Just winning it alone is something,” Toogun said. “But breaking the record is another thing.”

Jones said after the race the foursome had achieved their success the old-fashioned way. They earned it, both with the victorious Vikings football team and on the track team.

“They’re football boys, so they’ve had a lot of success this year,” Jones said after the event ended. “Kevin Garcia, Lucas Cels and Temi Toogun were champions in the fall, and come out and are champions in the spring, and they throw Joseph in there because he has long legs and is quick.

“The thing is, it’s not just they come out, they practise their handoffs and work on it, and that’s what relays come down to, how smooth your handoffs are.”

» Massey’s junior varsity girls revisit their winning run in Friday’s edition.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson