Thrower Nickel completes sweep at cities

Caitlan Nickel’s foray into track and field had a simple origin.

If she can chuck a baseball well, it likely translates into throwing events.

Tuesday’s city championships proved it.

The Vincent Massey Viking swept the varsity girls shot put, discus and javelin titles at UCT Stadium, and will head to provincials to compete in all three for the first time.

“I actually had quite a blast,” Nickel said on a brisk afternoon, just after her winning javelin throw. “This morning, it was pretty cold and I wasn’t sure I was going to go but it warmed up and I was in a bit of a better mood.”

Nickel grew up in Ashern, a town a few hours north of Winnipeg. While there wasn’t a competitive softball team for her nearby, her brother played baseball and she was inspired to follow suit. She signed up for a boys team, found out there was already another girl on the squad, and quickly fell in love with the game.

She moved to Brandon a few years later for Grade 9, but has competed on Team Manitoba for the past few summers while playing house league and AA ball in the Brandon Minor Baseball system.

The pitcher/outfielder just returned from a showcase in Saskatoon with the Team ‘Toba girls and put together a strong day in the field.

She won the shot put with a throw of 9.39 metres, not far off her personal best of 9.54m.

The five-foot-six thrower added a 26-metre toss in the discus to take first, before launching the javelin 31.94 metres for her third gold.

Nickel isn’t just competing to squeeze one last weekend of competition in before graduation. She’s suddenly on the University of Manitoba track and field team’s radar. She’s been working with throwing coach Reed Rimke, and her personal best in shot put is just eight centimetres off the Bisons’ standard of 9.62. (She chucked a 10.91 in a practice, but needs to do it in a meet to officially hit the standard.)

Rimke added javelin to her repertoire because of her baseball background.

“It definitely helped because a lot of the mechanics with how you push off with your legs are a big factor and transfer over,” Nickel said.

“I’ve definitely had a lot of help from Jonesy (Vikings coach Jason Jones) as well. He’s been a big supporter and a lot of help to get me where I am now.”

Nickel was scheduled to compete in the shot put last year but the championships were cancelled due to poor air quality. So Nickel is ready to make her only shot at provincials count.

“I’m pretty excited, especially that I get to compete in more than one event,” Nickel said. “Now I have different opportunities to try to win more medals.”

• • •

Chelsey Hoad crossed the finish line all alone twice on Tuesday.

The Vikings senior pulled away from her twin sister Tessa and the rest of the field to win the varsity girls’ 100-metre dash with a time of 13.31 seconds.

Less than two hours later, she took the baton from Tessa and cruised to the finish line without anyone within 40 metres to claim 4×100 gold with a time of 54.15, immediately hugging lead runner Jordan Woloski while Kylie Strutt made the long run over from the opposite corner of the track to celebrate.

“We haven’t run track in a while so it was nice to be back out there and we’re excited to go to provs,” Chelsey said.

The team won back-to-back 4×100 provincial golds in JV, and will be a strong contender to make it three-for-three.

Last time they were on the big stage, the Hoads also qualified for the 100m final, but settled for third and fifth.

“It’s all I’ve been thinking about,” Chelsey said.

• • •

The varsity boys’ 100m final came down to a photo finish, as Massey’s Daniel Abikoye edged Neelin’s Sam Rempel with a time of 11.86 seconds. Rempel was close behind at 11.93.

“I love competition and a lot of the boys out there I knew could bring it. I also love proving I’m the best and that’s what I came here to do today,” Abikoye said.

The speedster set a personal best in the 200m at 23.44, finishing second behind Tae-Ja James of Crocus Plains (23.37).

Abikoye has competed at provincials before, but didn’t crack the 100m final. He’s hoping to make his last trip to the capital city in Viking purple his best one.

“When I go to Winnipeg for provs, the pressure will be there so I gotta step up my game too,” he said.

The top three finishers in each event qualify for provincials, which take place June 12-14 in Winnipeg.

For a full list of first-place finishers, see Page B3.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com