City records fall in return to high school track and field

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This article was published 26/05/2022 (1378 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City records and a relay were afterthoughts for Andrew Simard.

The Neelin senior looked right past the Brandon varsity boys 800-metre record of a shade under two minutes. He took a leisurely jog as the anchor in a medley relay the Spartans just needed to finish to qualify for provincials.

Simard started the 800m final with a goal of one minute 55 seconds — his personal best is 1:56.82 — and crossed the line in 1:58.00.

“My coach and I had a time in mind and said ‘Give myself a chance,’ go through at 400, try to get that time,” Simard said.

“It was a little bit disappointing that I wasn’t able to get a personal best but it’s good to be a city record holder again. I got a city record in middle school so to have a high school city record now, it’s cool to have both.”

Simard, who committed to run NCAA Division I track and cross-country at Manhattan College, feels the Spartans have a shot at the AAA banner at provincials. The championships are taking place on June 9-11 for the first time since 2019 and Simard is in the 400m, 800m, 1,500m and sprint medley relay as the anchor after winning all four races.

“We’re just going to hit the track, work out three times a week, keep running, stick to what we’ve been doing and what works,” he said.

• • •

While Simard coasted through his medley leg as only Neelin put a team in the varsity division, the Vincent Massey Vikings’ JV squad was already celebrating its win and city record time of 3:59.86.

It makes sense as they had sophomore Daniel Fuentes Ruiz, the JV 100m and 200m champ, handing off to freshman Lucas Ewert to bring them home. Ewert captured the JV 800m and 1,500m golds with ease.

“He’s crazy. He’s the sprint-endurance guy of our team and it’s honestly because of him we got the win,” said Fuentes Ruiz, who was also .03 off the city JV 100m record with his preliminary time of 11.44 seconds.

Fuentes Ruiz dominated the 200m, finishing in 24.08, 1.6 seconds ahead of his nearest opponent. He has been training for months and is as focussed as ever on his goals. He said coaches Jason Jones, Jared Spearing and Rajah Comrie have helped him get in a good spot to win a provincial title.

“I think I have a good chance of doing that,” Fuentes Ruiz said.

His time was actually good enough to win the varsity boys title as well, but that went to Massey’s Dennis Dansu, who crossed the line in 11.97 to sneak ahead of teammate Lucas Cels (12.06).

“It’s awesome. There’s nothing else to say, it’s just awesome … I knew my start was good but I didn’t know if I could keep it going that long since I lost the 200 pretty bad,” said Dansu, who took bronze in the 200m.

“That was my fault because I should have come to more practices and gone harder each practice. I came to like two practices.”

• • •

Emma Wiebe had a field day at her final zone meet.

The Crocus Plainsmen senior took gold in three field events: Long jump, triple jump and discus.

“It’s been a while since we’ve really done track and only had a couple of practices so I was not expecting that at all,” Wiebe said. “I started really nervous but once we started events I felt like ‘OK, I’ve done this before, just keep doing this.’”

The six-foot graduating all-star basketball forward, known for her ability to get up and down the floor and haul in rebounds, is a natural jumper. Her discus ability is a product of training since she tried it out in Grade 9 and qualified for provincials.

Wiebe’s 24.63-metre throw was five metres ahead of anyone.

She was the only varsity girl in triple jump, though her solid 9.66-metre mark would have been second behind Massey’s Porter Ewert (11.35) in the varsity boys category.

Her 4.80-metre long jump topped Massey’s Juliana Crocker (4.60).

Minutes after that, Plainsmen Marquis Walters broke the city record with a 6.05m long jump.

• • •

Anne Forman made two JV golds look effortless and completely gutted out a third.

The Grade 10 sprinter had the fastest girls 200m time, JV or varsity, at 29.52.

Then she had to chase down Kruz Wilson of Neelin in an exciting 100m final, catching her in the final metre to cross in 13.87 to Wilson’s 13.90.

“It was great. It was a lot of fun and it was good to just see everyone else from the other schools.

“It’s definitely intimidating but it’s fine as soon as you get back with your team, to see a bunch of people you know and realize you’re all in it together,” Forman said.

“I like 100 because it’s quick and you sprint as fast as you can … until you’re across the finish line. The 200’s tough because you have to pace it out a bit more but still sprint at the start and bolt at the end.”

Forman took a break from high jump to run the 200m. She jumped at 1.20m and came back when the bar was at 1.35. Offered a chance to move the bar back down and take a breather, she did neither. Instead, she stepped up and floated over the bar, and again at 1.40, and again at 1.45 for a personal best before missing three attempts at 1.50. It was still more than enough to win.

“That one is, in a way, a bit newer to me,” Forman said. “The hardest part about it is definitely the mental block of how high the bar looks versus how high it actually is but if you can get a good sprint into it you can keep your momentum going over the bar.”

• • •

The last record of the day to go down was the varsity girls 4x100m relay. Emerson Brick and Juliana Crocker set the Vikings up in a great spot, knowing the Schram twins were ready to bring it home.

Kendra and Sydney were first and second, respectively, in the 100m and had their sights set on the record the moment coach Jason Jones told them it was possible.

They expected to break the record and put that pressure on themselves.

“The pressure’s sometimes good because it makes you push an extra level,” Sydney said.

Sydney passed the baton cleanly to Kendra and it was all but over. She crossed the line at 53.06 and Jones quickly informed them it was enough.

While track is secondary to soccer for the Grade 11 phenoms, who train with 1V1 Futbol Dreams Academy in Winnipeg, they were eager to take on a new challenge.

“I wanted to represent my school. I haven’t done it that much because we’ve been so busy with soccer so I thought track was a perfect time,” Kendra said.

Added Sydney: “Soccer’s obviously a big part of our lives but provincials is a great opportunity we’re not going to get, it only comes once a year so we’re going to put the work in and see if we can get to the highest potential we can achieve.”

Kendra hasn’t returned to soccer yet due to an ankle injury but is cleared for running. She’s glad as she got tired of people asking which twin was faster.

“I think it’s really cool they put Sydney and I beside each other,” Kendra said with a grin after slipping a few strides ahead to win.

For top finishers in each event, see Friday’s Page B3.

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