BROCKVILLE– “I think nerves got the best of some of our young team members, but they will learn from this experience and it will only make them stronger and hungrier for next year,” said Seaway High Track and Field coach Mark Lewis, following the East Regional Track and Field Championship hosted by Thousand Islands Secondary in Brockville last, Thursday and Friday, May 28-29.
Lewis, who co-coaches the Seaway team with Lindsay Waddell, credited the young Seaway athletes and is delighted that two will be getting a taste at the tough All-Ontario meet later this week.
“Remembering that they are very young, all midgets and juniors, this is a great building block for the program and hopefully will prepare them for bigger things to come. Lindsay and I are really pleased with the results this year, and look forward to one more big week at OFSAA to see how David and Sid do.”
Qualifying for the All-Ontario championships were two Seaway athletes, David Swerdfeger in two events, midget triple jump and 300 hurdles and Sid Sideratos in midget shot put.
“David did qualify for triple jump and 300 hurdles,” said Lewis. “I think he was disappointed by the results, but he is young and it was the first time he had come up against that level of competition. It is eye opening when you have always been the best, and then there are people as good or better. It was good to happen at this meet as it will prepare him better for this week.”
To qualify in the triple jump, Swerdfeger registered an 11.73m jump for a fourth place finish. This was well down from his winning 12.05m jumped at EOSSA. It was also well back of the winning 12.39 winning jump on Friday.
His second qualification was in the 300m hurdles in which he slightly lowered his winning EOSSA time of 43.78 seconds, with a fourth place 43.44 time.
Sid Sideratos qualified in the midget boys shot put with a second place throw of 12.09m. He threw 12.61m for his second place EOSSA finish. The East Region win was collected on a 12.91m throw.
“Sid did very well, albeit certainly not his best throw,” said Lewis. “One has to bear in mind that East Region is a qualifying meet, and they both qualified which is what we were trying to do here.”
One of the biggest disappointments for the Seaway team and for the individual athlete going into the East Regional competition was the absence of Maggie Wells who had qualified in junior girls discus and shot put. Due to an injury, Wells was forced to scratch.
“Maggie was really disappointing as looking at the results, she would have easily qualified in both events. But accidents and injuries happen and there is nothing we can do about them,” said Lewis.
Jumper Kaitlyn Stewart had solid results at the Regional, but came up just short of qualifying in either of her events. Although disappointed with her 10.91m triple jump which landed her in sixth place, she was happy with her sixth place finish in long jump. Stewart registered four personal best jumps in long jump, and finished sixth with a 4.84m PB. This was a big increase from her 4.55m fifth place jump at EOSSA.
Also having a good day was Jaycie Maville, who produced a 9.79m throw for a sixth place finish in midget shot put. This was up from her 9.69m sixth place throw at EOSSA.
“Jaycie threw really well and finished great,” said Lewis. “We are very pleased with her efforts this season.”
On the track, distance runner Grant Wells, failed to qualify but ran personal bests in each of his events, the 1500m and the 3000m. Wells placed eighth in both, running the 1500m in 4:33.79 (4:36.68 at EOSSA) and the 3000m in 9:57.23 (EOSSA fourth at 10:00.39).
“Grant trained very hard and was rewarded for his hard work. He placed better than he expected, and I couldn’t be more pleased with him.”
The remaining two Seaway athletes at the Regional, Juleana Barnhartd and Cassie Hummel, had disappointing finishes to their season when they scratched in their respective events, Barnhartd in midget triple jump, and Hummel in junior javelin. Never-the-less both had a good seasons as they worked their way to the tough Regional meet.
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