Joey Payeur
Alex Adrian and Jarred Taylor do not possess reputations as people who spend their time patting themselves on the back.
But if the duo wanted to sing their own praises, they certainly have earned bragging rights within their school.
The St. Francis Grade 7 track-and-field meet held Friday turned out to be a showcase for the overall athletic abilities of Adrian and Taylor, who ran off with the gold medal as the top overall female and male in their respective categories.
Points were awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis for those who finished first through fifth in each event.
Adrian chalked up 17 points during the day to own the girls’ division. Rainy Kozik notched 12 points to pick up the silver medal while Sydney Radigan collected 10 to pocket the bronze.
It was consistency which carried the day for Adrian, who won only one of the six events but placed in the top five in the others.
That gave her enough breathing room that she didn’t even need to run in the 800-metre race to preserve her overall lead.
Adrian captured the standing long jump with a mark of 1.80 m, edging out runner-up McKenna Begin (1.75 m) and Maddi Sanders (1.70 m).
Rachel Jean placed fourth (1.60 m) while Ana Stopa nailed down fifth place (1.55 m).
Adrian managed second in the 100-metre dash behind Radigan, who was a double winner during the meet with another victory in the 800-metre race.
Kozik was third in the 100m, with Sanders and Anne Jean taking fourth and fifth, while Maggie Jean was second behind Radigan in the 800m, followed by Claire Hyatt in third and Kozik in fourth.
Adrian also managed two third-place finishes. Her toss of 33.2 m in the ball throw put her just behind Hyatt (34.9 m) and silver-medalist Courtney Williams (35.4 m), with Claire Tibbs snaring fourth spot (31.4 m) and Kozik coming in fifth (30.8 m).
In the running long jump, Kozik flew the farthest with a measurement of 13.4 m, followed by Sanders in second (10.3 m) and Adrian third (9.2 m). Begin (8.9 m) squeaked out Carlie Kopichanski (8.8 m) for fourth place.
Brielle Byma, meanwhile, showed impressive arm strength to claim the shot put title with a top toss of 5.9 m, snatching first place out of the hands of runner-up Kenya Bruyere, who settled for second at 5.8 m.
Williams (5.7 m) was third, followed by Adrian (5.5 m) and Kozik (5.3 m).
Taylor made
In the boys’ division, Taylor also made the most of just one event victory, also stockpiling three silvers, one fourth, and one fifth-place effort to rise to the top of his class with 20 points, nipping overall silver-medalist Tyler Bruyere (19) and bronze-medalist Graeme Kitt (14).
Taylor was first to the finish line in the 800m, just ahead of Bruyere in second in what turned out to be the difference in the chase for the overall crown.
Cam Turriff was third, followed by Marin Loncar and Nick Pitrowski.
Bruyere got the better of Taylor in the 100m, with the pair finishing 1-2 ahead of Turriff, Connor Tibbs, and Andrew Roth.
A leap of 1.95 m also gave Bruyere victory in the standing long jump, mere millimetres ahead of Nick Armstrong in second, who also came in officially at 1.95 m.
Kitt wound up third at 1.90 m, followed by Taylor in fourth (1.85 m) and Roth fifth (1.80 m).
Taylor chalked up his other second-place finishes in the shot put and the running long jump.
Kitt dominated the shot put with a winning throw of 7.1 m, easily out-distancing Taylor (6.0 m) and third-place finisher Brandon Duffy (5.8 m), with Aaron Andrushuk taking fourth (5.7 m) and Matt Swing fifth (5.5 m).
Jordan Taggart launched himself to the victory in the running long jump with a top mark of 12.2 m, ahead of Taylor (11.7 m) and Bruyere (10.6 m).
Turriff settled for fourth (10.2 m) while Kitt hung on for fifth (9.8 m).
Kitt matched Bruyere’s double-gold performance by also claiming top spot in the ball throw with a mammoth toss of 48.2 m.
Aric Supinski muscled his way into second place (43.0 m), followed by Tyson Morrisseau (41.8 m), Bruyere (41.5 m), and Taylor (40.0 m).
