Joey Payeur
So what if Superman can leap tall buildings in a single bound or move faster than a speeding bullet?
Jacob Empey was able to jump all the way from Thunder Bay to Mississauga while Jenny Hammond will join him there after leaving a vapour trail behind her.
The pair of Muskie track-and-field athletes will make the journey south for the OFSAA championships running tomorrow through Saturday after Empey took home two gold and Hammond one from the NWOSSAA showdown last Wednesday in Thunder Bay.
Empey soared to victory in the junior men’s long jump and triple jump while Hammond won a heart-pounding sprint to the finish line to capture the senior women’s 800m race.
“Our athletes’ successes this year came from what they’ve done with the tools we’ve put in their hands,” said Muskie track-and-field coach Ilka Milne.
“We worked to put them in front of every opportunity to improve their athletic performance: preparation, equipment upgrades, competition experience, and targeted coaching,” she noted.
Empey, now in Grade 10, was third at NWOSSAA last year in the triple jump with a mark of 10.39m and fourth in the long jump at 4.87m.
He significantly bumped both those numbers up this time around—and caught an unexpected break at the same time.
With defending champ Thomas Walser of Thunder Bay unable to compete due to injury, Empey’s distance of 5.47m in the long jump was just enough to edge James Thordarson of Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute (Thunder Bay), who took silver with a leap of 5.38m.
“I was pretty close to ending up second as [Thordarson] beat me by three cm on his last jump,” admitted Empey.
“But then I got past him on my last one,” he noted. “It was a lot of pressure.”
Empey credited local figure skating coach Marie Potvin-Begin, who came on board to help the Muskies with the jumping events, for making the difference.
“Before, I would just run and jump,” he explained. “But thanks to [Potvin-Begin], now I know how to keep my form properly.”
Milne also lauded Potvin-Begin’s influence in helping Empey make a last-minute adjustment in the triple jump that led to his victorious mark of 11.16m.
That was just ahead of Trevor Luby of St. Ignatius High School (Thunder Bay), who had to settle for second (10.99m).
“While coaching the shot throwers, I happened to be near the end of the triple jump pit so I snapped a picture of Jacob in the air,” recalled Milne.
“When he saw he’d leaned to the right, he said, ‘Marie told me not to do that,’ fixed the problem, and here we are.”
Empey understands he will be in tough to duplicate his golden feats in Mississauga.
“The better guys in the long jump are going over six metres,” he acknowledged.
“But I’m going for a personal best and being at OFSAA can only help me improve for the next two years,” he reasoned.
Hammond, who also qualified for OFSAA in the 800m last year but chose not to attend, went down to the wire against Mia Serratore of Ecole secondaire catholique La Verendrye (Thunder Bay).
But it was the Muskie speedster who would not be denied—breaking the tape in a time of 2:31.06 ahead of Serratore (2:31.21).
The suspense didn’t end at the finish line, however.
“[Hammond] was waiting for the junior [800m] race to line up but seeing some seniors on the track, [she] ran over to find out what was going on,” explained Milne.
“It turned out there were so many seniors, they’d combined the two divisions and put them in two heats.
“She was directed to line up and ran.
“After being boxed in during the 1,500m earlier in the meet [where Hammond finished fourth in 5:34.28], she’d resolved to take the lead early and keep it for the 800 [metres] and that’s exactly what she did, although (Serratore) made her work for it,” Milne added.
“[But] as we were celebrating, a meet official ran over to tell her she’d run in the wrong heat,” noted Milne.
“There were some anxious moments hoping the mistake didn’t disqualify her time.
“It wasn’t, and it turned out to be a lucky accident because the second heat was 15 seconds slower,” she said.
A third Muskie nearly made it to Mississauga as Arthur Van Ael claimed silver in the senior men’s 3,000m in a time of 10:15.65 behind Dryden’s Kirk Markowski in 9:59.35, which appeared to beat the OFSAA qualifying standard.
Van Ael had to play the waiting game until Saturday evening, though, when he found out officially that a runner from the North region (i.e., Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, and North Shore) came in with a slightly better time at another qualifying meet, ripping the last available berth out of his hands.
“Arthur’s 3,000m was a standout performance,” lauded Milne, who also watch Van Ael finish fourth in the senior men’s 1,500m in a clocking of 4:44.17.
“He chopped 45 seconds from his previous best time this season.”
Muskie Chandler Cousineau finished fifth in the 3,000m with a time of 11:23.03.
Jason Bazylewski earned bronze for the Muskies in the Midget men’s shot put with a mark of 11.68m behind winner Adam Williams of Dryden (12.70m).
And his Midget men’s discus toss of 25.63m was fourth behind Williams’ phenomenal gold-winning throw of 41.08m, which was almost 11 metres better than the next closest competitor.
Another bronze for the Muskies came in the women’s 4x100m relay as Fort High’s quartet crossed the line in 58.77 seconds, with St. Patrick’s High School (Thunder Bay) finishing on top in 55.25.
Muskie Kenna Robertson nabbed fourth place in the senior women’s 400m dash in a time of 1:08.43, with Westgate’s Leah Maki taking gold in 1:01.82.
Other fifth-place finishes for the Muskies were achieved by Sarah Angus in the junior women’s shot put (6.79m), Tory Beaudry in the open women’s 1,500m steeplechase (7:33.41), and the open men’s 4x400m relay team (4:09.86).
As for her predictions for Empey and Hammond at OFSAA, Milne is keeping it simple.
“I hope they make the most of this great opportunity and enjoy every minute,” she remarked.
