Jamie Mountain
The Muskie track-and-field team has had a strong season so far, which continued into last week.
Multiple personal bests and top finishes were recorded by the black-and-gold at the Harry McMaster Classic meet in Dryden on Thursday.
Head coach John Dutton has liked how his squad has progressed heading into the NWOSSAA championships set for May 29-30 in Thunder Bay.
“It’s been a great season so far,” he enthused.
“I have great advances in many of the athletes and they continue to work hard as the NWOSSAA championships approach.”
Dutton also noted Dryden was the last meet of the regular season, and also was the final one for the team’s Grade 7-8 athletes.
“Next week we travel to Thunder Bay to compete at NWOSSAA . . . and the athletes are right where they need to be in terms of readiness,” he remarked.
“This week we will focus on technique, race strategy, and baton exchanges for our relays.
“We have a number of potential OFSAA qualifiers,” Dutton added. “But anything can happen on a given day, and we haven’t seen any results from Thunder Bay athletes yet this season.”
Jill Calder, Sekina Scheibler, and Aaron Scheibler had perhaps the most stellar performances in Dryden on Thursday.
Calder was a triple-gold winner, topping the field in girls’ shot put (7.29m), discus (17.34m), and javelin (17.08m).
Sekina Scheibler secured top spot in boys’ shot put (12.39m) and discus (42.05m).
Aaron Scheibler, meanwhile, nabbed gold in the junior boys’ shot put (13.21m) and silver in discus (36.45m).
“I was really happy with how the team performed in Dryden,” Dutton lauded.
“We have had a really strong season but our athletes really stepped it up in Dryden.”
Brady Meeks won gold in boys’ javelin (36.65m) and took bronze in junior boys’ shot put (10.40m).
Sekina Scheibler took bronze in javelin (34.00m) and also took gold in boys’ long jump (5.71m) while Carson Noga earned silver (5.35m).
Grace Petsnick took silver in the 100m dash (13.27).
Ellie Petsnick tied for fourth (14.00), followed by Kamryn Sandelovich in sixth (14.24), Jyllian Westover in seventh (14.27), and Jacy Gagne in ninth (14.54).
Calder was 11th (14.69), Sarah Rittau was 13th (14.93), and Sara Alzeebaree was 14th (15.33).
Leah Seguin finished first in the junior girls’ 400m race (1:09.12) while Ellie Petsnick earned silver in the senior girls’ one (1:15.90).
Alexia Gate nabbed top spot in both of the junior girls’ 800m (2:44.15) and 1,500m (5:53.00), with Emma Toriseva earning bronze in 1,500m (6:11.33).
The Muskies had a 1-2-3 finish in the senior girls’ 1,500m race.
Ashyln Beck was first (5:42.42), Kenna Spuzak took silver (6:42.51), and Alacea Yerxa placed third (6:43.90).
Fort High placed first, second, and fourth in the girls’ 800m sprint medley.
Leah Seguin took gold in junior girls’ long jump (4.17m). Grace Petsnick was first in senior girls’ long jump (4.64m) while her sister, Ellie, was just behind (4.40m).
Katrina Slomke finished just shy of the podium in fourth (4.03m), followed by Westover in sixth (3.87m), Yerxa in seventh (3.79m), and Rittau in eighth (3.61m).
“We had lots of personal bests and top finishes in running, throwing, and jumping events,” noted Dutton.
“The kids had a lot of fun running relays, and I think we really started to gel as a team.”
Emma Toriseva earned bronze in junior girls’ shot put (6.20m) while Tori Toriseva was sixth among the seniors (5.09m).
Noga nabbed silver in the boys’ 100m (11.09), with Sekina Scheibler taking bronze (11.27).
Noga also took silver in the 400m (58.57) while Caelin Mayhew was fifth (1:05.42).
Fort High then placed second in the boys’ 4x100m relay race (52.15) and was first in the 800m sprint medley (1:54.57).
