Staff
The Muskie track and field program took several strides forward at the two-day NWOSSAA meet, which wrapped up yesterday in Thunder Bay.
Josh Strain, in the high jump competition, will be the lone representative at the all-Ontarios in Toronto next month but several Muskie athletes qualified for finals and had good showings at NWOSSAA.
Strain jumped to a height of 1.80 metres to take the senior boys’ high jump crown.
He also finished third in the triple jump at 12.17 metres, but only the top two qualify for OFSAA.
Brett Jewell, meanwhile, qualified for the final in the junior boys’ 200-metre race, clocking a time of 35.8 seconds en route to an eighth-place finish.
Marina Jewell finished seventh in the 800m junior girls’ race in a time of 3:00.3.
Cassandra Spade took eighth in the 1,500m Midget girls’ race in a time of 6:56.9, and came seventh in the 3,000m in a time of 16:47.1.
Hailey O’Donnell finished eighth in the junior girls’ 1,500m run (6:21.3) while Caitlin Fitzgerald took seventh in the junior girls’ 3,000m (17:04.3).
Britton Green rounded out the finals appearances for the Muskie team with a sixth-place showing in the senior boys’ 3000m, coming in at an impressive time of 10:44.1.
The long-distance runs don’t have qualifying stages.
“I have noticed a considerable change in the both the athletes’ running times and competitive finishes,” Muskie co-coach Natasha Shack enthused.
“The athletes have been running year-round as they chose not to stop running practice when the cross-country season was over in the fall.
“I am proud of the athletes,” she added. “They should be proud of themselves as they have worked hard this year.”
St. Patrick High School (Thunder Bay) took top spot in the team standings, with Fort High finishing 13th.
