Track team improves at NWOSSAA

The Fort High track team went to the Legion Track in Thunder Bay last week for the beginning and end of their short season—improving on their point total and team ranking from last season in the NWOSSAA meet.
“We set a goal to match our point total from last year but managed to double it, which was a big surprise,” said Nick Sottile, the new head coach for the track team.
The Muskies pulled a 27-point total—good enough to earn them 11th out of 15 teams and up from last year’s 14-point total.
The other big surprise of the meet was the performance of Josh Strain, who took second in high jump and triple jump and third in long jump in his Midget category.
“Mostly the Grade 9s were out there for learning experience,” he said of Strain and his Midget teammates. “We weren’t out there to beat on anybody.”
Sottile added the team of 11 athletes was split almost half-and-half between Grade 9 students and those in Grade 12, and the showing should be a “chance to build on for the future.”
Other notable performances included those of Brian Glavish, who took sixth in the 1500m senior run and also was part of the 4 x 100m senior team that finished in fifth place.
“Everyone else pretty much ran their races and got beat by some serious, serious competition in Thunder Bay.”
For the most part, the two-day trip was all about getting ready for the future.
Sottile pointed to participants such as sprinters Donny Krishka and Donavan Cupp, and long-distance runners Ethan Jordbro and Travis Bois, as athletes to watch for in 2008.
Not to mention Sottile himself getting settled in to the track coach game.
“It was a learning experience for me, too,” he remarked. “It was a little fun getting to know the kids outside of a school setting.
“We had a lot of fun, it was nice weather, and no incidents, no injuries. Just a good time.”