Central Alberta athletes compete at Central Zone Track and Field Championships

At the 2024 Middle Zone Track and Field Championships on Wednesday at Lindsay Thurber High School, local athletes competed for the chance to compete in the provincial championships.

If participants placed at least first or second in their events, they qualified for the Provincial Athletics Championships, which will be held in Edmonton from June 7 to 8.

Among the top competitors in the junior women's division was Rebekah MacLeod from St. Augustine School in Ponoka, who took the lead with 27 points.

She won the overall title after setting the highest jump of 10.32 metres in the girls' triple jump. She also placed third in the girls' 200 metres with a time of 27.08 seconds, second in the long jump with a time of 4.94 metres and fourth in the 100 metres with a time of 12.83 seconds.

MacLeod was just one point ahead of Lindsay Thurber's Aislyn Cole, who scored a total of 26 points. Cole finished second in the 100m and 200m with times of 12.42 and 26.33 seconds, respectively, but took first place in the long jump with a leap of 5.05m. She was also part of the Raiders' 4x100m relay team, which took first place with a time of 52.65 seconds. Cole won the race alongside teammates Leah Kilpatrick, Jillian Marquart and Hannah Weldon.

Third place in the junior women's overall standings went to Devyn Rasmuson of Bawlf. Rasmuson earned 24 points after placing fifth in the high jump (1.40 m), third in the shot put (10.77 m), first in the discus (29.66 m) and fourth in the javelin (26.29 m).

In the junior boys division, Ben McAuley of Notre Dame led the overall standings with 27 points.

He took first place in the 100-meter and 200-meter races with times of 11.30 and 23.49 seconds respectively. He also took third place in the 4×100-meter relay with a time of 48.22 seconds and first place in the long jump with a time of 6.67 m.

Next up were Noah Bendera of St. Augustine and Mason Predinchuk of Lacombe with 20 points.

Bendera finished seventh in the 400-meter dash (1:00.55), eighth in the 4×100-meter relay (51.24), seventh in the triple jump (10.21 m), second in the shot put (12.34 m) and first in the javelin (45.08 m). Predinchuk finished sixth in the 100-meter dash (12.06 m), first in the 100-meter hurdles (15.74 m), seventh in the long jump (5.49 m) and third in the triple jump (11.30 m).

Amelia Roberts of Lindsay Thurber scored a solid 31 points to lead the girls' intermediate division.

She finished third in the 800-meter run in 2:35.81, first in the 1,500 meters, second in the 3,000 meters in 5:34.05 and first in the shot put with 10.92 meters.

Makena Victor of Notre Dame came closest to the overall win with 24 points after finishing third in the 1,500-meter run in 5 minutes, 48.81 seconds, first in the 800-meter run in 2 minutes, 29.21 seconds and first in the 400-meter run in 1 minute, 02.20 seconds.

Chloe Penz of Lindsay Thurber and Paige Zinger of Notre Dame finished third overall with 23 points each.

Penz took first place in the 100-meter dash (12.84), second in the 200-meter dash (27.46), second in the 4×100-meter relay (54.24) and second in the high jump (1.43 m). Zinger took second in the long jump (4.90 m), second in the pole vault (2.40 m), first in the 4×100-meter relay (50.90) and first in the 80-meter hurdles (12.34).

Kolby Fuller of St. Joseph High School took first place with 31 points after an incredible performance. Fuller took third place in the 100-meter dash in 11.46 seconds, third in the 4×100-meter relay in 48.26 seconds, first in the high jump with 1.80 m, first in the long jump with 5.77 m and second in the discus with 33.72 m.

Kobe Zembal from Bashaw High School followed with 27 points and took first place in the javelin throw (43.37 m), fifth place in the discus throw (25.57 m), first place in the triple jump (11.39 m) and fourth place in the long jump (5.53 m).

Kayden Fredeen of Hunting Hills High School finished third overall with 23 points. He finished second in the 100-meter dash (11.37) and 200-meter dash (23.40) and first in the 400-meter dash (53.14). He also finished first in the 4×100-meter relay (46.05).

In the higher leagues, Sydney Zinger of Notre Dame was the best player among the girls with 31 points.

She took first place in the high jump with 1.45 m and in the pole vault with 2.70 m. She also took second place in the long jump with 4.68 m, third place in the 100-meter dash with 13.65 seconds and second place in the 4×100-meter relay with 55.18 seconds.

Lindsay Thurber's Charlotte Murphy finished tied for second place overall with Notre Dame's Olivia McAuley with 26 points.

McAuley took first place in the javelin (37.42 m) and shot put (10.16 m), second in the high jump (1.43 m) and eighth in the discus (16.16 m). Murphy took first place in the 4×100 m relay (53.40), second in the 100 m (13.14 m) and 200 m (27.84 m), second in the pole vault (2.25 m) and fourth in the long jump (4.18 m).

Among the top athletes in the senior boys division was Matio Asante of Parkview Adventist in Lacombe, who scored 34 points, placing first in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.20 seconds, second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.11 seconds, first in the long jump with a time of 6.47 meters and first in the triple jump with a time of 12.71 meters.

Joining him were Josh Gillard of Notre Dame and Sander Sampson of St. Joseph, who finished second with 27 points. Gillard took first place in the 200-meter dash (22.81), 400-meter dash (50.37) and 800-meter dash (2:01.42), while Sampson took first place in the shot put (14.39 m), discus (40.92 m) and javelin (49.67 m).