The Central Cyclones just might have figured out the key to success in the Moose Jaw high school track and field city championships.
Simply have a handful of your athletes win all of their events, rack up plenty of points in the process and pick up your school title at the end of the day.
There’s a lot more to it than that, of course, but there’s little question it was a solid day for the Cyclones at the city meet on Thursday afternoon at Gutheridge Field.
Central would go on to put up 934 points throughout the day, with Peacock landing in second with 757 points, Vanier third at 576, Cornerstone fourth with 64 points and Riverview fifth with 58.
Three athletes came away with sweeps in their four events to pick up maximum points.
Junior boys competitor Javin Boynton had a unique series of wins, with victories in the two sprints and long jump to go along with gold in the shot put.
Boynton would cover the 100 metres in 11.15 seconds and 200 metres in 23.46 before hitting the sand with a 5.58-metre effort in the long jump and 12.09 metre throw in the shot put.
Ellah Flanagan had solid showings in a trio of junior girls jumping events, taking first in the high jump with a 1.43-metre performance, winning the triple jump at 10.36 metres and putting down a time of 14.21 to claim top spot in the hurdles. She capped her four-event sweep with a gold-winning time of 13.26 seconds in the 100 metres.
Intermediate boys competitor Keaton Belsher sent notice that he’ll be one to watch in the years to come, thanks to wins in the 100 metres (11.72) and 200 metres (23.58) while also claiming gold in the long jump (5.21 metres) and triple jump (11.48 m).
Peacock distance runner Payton Kell came close to a four-win event of his own with victories in the 800 metres (2:20.34), 1,500 metres (4:47.39) and 3,000 metres (10:35.75). He ran into a rather familiar opponent in the 400 metres, though, as brother Kayde Kell would win the sprint to the finish and cross the line in 57.57, a mere two-tenths of a second ahead of Payton.
Central’s Emily Lin won the intermediate girls division with victories in the 80m hurdles and long jump while finishing second in the high jump and triple jump.
Peacock competitor Kylie Howe was tops in the senior girls division after wins in the 80m hurdles, long jump and triple jump and a third-place finish in the 100 metres. She finished a mere four points ahead of Central distance specialist and defending provincial cross country champion Jadyn Palaschuk.
The top competitors from each event will now represent Moose Jaw at the South Central district meet on Wednesday at Gutheridge Field. Action gets underway at 9 a.m. and runs until around 5 p.m., with the top competitors there moving on to the Saskatchewan High School Athletic Association provincials June 2-3 in Saskatoon.
