Staff
It was a busy weekend for 15 members of the Meaford Coyotes Track Club. On March 1-2, they were at York University for the Athletics Ontario Bantam, Midget, Junior Provincial Indoor Championships where almost 800 of Ontario’s top athletes gathered.
The Coyotes had several expectations for the weekend, using it as a great learning experience for some, gaining valuable race experience for others, while some were “in it to win it”.
In the Bantam [2001 and younger] age group, the Coyites had five competitors – all competing in the 1200m and 2000m events.
Kara Tichbourne [2005] led the way placing 19th of 26 girls in the 1200m [4:24.24] and 10th of 12 girls in the 2000m [7:38.59]. Matalyn Lee [2002] ran two personal best times this weekend as she took 21st spot in the 1200m [4:31.15] and 11th in the 2000m [7:53.28]. Team mate Bethany Woodhouse [2004] placed 22nd in the 1200m in a personal best time of 4:34.44 and 12th in the 2000m [8:04.80]. Luc Nusselder [2001] also ran two personal best times as he was 9th of 12 in the 1200m [4:05.02] and 4/5 in the 2000m event [7:05.78] while team mate Peter Ruest [2002] tool 12th spot in the 1200m [4:10.66] and 5th in the 2000m [7:17.21]. Theses were also both personal best performances for Peter.
Three Midget Boys [1999 and younger] also competed for the Coyotes in the 1200m and 2000m events. Sam Nusselder was out-sprinted at the line as he took 3rd of 36 in the 1200m with his personal best time of 3:26.48. Sam also won a silver medal in the 2000m [6:05.92]. Alex Tulloch continues to make huge improvements each race as he had two personal best races. He placed 20th in the 1200m [3:41.93] and 8th of 20 in the 2000m [6:26.16] while Jake Clarke also improves with each competition, taking 30th in the 1200m in a personal best time of 3:49.40 and took 13th spot in the 2000m [6:44.16].
The Coyotes also had four Junior Girls [1995 and younger] competing who were led by Hannah Woodhouse [1997]. She placed 3rd of 41 in the 1500m event [4:38.33], knocking 10 seconds off her previous best time and then captured gold in the 3000m [9:58.41] against 23 runners. These times place Hannah tied for 3rd in Canada as a Youth [1997-1998] in the 1500m and 2nd in Canada for the 3000m. As a Junior [1995-1996], she is now tied for 6th in Canada for the 1500m and 7th in Canada for the 3000m. Jessie Nusselder [1997] ran two personal best times as she took 14th spot in the 1500m [4:54.47], taking 10 seconds off her previous best time and then placed 12th in the 3000m [10:40.34], improving her best time by 2 seconds. Rose Nadjiwan [1998] had a rough weekend as she was not her usual energetic self, placing 32nd in the 1500m [5:18.41] and 21st in the 3000m [11:20.72]. Bryce West [1996] was our lone sprinter, competing in 3 events. She set a personal best time in the 60m [8.24] and qualified for the semi-finals, placing 16th of 39. Her 400m was also a personal best of 64.02 as she placed 32nd of 45 girls. Her 200m race had 49 competitors. Her time of 27.78 just missed her personal best by 0.10 sec.
Jared Ruest [1997], Steven Nadjiwan [1997] and Jonah Neumann [1998] competed in the Junior Boys [1995 and under] age group. In the 1500m event, Jared took 15th of 63 runners with a personal best time of 4:13.02. Steven’s personal best time of 4:13.22 placed him 16th. Jonah also ran a personal best time of 4:36.00, taking 46th position. For the 3000m race, Steven placed 18th of 34 competitors in a time of 9:15.72, while Jared took 21st spot with his 9:17.66 clocking. Jonah posted his 2nd PB for the weekend as he ran 9:57.72, giving him 31st position.
“Overall it was a great weekend. Our 15 Coyotes competed in 31 events, had a total of 20 personal best performances, 4 provincial medals, and two “top 3” National rankings. Our team only has two more competitions this winter. We are taking Hannah Woodhouse, Jessie Nusselder, Steven Nadjiwan and Jared Ruest to the Canadian Indoor Championships in Montreal on March 14-16. On March 30th, our younger grade 1-8 Coyotes will be competing at the Minor Track Association Indoor Champs at York University,” said team coach Kevin Hooper.
