Staff
Fifteen grade 1-8 members of the Meaford Coyotes Track Club competed at the 2015 Ontario Minor Track Association Provincial Championships in Oshawa on Saturday, July 25th.
Numerous track clubs throughout Ontario were in attendance, and the competition was very strong in all races and age groups. The morning started off hot under sunny skies and reached afternoon highs of 30’C + humidity, then to be interrupted by a mid afternoon lightning storm. Another late afternoon rain provided some more cooling temperatures for the young athletes to finish their day.
“We stayed cool during the 1 hour lunch break as we were surprisingly the only team to camp out in the neighbouring air-conditioned Oshawa Civic Centre. This greatly benefited our afternoon performances as the team continued to rock in their 800m races later in the day. Our 15 Coyotes competed in 29 events with 19 personal best performances, 8 provincial championship medals and one provincial record throughout the day,” said team coach Kevin Hooper.
Kara Tichbourne, a grade four SVE student, lead the team as she won gold in the Tyke Girls 800m and 1200m. In her 1200m race she had 3 other girls nipping at her heals until the final 100m. The team’s recent “finishing kick” workouts paid off as she shifted into high gear and out sprinted the trio to break her own provincial record by 2 seconds. Her new record time now stands at 4:09.10 The other 3 girls also ran faster than Kara’s previous record time to make for a very close and exciting race. The same foursome laced up again in the 800m and Kara again out-sprinted them all in the last 100m to grab her 2nd gold of the day in a winning time of 2:39.97.
Grade two Beaver Valley student, Denon Taylor of Heathcote earned his first provincial medal as he won his finishing sprint to take silver in the grade 1-2 Mite Boys 400m with a personal best time of 1:17.90. He later grabbed bronze in the 800m with his 2nd personal best time of the day, running 3:09.73. Olivia Latham cross the line in her Tyke Girls 800m race in 3:20.42 to earn silver with team mate Taryn Lee grabbing a bronze medal in her Tyke Girls 800m, stopping the clock in 3:22.55. Payton Dodd, a grade 4 of Collingwood smashed her 400m best time and won silver in the grade 3-4 Tyke Girls 400m, stopping the clock at 1:10.20. Newcomer Tayden Hannivan, a grade 6 student from Dundalk joined our ranks and he made a strong statement taking bronze in the grade 5-6 Atom Boys 1500m with a time of 4:59.00.
The Coyotes finished strong after a long day outside with 10 of 14 runners setting new personal best times in their respective 800m races. In addition to those previously mentioned, Devlin knocked off 13 seconds on his 800m with team mate Sebastien LeBlanc shaving 8 seconds off his 800m previous best time.
“It has been a long season for our young Coyotes. The team is now on a two week vacation and will return on Saturday, August 8th as they begin training for their Fall cross country season. Our website is presently under construction, but should be up and running in a couple weeks,” said the team.
If you have any questions or would like to join the team, please email head coach Kevin Hooper at kevinhooper@rogers.com.
Results: [* = personal best performance]
Mite Girls [2007-2008]
Olivia Latham [08] – 5th/12 in 400m @ 1:28.70* / 2nd/5 in 800m @ 3:20.42*
Taryn Lee [07] – 4th/12 in 400m @ 1:25.40* / 3rd/5 in 800m @ 3:22.55
Ava Olivier [07] – 8th/12 in 400m @ 1:30.50* / 4th/5 in 800m @ 3:37.70*
Mite Boys [2007-2008]
Denon Taylor [07] – 2nd/8 in 400m @ 1:17.90* / 3rd/7 in 800m @ 3:09.73*
Tyke Girls [2005-2006]
Kara Tichbourne [05] – 1st/10 in 1200m @ 4:09.10* Provincial Record! / 1st/19 in 800m @ 2:39.97
Payton Dodd [05] – 2nd/25 in 400m @ 1:10.20* / 7th/19 in 800m @ 2:51.57*
McKenna Karn [05] – 10th/10 in 1200m @ 4:56.10* / 16th/19 in 800m @ 3:05.92*
Tyke Boys [2005-2006]
Devlin Gillis [05] – 6th/18 in 800m @ 2:50.96* / 4th/9 in 1200m @ 4:22.90*
Rohan Egan [05] – 11th/18 in 800m @ 3:00.62* / 9th/9 in 1200m @ 4:42.80*
Sebastien LeBlanc [05] – 13th/18 in 800m @ 3:02.41* / 8th/9 in 1200m @ 4:39.70
Atom Girls [2003-2004]
Olivia Karn [03] 8th/28 in 800m @ 2:41.06 / 6th/16 in 1500m @ 5:28.69
Atom Boys [2003-2004]
Tayden Hannivan [03] – 3rd/18 in 1500m @ 4:59.00
Jamie MacCulloch [03] – 12th/17 in 800m @ 2:41.80* / 11th/18 in 1500m @ 5:22.40
Senior Girls [2001-2002]
Matalyn Lee [02] – 20th/36 in 800m @ 2:39.69* / 18th/25 in 1500m @ 5:38.00
