Two silver finishes at EOSSAA

nnThree athletes from Seaway advance to East RegionalsnnBROCKVILLE – A cool and windy day met competitors from Seaway District High School at the EOSSAA Track and Field championships May 18-19th.nnThe event, held at the Thousand Islands Secondary School track and field complex in Brockville saw teams from as far away as Napanee, the Upper Ottawa Valley, as far east as SDG and Prescott-Russell fight for a spot at the East Regional meet in Ottawa. This year, 20 from Seaway qualified for events at EOSSAA, representing their school in 29 different events.nnLeading the field for Seaway, Erika Jordan qualified in the 1500 metre steeplechase at the county meet, winning first overall in the event. In a field of 12 competitors at EOSSAA, Jordan finished the race with a time of 5:41.56 minutes, earning her silver in the event and a spot at the East regionals.nn“My goal was to make it to the top-five,” said Jordan. “I am really happy with second place.”nnAt EOSSAA, the top-five finishers except in relays advance to the East Regionals. For relay teams, only the first and second place teams advance.nnJordan has been carving a niche in long-distance running after a successful cross-country season last fall, advancing to the provincial championship in Port Hope.nnShe qualified for two other individual events at EOSSAA. In the midget women’s 400-metre dash, and the 800-metre dash, Jordan finished 8th in both events.nnKaitlyn Stewart advanced to the East Regional meet in the senior womens triple jump event with a 10.5 metre jump, earning silver. Stewart finished 10th in the long jump, one metre back from first place, and will not move on in that event.nnA slow start off the blocks in her qualifying heat in the midget womens 80-metre hurdles saw Harley Heustis finish third for the race. With exception of relay events, the top two competitors in each qualifying heat, and the next two fastest runners overall move into the finals. Her 15.76 second time placed Heustis in the event finals.nnWith a time of 15.18 seconds, Heustis ran her fastest race all season, but did not qualify for East Regioinals, finishing in 8th place. She was .47 seconds out of fifth place.nnHeustis also competed in the midget women’s long jump and high jump events. She finished 21st in long jump, and 6th in high jump.nnTeammate Krista Strader finished 7th in the high jump event, and 15th in triple jump.nnIn the women’s midget javelin event, Anna Henderson had dominated all season, consistently winning the event at every meet by at least two metres. Henderson’s warmup throws were landing very close to the 11-year old EOSSAA record of 31.8 metres, despite the strong headwind blowing through the track and field facility.nnA couple of off throws in competion found Henderson finish in 9th place, 1.3 metres shy of qualifying for East Regionals.nnIn the junior women’s 300-metre hurdles, Kristyn VanHoof finished in 7th place in the final, 1.8 seconds shy of qualifying.nnVanHoof, along with teammate Cameryn Broad, competed in the junior womens long jump and triple jump field events. Broad finished in 13th in the long jump, with VanHoof finishing 15th in a strong 22 competitor field. VanHoof finished 10th in the triple jump, with Broad finishing 15th.nnThe pair, along with Jordan and Ashley Hanna, qualified at the SDG championship for the junior women’s 4×100-metre relay. The team finished in 9th overall, five seconds off the pace.nnHanna, a competitor in the junior women’s javelin event, finished in 15th place with a 20.44 metre throw. Teammate Trystyn Hummel finished in 18th for the event.nnHummel placed 7th in the discus event, and 10th in the junior womens shot put. She was one of three from Seaway who qualified for the shot put event. Brianna O’Neil’s 10.19 metre throw earned her 8th for the day. Chloe Hart finished in 21st with a 6.05 metre throw.nnIn senior shot put, Seaway faired better. Maggie Wells represented the school in the event, finishing in fifth. She also earned a fifth place finish in discus, good for a spot at East Regonals.nnRunner Quinn Horne finished off her high school track and field career running in the senior womens 100-metre dash. She finished sixth in the qualifying heat Friday morning, but her time of 14.43 seconds put her in 14th out of the 22 runner field.nnThe women’s 4×400 metre relay team of Erika Jordan, Quinn Horne, Julenea Barnhartd and Cameryn Broad finished seventh in the event, 23 seconds off pace of the event leading Thousand Islands Secondary.nnIn the midget men’s javelin throw, Curran Gilmour placed 14th in the event with a 31.17 metre throw, 12 metres back from first place.nnAlejandro Macias Pastor did not compete in the events he qualified for at the county meet due to injury.nn“Overall we did OK,” said Robin Gibbs, one of the coaches for the track and field team. “I had hoped for six to move on to the East Regionals, we have three.”nnGibbs explained that with there being more pressure at this level, it was not ability, but mindset going into the competition.nn“We had several really close, [there was] potential for us to move on.”nnHe said he and the other coaches were pleased with the season.nn“I hope it continues. but it will be about mindset, not ability. I hope those who did not move on will take away from the experience what they need for next season.”nnJordan, Stewart and Wells travel to the Terry Fox athletic facility in Ottawa May 25-26th for the East Regional track and field meet.nnThe top-four competitors in each event will advance to the provincial championships in Belleville June 1-3rd.