Spartans grab eight gold medals at SDG meet

OTTAWA – Athletes on the Seaway Spartans track and field team combined for eight gold medals at the SD&G Track and Field Championships held in Ottawa May 14th.nnJunior Danika Nielsen and midget Aodhan Lowson were each triple gold medalists winning all three of their events, while senior Trystyn Hummel won gold for the second year in a row for her event. Midget athlete Dominic Worthington won gold in his sole field event of the competition.nn”For such a poor day weather wise, all of our athletes brought their ‘A’ game,” said Sean Dey, one of the coaches of nine-member track and field team. “Nine out of nine athletes qualified for EOSSAA.”nnNielsen won gold in the 100 and 200 metre dash, and in the long jump event. She had the fastest qualifying time in the 100 metre, running 14.41 seconds, and won in the finals with a time of 14.43 seconds. Nielsen was two-tenths of a second faster than second place finisher Ella Bowles from Holy Trinity.nnIn the 200 metre event, Nielsen was a full 1.6 seconds faster than her competition, winning the event in 30.09 seconds.nnBesting the competition by nearly half a metre, Nielsen won gold in the long jump event with her 4.41 metre jump.nnLowson qualified for the midget 100 metre with a time of 12.72 seconds, over a half-second faster than the next qualifier. In the final, Lowson cut over a tenth of a second off his qualifying time, winning the event in 12.61 seconds. He was 0.58 seconds faster than second place Quinton Claude from Char-Lan.nnIn the 200 metre dash, Lowson left the competition behind, finishing the race 1.28 seconds ahead of second place Jacob Demontigney from Holy Trinity. Lowson ran the race in 25.99 seconds.nLowson won his third gold of the day in the shot put with a 10.79 metre throw, which was 0.24 metres further than Connor MacDonald from Char-Lan.nnFor her second year in a row, Trystyn Hummell won gold in the senior girls discus event. This year she threw nearly six metres further than the competition. Throughout all four years of high school competition in the event, Hummel has finished in the top-four at the SDG Championship in discus events. This year she threw for 25.80 metres. Hummel coupled that with a second place finish in the javelin event. In that event she threw for 26.85 metres, 0.38 metres short of first place.nnIn his only field event of the competition – athletes are only allowed to compete in up to three events – Worthington won gold in the midget boys long jump event with a 4.90 metre jump, 0.01 metres ahead of second place Roenick Jodoin from Holy Trinity. In track events, Worthington was 10th in the midget 200 metre dash, and 15th in the 100 metre event.nnThere were a number of top finishes in the SDG Championships. The top five competitors in each event move on to the Eastern Ontario championships next week.nnErin Gibbons had her best finish so far in the season in the junior girls shot put with her 8.46 metre throw, good for second place in the event. In the discus, she finished third with her 21.09 metre throw, three meters short of first place Alexis Sosnowsky from Cornwall Collegiate. Gibbons earned fourth place in the javelin with her 18.84 metre throw.nnTeammate Chloe Hart’s 6.23 metre throw earned her second place in the senior girls shot put event for Seaway. Hart finished third in the discus, throwing for 16.11 metres, and she was sixth in the senior girls javelin at 10.37 metres.nnBronson Richmire qualified for EOSSAA in the midget boys 200 metre dash, finishing fifth with a time of 28.54 seconds. He was ninth in the midget boys 100 metre qualifier, missing the event final by one-tenth of a second. Richmire also finished seventh in the midget boys 400 metre.nnJunior Sam Henderson won silver in the boys javelin competition, throwing for 34.60 metres. He also qualified for EOSSAA with his fourth place finish in the boys shot put, a 9.79 metre toss.nDistance runner Alex Stewart was third in the senior boys 3000 metre race with a time of 11 minutes, 4.72 seconds.nnStewart also competed in the open 2000 metre steeplechase, which combines five laps around the 400 metre track, with 18 hurdles and five water jumps. He finished in second place for the event with a time of eight minutes, 15.05 seconds.nn”Coach Mueller and I are extremely proud of our athletes for all of their hard work and dedication to track and field this season,” Dey said.nnThe athletes now advance to the EOSSAA championships in Brockville May 23-24th.