BRAMPTON—Evansville athlete Joseph Maxwell represented Manitoulin at the Royal Canadian Legion Ontario Command Summer Track and Field Championships this past weekend in Brampton, bringing home two gold medals and breaking a provincial record which earned Joseph the top five spot under 18 in the world in shot put.
“I had a very successful weekend,” 16-year-old Joseph proudly told The Expositor on Monday. “I received a gold in both the shot put and discus. My winning shot put throw was 19.80 metres, which actually broke the provincial record of 18.76 and put me at fifth in the world in the under 18 (division) for shot put. My winning discus throw was 53.63 metres—I missed the provincial record by just 40 centimetres.”
Joseph’s two gold medals earned him a spot on Team Ontario and a ticket to the 2014 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in British Columbia in August.
This will be the Evansville resident’s third time at the nationals.
“I’m really excited,” said Joseph of going to nationals once again. “I hope to repeat my provincial performance and earn two more gold medals. I think breaking the national record in my division is out of my reach this year, but I hope to bring home gold and work towards breaking the national records (for shot put and discus) in 2015.”
Joseph plans to relax over the next few days, taking a break from training to fish, dirt bike, hang out with friends and read a good book.
“I’ll start training again later this week and will have three or four weeks of good, hard training to get ready for nationals,” said Joseph.
After nationals, the 2014 season will be over for Joseph, but he said he will be busy training in the off season, hoping to earn a spot at the International Association of Athletics Federations World Youth Championships in Colombia in July 2015.
