SUDBURY—Manitoulin Island elementary school athletes proved their chops at the R.E. Gibson Memorial Champions meet, the Rainbow District School Board track and field championship, at the Laurentian University Community Track Complex last week where board records were broken and two Island athletes came in first overall in their respective age divisions.
In the tyke division, nine and under, Little Current Public School’s (LCPS) Rhyis Arthurs placed first overall, claiming 30 points, with his first place showing in the 60 metre dash (9.38), 80 metre dash (12.17) and the long jump (3.64 metres).
In the same division, and also from LCPS, Ryland Priddle placed 17th overall and came fourth in the standing long jump (1.66 metres) with Jack Carter coming in 29th, also in this division, with an eighth place showing in high jump (1.10 metres).
For atom girls, Aysia Debassige of LCPS placed fifth overall with seventh place in high jump (1.125 metres) and first in long jump (4.15 metres). Also from LCPS, Kaylee Assinewai came in second for shot put (7.61 metres) and 15th for triple jump (6.24 metres).
For atom boys, Billy Biedermann of LCPS placed 13th overall, coming in ninth in long jump and second in triple jump. John Michael Taggart placed ninth for LCPS in the triple jump (7.44 metres).
Sophie Hietkamp of Charles C. McLean Public School (CCMC) also took the top honours in the female Grade 7 division with 23 points. Sophie placed sixth in the 400 metre (1:11.91), first in the long jump and set a new record with her jump of 4.29 metres and also came first in the high jump with another record of 1.48 metres.
Autumn Deschenes of LCPS placed fourth in her Grade 7 category with a first in the 100 metre dash (13.96) and first in the 150 metre and making a new record with a time of 20.34. Fellow LCPS schoolmate Whittier Gauthier came in fifth overall for her fourth place showing in the long jump (4.01 metres), fourth in the high jump (1.35 metres) and first in the triple jump (8.91 metres). Brie Rose, another LCPS athlete, placed 15th overall for her third place showing in the 100 metre (14.44), seventh place in the 150 metre (21.26) and 11th place in the long jump (3.64 metres).
In this same category Dakota Mishibinijima of LCPS placed 12th in the 1,500 metre with schoolmate Zara Farquhar coming in 14th.
Avery Sutherland of Birch Island, competing for AB Ellis Public School, also made a new board record for her 1,500 metre time of 5:34.17, placing third in the event.
Jenna Taylor of LCPS came in at 28th overall in the same category. Jenna came in fifth in the shot put (7.34 metres).
For the boys’ Grade 7 division, CCMC’s Trent Bell placed fifth overall with Riley Lockeyer and Darwin Wood, both of LCPS, placing 31st. Darwin placed sixth in the 400 metre (1:08.76) while Riley placed sixth in the 800 metre (2:46.47).
Trent broke a new record on the 800 metre with his first place showing if 2:29.67, also coming in second in the 1,500 metre with a time of 5:01.75.
In the girls’ Grade 8 division, CCMC’s Malia Leighton placed fifth overall with 18 points followed Ayriell Nodecker, 12th, also of CCMC, Bailey Yaschuck-Middaugh of CCMC placed 30th while LCPS’ Jacey Varey came in at 36th overall.
Malia placed third for the Colts in the 100 metre (14.03) and third in the 150 metre (20.81) while setting a new record. Jacey came in seventh in the 400 metre (1:13.09); Ayriell placed fourth in the long jump (4.18 metre) with Bailey coming in sixth in the same event (3.90 metres) with Ayriell also placing ninth in the shot put (7.12 metres) and fifth in the triple jump (8.57 metres).
In the boys’ Grade 8 division, Rory Dearing of CCMC placed ninth in the long jump (4.37 metres) and sixth in the high jump (1.50 metres). Nathan Temple, also of CCMC, placed 22nd overall coming in third for the shot put in this division (10.36 metres).
In school rankings, LCPS placed second overall for Grade 7 girls with CCMC placing sixth in this category. In the Grade 7 boys’ division, CCMC placed 10th with LCPS coming in 13th. For Grade 8 girls, CCMC placed fifth with LCPS coming in at 17th while the CCMC boys claimed the 11th position.
LCPS took home the top honours in the tyke division with 36 points while the atom boys LCPS team placed 12th overall.
