KES Track and Field Regional Recap

Exceptionally strong winds and, at times, heavy rain, made for a challenging two days of running, jumping and throwing for our KES track and field team at the Bridgetown Sports Hub this past weekend. We came away with cheers, disappointments, medals and a bit of mayhem depending on the relay.

Vincent Armstrong ‘25 was our overall top scorer this weekend with two bronze medals in his 400m and 800m races. The wind increased in speed as much as the competition over the past week and Vinnie proved that he just gets faster. Vinnie improved by more than a second in his 400m, and he lopped off a giant eight seconds worth of time over his effort from last week. Just 0.5 seconds separated Vinnie from silver. Cameron Stephens ‘22 continued his success in high jump by leaping higher than all but three competitors and thereby earning his ticket to the provincial championship meet. Sophie Thomas ‘22 will also be joining Stephens and Armstrong as she sped down the runway fourth in her 100m. Lillian Blois ‘27 took home the bronze in her 400m race, followed just steps ahead of teammate Natalia Shaw ‘27 who finished fourth and will also be heading to Stellarton next week. These two join a strong junior girls 4x400 relay team with Laura Oulton ‘27 and Maanvi Manchineni '27 who earned their right to wear KES colours in provincial battle next week.

Paula Tschritter ‘23, 400m and Laura Oulton ‘27, 1500m, came agonizingly close in their races as she finished in fifth, one spot away from provincial qualifications. Elena Julien ‘23 gave her best effort and improved on her hurdle time from last week. Captain Quinn Emery ‘22 finished faster in his 200m dash over last week. Emery joined forces with Stanislav Matkovskyi '22, Cameron Stephens ‘22, and Romano Senior-Smith ‘22 for a hard fought 4x100 relay, just coming short by 1.5 seconds for a trip to Stellarton. Our intermediate boys 4x400 and 4x100 relay team of Vincent Armstrong ‘25, Josiah Dosunmu '24, Wesley Oulton ‘25, and junior Westin Endres ‘26 (running up a division so that we could have two relays), did their best to take each other to provincials, but that will need to wait another year.

As much as I am looking forward to next weekend and finally being out of the official’s box, I owe much appreciation to Coaches Mrs. Sue Bouwman, Mr. Brodi Robinson, and Mr. Mark Walker for leading the team these past two weekends. As with last weekend, I could not have gotten through regionals without the help of Mya Snarr ‘20 at the finish line – thank you. A special thank you to soon-to-be KES parent and track star, Ed James for his hours and hours of help over the past two weeks.