Track team in training
Preparation for territorial meet starts at East Three
Sarah Ladik
Northern News Services
Thursday, May 26, 2016
INUVIK
With the territorial track meet fast approaching, students at East Three Secondary School are getting ready for the competition.
Dalton McLeod, left, leads Winter Allen and Braeden Picek in a training
session at the East Three Secondary School gym on May 19. - Sarah Ladik/NNSL photo
|
"I think we have a pretty good chance at winning the banner," said student Dalton McLeod. "But we're also going to have a great time and have lots of fun."
This is one of the younger teams the school has sent in recent years after winning the top spot on the podium at the Territorial Track and Field Championships in Hay River in 2013 and 2014.
Coach Kenzie MacDonald said that several of the school's top athletes graduated in 2014 and 2015, leaving a new contingent to take up the reins.
"We're going with nine high school kids and five elementary kids," he told the Drum. "We're bringing elementary school students for the first time in a long time because of the low numbers. It just means that in a few years, we'll have some really strong competitors, and hopefully they'll tell their friends how much fun they had at track."
Students will compete in running, jumping, and throwing events.
Students training May 19 said the team was solid across the board, with the possible exception of sprinting.
"It's been going really well," said student Braeden Picek. "We're working really hard, we deserve to go. We're very good at long-distance running, jumps, and we have a few throwers. As a team, we fit everything."
Still, there is always room for progress. Student Stryden Hult-Griffin said the team is training four and five days a week until the competition next week.
"It's pretty intensive," he said. "We're just working at getting in shape for the competition."
While MacDonald is pleased with the team as it is, he said having a younger team can make it challenging to win the banner. There are so many competitors in each event in the younger age categories, and only the top six count toward team points.
Still, he said that having younger athletes doesn't mean they're any less than high quality. The situation will even be an asset in future years, as they all grow stronger together.
"As the team gets older, they'll get more competitive," said MacDonald. "The goal for this year is to go down, have fun, and do the best we can."
