Track team to defend its title
Team set for medal-winning performances at territorial championship
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Thursday, May 28, 2015
INUVIK
The East Three Secondary School track and field team will need to be fast on its feet if it wants to repeat the success of the past two years.
The East Three Secondary School track and field team is set for the territorial championships next month. The school is intent on defending the double banners it won last year, including the overall title. Team members Nina Verbonac, left, Jackson Christie and Darcie Setzer are all legitimate contenders for medals at the tournament, coaches said. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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The team is now set for the upcoming territorial championships in Hay River next month, said two of the coaches, Colin Pybus and Kenzie MacDonald.
The team has won banners over the last two competitions, in 2013 and 2014, Pybus said, and he feels there's a good chance of repeating that success.
While many of the athletes from last year's team have graduated, there's more than enough of a talent base left between the veteran performers and some young up and comers in Grade 7 and Grade 8.
Mackenzie McDonald is one junior performer whose potential has Pybus stoked.
He described her as a strong, tall girl with tremendous athleticism who could be a star for years to come.
Pybus mentioned some of his athletes, such as Karly King-Simpson and Jackson Christie, as prime candidates for medals.
"Jackson is a real threat to win the overall title while Karly is a tremendous jumper," he said.
Other returning performers with good shots at medals include Emily Rutherford in the field events, Pybus said, and Braeden Picek.
Several of the athletes, including Picek and Christie, are better known for their speed-skating prowess but are also superb all-round athletes, he added.
Picek said he prefers the long-distance races because he's "not much of a sprinter."
Nina Verbonac is another promising athlete competing in a wide variety of disciplines, from running to shot put and javelin.
"I used to do the discus too," she said.
"But I gave that up a few years ago."
Darcie Setzer, another talented performer with the chance to win some medals, is competing mostly in the jumping and mid-distance running events.
MacDonald said the key to such events, particularly the triple jump, is co-ordination, which Setzer has in abundance.
That wasn't on full display, though, as she made the team burst into laughter as she rushed in to join the interview and nearly tripped on the stairs.
"She really is co-ordinated," he said while struggling to keep a straight face. "She just has trouble with stairs sometimes."
MacDonald said he feels good about the chances of this team repeating as winners.
"I think we've got about as strong a team as we've had over the last two years," he said.
The team has been in training for a month or more now, and the unusually nice weather has been a boon.
In previous years, team coaches, including Pybus and MacDonald, have noted that they have to spend most of their time training indoors, which puts them at a bit of a disadvantage compared to southern teams.
This year, the team has been outside more, which is an enjoyable change.
Pybus said he's going to continue his practice of being a coach and not competing. MacDonald and the third coach, Britney Selina, will compete in the adult category if they wish.
There's a tradition of East Three coaches doing well at the competition.
In 2013, Dave Halpine, the former physical education teacher at ETSS, was one of the stars of the meet, winning several races and finishing first in his division.
