2 minute read
City athletes qualified for districts
It took a short hop, skip and jump for local track and field athletes to compete at the North West High School Athletic Association District meet in Meadow Lake.
The two-day district meet for Grade 7 to 12 athletes went ahead this Tuesday and Wednesday, one week after the City of Lloydminster track meet at Lloydminster Comprehensive High School (LCHS).
According to LCHS coach Cole Bloxam, up to 700 athletes from all the major public and Catholic schools in the city and Sakaskohc High School from Onion Lake took part in the two-day district qualifier meet.
The city meet kicked off last Tuesday with the 3,000-metre races and the hurdles with Mother Nature throwing in a few hurdles of her own.
“There was a bit of a rain delay with the hail but we got through it all right,” said Bloxam with a clipboard in hand on the second day of the meet. Bloxam was a shot putter in his university days and was asked to assess the quality of his LCHS track team in advance of the districts.
“Across the board, we’ve got a lot of talent, a lot of Grade 10 talent; we’re very young. We only have two Grade 12s on our roster of 36,” he said.
“We’ve got a really young team with a lot of promising athletes.”
He says the program has a lot of upside as well next season.
“With the number of Grade 9s coming to the building next year with our expansion, I don’t know how many we’ll have on our roster. but probably close to 50,” he said.
Some track athletes from the Lloyd public and Catholic school districts are expected to compete at the Saskatchewan Summer Games July 21-July 27 on the LCHS track. Bloxam noted track surface was upgraded a couple of years ago in preparation for the Games.
