Morden Collegiate was celebrating its recent success that earned the school the overall AAA title at the Dairy Farmers of Manitoba provincial track and field championships.
Morden athletes earned enough points overall to earn first place during a weekend of competition that also saw Jayla Dyck winning gold in the junior variety girls pentathlon event while teammate Kemi Omoleye came in third in the varsity girls discus.
Al Wirth, who is part of the coaching team, said the students worked hard and earned the honours.
“We had two days a week of practices in Morden and then a third day at the new school on the new track, so that really helped develop things because the kids could use their spikes and get used to running on a nicer facility instead of gravel like we have at the collegiate..
“Then we had the zone meet, and we won three out of the four zone banners, which was unbelievable for us, and then we got to provincials,” Wirth said, noting they won the junior girls, junior boys, and varsity girls banners at the zone level.
“We had 40 kids go to provincials, so that was pretty impressive too for us. We’re normally around the 20 person mark,” he noted. “Then at provincials, we were the top AAA school of the province, so we had about 50 points, and I think the second place team was at about 30.”
“I’m quite proud of these kids,” Wirth said. “That’s that’s only the second track and field provincial banner that Morden’s ever won. The first one was in 2004 … now 22 years later we win our second one. So this was definitely a team effort.
“I thank everyone for putting in the effort, and even a lot of the Gr. 12 students, even though it’s exams and they’re busy thinking about graduation and everything, they still came out and did their best to make the team better and to show their leadership
“It’s just a team effort. You need everybody. You need those guys that finish eighth,” said Wirth. “They’re disappointed they didn’t win a medal, but, you know, they got us points, and all those points added up, so every piece is valuable I’m very proud of everybody.”
Other regional athletes also did well at provincials.
Garden Valley Collegiate’s Rylee Bergen came in third in the 200m boys para, while Northlands Parkway Collegiate’s Addison Suderman brought home silver in the varsity girls 100m hurdles. W.C. Miller Collegiate’s Sage Wiebe came in second in the varsity girls high jump.
Nellie McClung Collegiate’s Soren Reid won gold in the varsity boys pentathlon and third in the long jump while teammate Bree Pearce won bronze in the JV girls javelin. The school took home the A aggregate banner.
Prairie Mountain’s Angela Gundrum won gold and set a new meet record with 3,462 points in the varsity girls pentathlon. Gundrum also won gold in the varsity girls high jump and the varsity girls triple jump.
Teammate Alex Van De Velde clinched gold in the junior varsity boys long jump and the JV boys triple jump. The school took home the AA aggregate banner.
Pilot Mound’s Avery Crowe ranked second in the 400m JV girls. In the JV girls medley relay, Pilot Mound came in second. The team also placed third in the 4x400m varsity boys relay.
