Track and Field Districts at KES

Hosting our first Kings-Hants District Championship got off to a great start with nearly 600 athletes jumping, throwing, and running. Only the top four track athletes and top five field athletes are able to continue to the Western Region Championships in Bridgetown next week.

Natalia Shaw ‘27 placed fourth in her 100-metre dash; however, Shaw moved up in position by going up in distance as she earned a silver medal in her 400-metre dash. Chelsea James ‘29 is in her rookie year, and still has two more years left as a junior competitor, yet she is off to regionals by earning bronze in her 1500-metre run.

Our senior girls will also be seeing the sights of Bridgetown as Elena Julien ‘23 baked her competition and led a strong contingent of KES athletes in winning the title as fastest girl in the district by grabbing gold in the 100-metre dash. Following closely behind in fourth was newly found speedster Sidney Schwartz ‘23 in fourth. Though British Columbia had its share of prospectors, Ella Descoteau ‘23 traveled to the proper coast to earn gold as she had an amazing 56-centimetre improvement from her previous best that was set just last week. Even more impressive, she was just nine centimetres shy of the district record. There were reports of earthquakes in Cape Breton as Claire LeBlanc ‘23 raced to silver in her 100-metre hurdles; silver again in her triple-jump and took away the bronze in her third and final event of day one, the 400-metre dash. LeBlanc had a massive 82-centimetre improvement from her best last week. Allie Dunnett Geldart ‘23 has proven that whether the ball is on the court or in the form of a four-kilogram mass of metal, she’s in control. Allie placed fifth in her shot put to earn a trip to Bridgetown.

The boys got off to a hopping start in the very first event as Harvey Hadley ‘27 raced to gold and a set a district record in his junior 80-metre hurdles. Not done there, he earned a silver medal in his 400-metre dash, and then went over to the long jump pit and earned a silver in the sand.

No stranger to medals and regional championships, our intermediate boys were led by Vinnie Armstrong ‘25 as he earned silver in his 400-metre dash and raced to fourth in his 100-metre dash to book a second event in Bridgetown. Wesley Oulton ‘25 is our track and field athlete to bring hunting with you as he took home bronze in his javelin throw.

Our senior boys had a fantastic day on the track and in the field. Quentin Knauf ‘23 broke 12 seconds for the first time, and in just his second race he earned silver in his 100-metre dash in 11.90 seconds. Josiah Dosunmu ‘24 was just a stride behind in a fast field to place strongly in fourth. Fresh out of an IB exam, Simon Beaudry ‘23 had a great leap in his long jump, placing fourth.

It was another smashing day on Tanna Track and Herman Field for KES athletes. The 200-metre dynamic duo of Natalia Shaw ‘27 and Maanvi Manchineni ‘27 got the team going in the right direction by placing third and fourth respectively to run their way to regionals. 

 

From duos to trios, Ella Descoteau ‘23, Sarah Leopold ‘24, and Claire LeBlanc’23 placed second, third, and fourth in their longest long jump. Quartets were also successful today. The gold was brought home in their 4x400-metre relay by Claire LeBlanc ‘23, Charlie Brinston Conway ‘23, Sarah Leopold ‘23 and Willa Evans ‘23. Turning in a silver medal performance in their 4x100m relay were Willa Evans ‘23, Ella Descoteau ‘23, Sidney Schwartz ‘23 and Elena Julien ‘23. Keen observers may have noticed reading the name Claire LeBlanc ‘23 several times these two days of competition. LeBlanc competed in six events and qualified for regionals in all six as she placed second in her 800-metre run.

The senior girls weren’t the only KES athletes hoarding gold medals as the senior boys apparently raided Fort Knox, successfully. Quentin Knauf ‘23 placed first in his high jump and dominated in his 200-metre dash as he won by several strides. Rookie thrower Isaiah Johnson ‘23 proved that he can have a six-kilogram shot with the best of them as he took home the gold. Following behind Johnson with his silver medal shot put steal was Simon Beaudry ‘23. Silver is also a colour that Ondrej Fiala ‘23 enjoys as he triple jumped his way to second place today. Bronze was the colour of choice for Clemens Dietrich ‘24 as he climbed onto the podium in third in his high jump. Success is more fun with friends, as any relay team will tell you. Simon Beaudry ‘23, Quentin Knauf ‘23, David Akinboro ‘24 and Josiah Dosunmu ‘24 sprinted to silver in their 4x100-metre relay. These four had so much fun together that they figured doing four times a 4x100 would be four times as fun. They tested that theory out by winning silver in their 4x400-metre relay. I hope they had a lot of fun because they’ll be doing it again at regionals. Josiah Dosunmu ‘24 will also have the pleasure of running 200 metres as he placed fourth today and earned another regional qualification.

The intermediate boys got tired of seeing so much ‘23 in the recap yesterday, so they decided to do something about it. Alex Graham ‘25, Emmanuel Adaramodu ‘26, Junsu Kwak ‘26, and Vinnie Armstrong ‘25 led all the way in their 4x100-metre relay to win gold for KES. Graham, Kwak, and Armstrong doubled back and brought junior Carlos De Los Santos De La Maza ‘27 along for the fun ride of a 4x400m relay and earned bronze medals for their team. Vinnie Armstrong ‘25 and Alex Graham ‘25 wanted to run all the sprint distances today, so they both ran the 200-metre dash and finished second and third, respectively. For as much mining as was taking place on Tanna Track, there was more to be found on Tanna Turf as Junsu Kwak ‘25 sprung his way to a gold medal performance in the high jump. Emmanuel Adaramodu ‘26 finished just off the podium, but his fourth-place finish earned him a trip to regionals.

A special thank you to Mr. Ralph Williams of Valley Athletics, and to Acadia University Athletics Department, and to Kings-Hants School District for allowing us to use their shared hurdles this weekend.

The number of people to thank for putting on an event this size would double the words of this recap. And, always, I do name those dozens of people. It is the least I can do to offer them a bit of public recognition. However, there are four people who stand out among all others. Without them this event that impacted 600 student-athletes in just one weekend so positively would not have occurred. There would be no legacy to carry forward without the 50 years of coaching and service to student-athletes that Mr. Guy Payne selflessly provided and inspired. That’s not enough. Eight years ago, Mr. Joseph Seagram had a vision and a deep desire to keep all KES students active outside through each of our seasons no matter the weather. There was a time when we didn’t play on Jakeman Field or Herman Field, or Derrick Field until the clouds allowed. He also knew that with national-caliber facilities that we could offer national-caliber programming. That’s still not enough. To make dreams become reality you often need the support of someone who had a greatly positive experience and now wants to give back to others. Thanks to Edgehill School teachers, staff and friends that provided a greatly positive experience for Mrs. Tanna (Goldberg) Schulich ‘60, she and her husband, Mr. Seymour Schulich graciously provided through the Schulich Foundation the final significant push to complete a project that enabled this weekend and will continue to do so for decades to come. The impact will be immeasurable. To each of these builders and on behalf of the hundreds this weekend and the thousands of students to come, thank you.