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Off to the Races!

The last time I wrote a recap for track and field results at a Nova Scotia Sport Athletic Federation (NSSAF) School Sport Nova Scotia (SSNS) meet was May of 2019. Much like I feel writing and reading this email will be, that’s a long time. Since it has been so long, I feel that I should lay out the framework for the contents to follow. I’ll give a synopsis for everyone, and then a much longer review. 
 
Pizza delivery: We never had so many of our athletes do so well and qualify for the regional championships; Natalia Shaw ‘27Cameron Stephens ‘22, and Vinnie Armstrong ‘25 ran away with individual gold medals (in Cameron’s case he jumped away), and our junior girls swept the relay events: Natalia Shaw ‘27Lillian Blois ‘27Laura Oulton ‘27, and Maanvi Manchineni '27. We are looking forward to May 27 and 28 for the regional championships at the same brand-new venue in Bridgetown.
 
OOCL Hong Kong: Much like the distance-themed season of cross country (XC) when our junior girls provided so much hope for the future of KES XC, such can be similarly said on the sprint side of things for the sprints of KES track and field. Natalia Shaw ‘27 led the way with a first-place finish in her 400m long sprint event. Shaw also secured a regional race in her 200m short sprint by placing fourth. A late and most welcome addition to the team is Lillian Blois ‘27 as she traded her KES swimsuit for a tracksuit and finished just tenths behind teammate Shaw in the 400m for silver. In her 800m race, Blois collected bronze to complete her three-colour collection. Always embracing the fear that others feel in the distance events, Laura Oulton ‘27 mined two silver medals in the gruelling 1500m and 800m. As the only 4x100m relay team to crack one minute, the combined efforts of Natalia Shaw ‘27Lillian Blois ‘27Laura Oulton ‘27, and Maanvi Manchineni '27 and their hours of practice hand-offs clearly paid off. Not content with dominating the sprint relays, they then carried the gold away in their 4x400m relay as well.  
 
What our intermediate and senior girls lack in numbers, they have been making up for in grit and dedication. KES track and field veteran hurdler Elena Julien ‘23 made her coaches proud as she bounced back from a bad fall in her last race, causing a few hearts to skip a beat, clipping her first hurdle this weekend, and then roaring back to bronze in her 80m hurdles. She then followed that up with a one second best for bronze in her 100m sprint race. Demonstrating dedication in the clearest of terms, rookie track and field sprinter Sophie Thomas ‘22 flew to Ontario on Wednesday and returned in time on Friday morning to fly down the track. Sophie improved her 100m time by more than a half second from our track meet just two weeks ago for silver and then bounced quickly around half the track for bronze in her 200m race. Representing the middle-distance squad of KES, rookie Paula Tschritter '23 dipped down to a long sprint to collect a bronze medal in her 400m race with a nearly two second personal best, and then qualified for a regional spot in her 1500m race with a fourth-place finish.  
 
Vinnie Armstrong ‘25 showed that his skill at speed is not limited to the soccer pitch as he ran for gold in his 800m race and went well below a minute in his 400m for silver. Josiah Dosunmu ‘24 gave his all-out best effort on Friday and Saturday, especially in the 4x400m intermediate boys relay, pushing the team to place fourth and earn a trip to regionals along with Alex Graham ‘25Westin Endres ‘26 and Wesley Oulton ‘25. Dosunmu picked up a silver in his 200m race, and an additional regional qualifying race spot in his 100m sprint. The same members of the 4x400m team punched their regional ticket in the 4x100m as well. A special mention goes to Westin Endres ‘26 for running up to the intermediate division so that the other boys could have a 4x100 and 4x400 relay, and, like Blois, he also switched his swimsuit for a tracksuit. Another special mention to the 4x100 teammates that had a poor handoff in one of the zones but had the levelheadedness to run back to the zone, make the exchange, and carry on! Way to go! That was a weekend highlight for me.
 
Captain Quinn Emery ‘22 led the senior boys earning two silver medals in his 100m and 200m races with a personal best in each by more than a second. He was then key in gaining valuable ground in the 4x100m silver medal team along with Owen Seely ‘22Romano Senior-Smith '22, and Cameron Stephens ‘22.  Stephens, Senior-Smith, Emery and Stanislav Matkovskyi '22 ran a solid 4x400m relay for bronze.  

There is a field and track and field, and KES was well represented. Coach Derek Bouwman continued his streak of finding gold medallists among students who have never high jumped as Cameron Stephens ‘22 cleared the bar higher than anyone to take gold. With credit going to Avon View coach Mr. Greg Wile for his invaluable and much appreciated help this season with our KES throwers, Stanislav Matkovskyi '22, earned a personal best in his shot put. With the last day aid of throws coach Mr. Stefan Palios, our javelin team of Volodymyr Kirillov '22 and Captain Quinn earned personal best distances.
 
A lot of thank yous to be made for this district meet, but especially so to Coach Sue Bouwman, Coach Brodi Robinson and Coach Mark Walker for all their mentoring this weekend in my absence as I contributed my best to the finish line. Another special thank you for their assistance on the finish line, Peter MacGregor ‘21Aria MacDonald ‘21Kaelan Bakker ‘23 and a very special thank you to Mya Snarr ‘20 for her two days of volunteering with me.
 
Phillip Hadley
Senior School Faculty
Coaching XC, T&F, Swimming


Athletics at KES
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King’s-Edgehill School is located in Mi'kma'ki, the unceded ancestral territory of the Mi’kmaq People.