Before last week, Watson Lake Secondary coach Rollie Comeau wouldn’t let his athletes run on the track at the school.
It had grass growing through the gravel, roots from nearby trees were breaching the surface, and it was getting overrun by willows.
It was too dangerous to use, said Comeau.
After numerous phone calls and emails from Comeau to the government, the school finally got some money to spruce up the worn-down track.
It was a good thing, too, since the school had a track meet scheduled.
“It was difficult to get the track ready because there was no funding available at the time,” said Comeau. “So finally a week before the meet, we got the OK from the Department (of Education) to put a few bucks in and we got to hire one of our local landscapers, Darrell Bauman, and he worked tirelessly.”
Thanks to the unflagging efforts of Bauman and others, the Watson Lake Secondary School Track and Field Meet took place on May 16 and 17.
A total of 67 athletes from Fort Nelson Secondary School (FNSS), Johnson Elementary School (JES) and Watson Lake Secondary School (WLSS) took part in the event.
“It’s basically the first meet we’ve had with other schools,” said Comeau. “In the past, we might have had one 20 years ago or so where it was just the school itself.
“It was a long ways in the making,” he added. “It went extremely well.”
Bauman set to work immediately, going after the unwelcome vegetation. Watson Lake’s Randy Carlson brought a packer to flatten the track surface. Local Herman Knibbecke spent eight hours laying the lines the day before the start of the meet. Total cost of the repairs was about $5,200.
“It was quite a bit of labour, but it went pretty good once we got going,” said Bauman. “We didn’t have that much time, so we really had to go at it.”
“I haven’t seen anybody using it that much, but now that the track is fixed a little bit, hopefully we’ll see a lot more people using it.”
Comeau hopes to make the meet and annual event, he said, adding that Fort Nelson intends to attend again next year. But he admits the facility could still use some more work.
“There’s a lot more to be done, to be honest,” said Comeau. “There are a couple holes in the fence that need to be put back together, snow machines riding on it in the winter ... The long jump, that area there, is overgrown with willows and all kinds of junk. And the running track for the long jump is not even level, so we have to repair that next year if we get the funding for it.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com
Results
Bantam women (Grades 5-6)
100-metre
1st Isabelle Paquette
(JES) - 14.56s
2nd Courtney Stevens
(JES) - 15.16s
3rd Jordan Lehune (JES) - 15.38s
200-metre
1st Isabelle Paquette
(JES) - 38.72s
2nd Courtney Stevens
(JES) - 38.78s
3rd Micah Vargas (JES) - 40.44s
400-metre
1st Courtney Stevens
(JES) - 1:32.29
2nd Jaida Allen (JES) - 1:36.04
3rd Lakeyshia McMillan
(JES) - 1:38.09
High jump
1st Jordan Lehune (JES) - 3’5”
2nd Lakeyshia McMillan
(JES) - 3’3”
2nd Haley Skidmore (JES) - 3’3”
Long jump
1st Jordan Lehune (JES) - 2.54m
2nd Isabelle Paquette
(JES) - 2.53m
3rd Jaida Allen (JES) - 2.41m
Shot put
1st Kate Durocher (JES) - 5.41m
2nd Jaida Allen (JES) - 5.16m
3rd Juanita Olson (JES) - 4.82m
Bantam men (Grades 5-6)
100-metre
1st Jesse Stewart (JES) - 14.06s
2nd Max Tom (JES) - 14.78s
3rd Mitchael Stubenberg
(JES) - 15.03s
200-metre
1st Jesse Stewart (JES) - 35.56s
2nd Mitchael Stubenberg
(JES) - 35.88s
3rd Max Tom (JES) - 38.34s
400-metre
1st Mitchael Stubenberg
(JES) - 1:26.34
2nd Jesse Stewart (JES) - 1:29.00
3rd Max Tom (JES) - 1:40.00
High jump
1st Jesse Stewart (JES) - 3’8”
2nd Nicholas Dickson (JES) - 3’4”
2nd Jeremy Chief (JES) - 3’4”
Long jump
1st Jesse Stewart (JES) - 3.38m
2nd Mitchael Stubenberg
(JES) - 2.82m
3rd Nicholas Dickson
(JES) - 2.63m
Shot put
1st Jesse Stewart (JES) - 6.29m
2nd Marshall Law (JES) - 6.04m
3rd Levi Lutz-Dennis
(JES) - 5.87m
Juvenile women (Grades 7-8)
100-metre
1st Jenny Kroeker
(WLSS) - 14.22s
200-metre
1st Jenny Kroeker
(WLSS) - 34.72s
High jump
1st Jenny Kroeker (WLSS) - 4’2”
Long jump
1st Jenny Kroeker
(WLSS) - 2.98m
Juvenile men (Grades 7-8)
100-metre
1st Braydon Vanduzee
(FNSS) - 12.72s
2nd Brycen Bennett
(FNSS) - 14.85s
200-metre
1st Braydon Vanduzee
(FNSS) - 34.09s
2nd Brycen Bennett
(FNSS) - 38.49s
400-metre
1st Braydon Vanduzee
(FNSS) - 1:24.68
2nd Brycen Bennett
(FNSS) - 1:24.84
1,500-metre
1st Braydon Vanduzee
(FNSS) - 5:52:00
2nd Brycen Bennett
(FNSS) - 6:09.53
High jump
1st Braydon Vanduzee
(FNSS) - 4’6”
2nd Brycen Bennett (FNSS) - 4’2”
Long jump
1st Braydon Vanduzee
(FNSS) - 3.94m
2nd Julian Porter-McDonald (WLSS) - 2.82m
3rd Austin Nolan (JES) - 2.14m
Discus
1st Julian Porter-McDonald (WLSS) - 29.01m
2nd Braydon Vanduzee
(FNSS) - 19.78m
3rd Brycen Bennett
(FNSS) - 14.72m
Shot put
1st Julian Porter-McDonald (WLSS) - 9.61m
2nd Brycen Bennett
(FNSS) - 8.41m
3rd Braydon Vanduzee
(FNSS) - 8.10m
Javelin
1st Brycen Bennett
(FNSS) - 15.28m
2nd Braydon Vanduzee
(FNSS) - 12.60m
Junior women (Grades 9-10)
100-metre
1st Savanah Gill (FNSS) - 13.09s
2nd Kirsten Subade
(FNSS) - 13.59s
3rd Anna Lund (WLSS) - 14.62s
200-metre
1st Savanah Gill (FNSS) - 27.25s
2nd Kirsten Subade
(FNSS) - 33.78s
400-metre
1st Savanah Gill (FNSS) - 1:24.38
2nd Kirsten Subade
(FNSS) - 1:28.62
3rd Anna Lund (WLSS) - 1:32.12
800-metre
1st Kirsten Subade
(FNSS) - 3:20.85
2nd Anna Lund (WLSS) - 3:30.31
3rd Piper Allen (WLSS) - 3:40.28
1,500-metre
1st Kirsten Subade
(FNSS) - 7:44.06
High jump
1st Anna Lund (WLSS) - 4’
2nd Savanah Gill (FNSS) - 3’9”
3rd Kirsten Subade (FNSS) - 3’4”
Long jump
1st Kirsten Subade
(FNSS) - 3.72m
2nd Savanah Gill (FNSS) - 3.48m
3rd Anna Lund (WLSS) - 3.26m
Discus
1st Anna Lund (WLSS) - 17.27m
2nd Piper Allen (WLSS) - 16.25m
3rd Savanah Gill (FNSS) - 11.45m
Shot put
1st Savanah Gill (FNSS) - 6.89m
2nd Anna Lund (WLSS) - 6.38m
3rd Kirsten Subade
(FNSS) - 5.41m
Javelin
1st Piper Allen (WLSS) - 17.42m
2nd Savanah Gill
(FNSS) - 14.47m
3rd Anna Lund (WLSS) - 12.83m
Junior men (Grades 9-10)
100-metre
1st Carter Saunders
(FNSS) - 12.00s
2nd Cian Hobbis (WLSS) - 12.25s
3rd David Wilmsmeier
(FNSS) - 13.56s
200-metre
1st Carter Saunders
(FNSS) - 27.84s
2nd Cian Hobbis (WLSS) - 29.70s
3rd DavidWilmsmeier
(FNSS) - 34.16s
400-metre
1st Carter Saunders
(FNSS) - 1:14.50
2nd Eagle Andersen
(FNSS) - 1:23.25
800-metre
1st Eagle Andersen
(FNSS) - 3:11.25
2nd Fraser Perigo
(FNSS) - 3:15.46
3rd Jordan Streeper
(FNSS) - 3:36.34
1,500-metre
1st Eagle Andersen
(FNSS) - 6:07.04
2nd Fraser Perigo
(FNSS) - 6:12.09
3rd Jordan Streeper
(FNSS) - 8:19.40
High jump
1st Carter Saunders (FNSS) - 5’1”
2nd Cian Hobbis (WLSS) - 5’
3rd Nathaniel McMillan
(WLSS) - 4’6”
3rd Eric Moorecraft (FNSS) - 4’6”
Long jump
1st Carter Saunders
(FNSS) - 4.74m
2nd Cian Hobbis (WLSS) - 4.48m
3rd David Wilmsmeier
(FNSS) - 3.47m
Discus
1st Cian Hobbis (WLSS) - 23.67m
2nd Hunter Wolfe
(WLSS) - 19.71m
3rd Carter Saunders
(FNSS) - 17.77m
3rd Fraser Perigo
(FNSS) - 17.77m
Shot put
1st Fraser Perigo (FNSS) - 10.81m
2nd Carter Saunders
(FNSS) - 9.42m
3rd David Wilmsmeier
(FNSS) - 8.86m
Javelin
1st Cian Hobbis (WLSS) - 25.80m
2nd Fraser Perigo
(FNSS) - 25.08m
3rd Jordan Streeper
(FNSS) - 19.45m
Senior men (Grades 11-12)
100-metre
1st Carter Scott (FNSS) - 12.40s
2nd Paul Caesar-Jules
(WLSS) - 13.69s
High jump
1st Carter Scott (FNSS) - 4’
Long jump
1st Carter Scott (FNSS) - 3.97m
Discus
1st Carter Scott (FNSS) - 20.84m
2nd Paul Caesar-Jules
(WLSS) - 17.50m
Shot put
1st Carter Scott (FNSS) - 9.45m
Javelin
1st Carter Scott (FNSS) - 21.25m