Practice makes perfect, and the St. Timothy High School Thunder runners proved that at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association (ASAA) Provincial Track and Field Championships in Edmonton, June 4 and 5.
The Thunder sent two long distance runners to the tournament – Alexander Howells and Sophia Nowicki – to compete in the 2A school division, and neither disappointed, as they recorded some of their best ever times.
Howells finished second in the senior boys 3,000m category with a time of 8:59, losing to archrival Ryan Smeeton (of Henry Wisewood High School) who recorded an 8:56 mark.
“It was a dogfight the whole way like I thought it would be between Alex and Ryan,” said Thunder coach Travis Cummings. “They were both a bit slow because it was windy, and the back and forth psychological battle between the two took a toll.”
Howells took the lead halfway through the race, trying to break Smeeton, but the gamble didn’t work as the Wisewood runner kept with him and kicked off on the last 150m for the close win.
“Silver isn’t too shabby,” Cummings said of the race. “Alex did pretty much what I expected. He’s one of the best runners in the province and always comes through the crunch. I’d have been surprised but not shocked if he beat Ryan. This is the closest he’s ever gotten to him.”
In the intermediate girls division, Nowicki won silver in the 3,000m event, running a 10:54 time, breaking the St Tim’s school record. It’s apparent to her coach that she had the biggest race of her life, at the biggest moment.
“(Sophia) hasn’t been close to that time this year,” Cummings said. “She had an awesome race, and was so happy after that she cried a bit. I’m very proud of her. It was the best I’ve ever seen her run.”
Despite having been knocking on the door for provincial medals the last two years, she has had to battle herself psychologically after having a disastrous tournament last year where she collapsed and finished fifth.
“We’ve been working on how to deal with the pressure and performing on the big stage,” Cummings admitted. “She has embraced the challenge and the training which is something I’m more happy about than the result.”
On the second day of racing, Howells again stepped up to plate, this time in the boys 1,500m event, and finished third with a time of 4:02.11 in what Cummings described as one of the craziest high school races he’s seen.
“It was a four man race and they negative split on the last lap going 59 seconds,” Cummings said. “One guy came up and made a big move and tripped over Alex who rolled his ankle. He stopped 30m out and limped a couple steps, then hobbled across the line and collapsed. Everyone was splayed out after the line, it was crazy.”
As for the end result, Cummings doesn’t think Howells could have done any better and the runner himself was satisfied with his overall performance considering he ran five seconds faster than he ever has despite the stumble.
“We did what we needed to do over the weekend and came away with three medals,” Cummings said. “That’s never happened before. We were top 10 in the 2A scoring, which is the first time we’ve finished that high in total team points.
“Everything is moving in a positive direction.”
