Three St. Timothy High School Thunder athletes are headed to Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association provincial track meet June 5-6 in Lethbridge.
Alex Howells, Sophia Nowicki and Laura Huck all made the grade for the Cochrane-based school and are running for Thunder at provincials.
“It was a good day,” said elated Thunder track coach Travis Cummings following his team’s May 23 showing at the Calgary Senior High School Athletic Association (CSHSAA) City meet at Calgary’s Foothills Athletic Park. “I’m proud of them. They dealt with it and executed.”
In the junior boy’s 3,000-metre run, Thunder’s Howells set the pace from the gun. Finishing in nine minutes, 18 seconds, he carved 10 seconds off his previous personal-best time with his gold-medal win at the CSHSAA City meet. He’s peaking at the right time for provincials.
“Alex led pretty much tape-to-tape and wasn’t really challenged,” Cummings related. “It looks like he’s going into provincials as the high seed. He has a good chance to win provincials.”
When Nowicki tried the same strategy as Howells in the junior girl’s 3,000, Cummings got a little edgy. Particularly when Nowicki set a blistering pace from the start. She had just enough gas in the tank to make it stick, wringing every last ounce of energy she had left for the final 1,000. She won City gold and a provincial berth in a time of 11:02. Top-two finishers in CSHSAA City track events qualify for the provincial meet.
“I was little nervous with Sophia’s race tactics. She went out really hard. Usually, she hangs back and runs a smart, tactical race,” Cummings relayed. “She ran well. She got challenged there in the last 1,000 metres and she held the girl off. It was a tough one, but she pretty much led from tape-to-tape.
“She just said I don’t want to lose to today, come beat me. She put it out there and did it.”
Huck looked comfortable taking second (one minute, .33 seconds) in the senior girl’s 400, finishing behind Western’s Natalie McDougall at City’s for the second and final provincial qualifying spot. Thunder’s Seela Wulff took bronze in the senior girl’s 400.
