Perfection lies in the hands of the fairer sex at the 2023 SDSSAA Track & Field Championships this week at Laurentian University.

After two days of exciting competition, only four athletes achieved the Zen of capturing first place in three separate individual events – and, you guessed it, all four were young ladies.

Tyla MacLeod of Bishop Carter added a win in the Novice Girls 1500m event (5:28.61) to her triumphs on day one in the 800m (2:36.36) and the 3000m (12:23.30), with Georgia Lepage of St Benedict mirroring those results at the senior level, recording times of 2:33.85 (800m – beat Lauren Pineau of Lockerby by 3/100th of a second), 5:10.77 (1500m) and 11:55.48 (3000m).

The Junior Girls division featured a split between the track and the field events when it came to the “three for three” crew as Marymount thrower Kayiesha Thomas took gold in the shot put (10.86m), the discus (22.64m) and the javelin (29.41m) while Lo-Ellen sprinter Milena Kulik continued to torch the track, clocking in at 12.87 seconds (100m dash), 26.85 seconds (200m – beat Jillian Landry of BAC by 4/100th of a second) and 1:01.97 (400m).

Understandably, this quartet also secured the individual aggregate honours in their respective brackets with those accolades also going to Dylan Nelson of St Benedict (NB – 1st in the 400m; 2nd in the 100m and 200m) and Lo-Ellen senior Kaeden Ward (1st in the 2000m steeplechase and the 3000m; 3rd in the 1500m), with a tie taking place in the junior ranks.

Sharing the honours for the male grade ten athletes were Nicholas Bechard of Collège Notre Dame (1st in the 100m – beat Ethan Oliver of LOE by just 3/1000ths of a second – and the 200m; 3rd in the long jump) and Nicho Labrecque of Lo-Ellen (1st in 1500m & 3000m; 3rd in the 800m).

The 2023 meet featured only a pair of records being broken, the most notable being the Novice Girls 4 X 100m relay mark as the Knights foursome of Madison Veevers, Sophia Legendre, Sarah Guignard and Melina Doiron posted a time of 52.76, comfortably erasing a mark that has stood since 2004 (53.10) and was established by an impressive Lo-Ellen team that featured Rebecca Johnston, Emily Dube and Emily Petingalo.

Competing in the Intellectually Impaired classification, Riley Cornthwaite of Lasalle improved his time in the 100m ever so slightly since 2019, crossing the line in 14.71 seconds on Thursday versus 14.73 seconds four years ago.

Setting aside the three-winners for a moment, it was clear that some of the very best performances of the past two days came courtesy of athletes who excelled in many cases in either a singular event, or perhaps a pair of events – athletes such as Lo-Ellen novice boys track sensation Darren Joiner, the young man who denied Dylan Nelson a perfect meet.

Part of a growing stable of speedsters training under the watchful eye of Olympic gold medal winner Robert Esmie (Air Blastoff), Joiner had enjoyed some initial success back in grade four but came to realize that he needed to hone his skills to continue to improve as the rest of the field caught up.

“I’ve been working with Robert and it’s really helping my form,” said Joiner, who took top spot in the 100m in a time of 11.88 and the 200m in 23.68, a time that would have won both the junior and senior races. “My feet will vary off to the sides a little, so I’ve got some orthotics.”

He also has a particular skill that leads him to suggest that the 200m distance is definitely more of “his event”. “Not very many people can hold the sprint the whole way – and I am pretty good at that. I have endurance for that, so I like that one.”

Comparatively speaking, Esmie has had little to no time to work his magic with Marymount freshman Barbara Ceccon – but he definitely has some talent to work with. Ceccon took first place in the 400m event with a time of 1:01.94, not only almost five seconds faster than the second place finisher but nearly three seconds better than the best senior time – not to mention just a hair quicker than Kulik (junior gold), who is more than a little speedy in her own right.

“I have been doing track at Marymount since grade seven but I started running with Air Blastoff a week ago,” said Ceccon. While she also competed in the 100m and 200m sprints, the 15 year old multi-sport athlete list the 400m as her favourite, which bodes well considering the raw ability that she possesses.

“I don’t actually have a strategy when I run,” she acknowledged. “I just try and sprint the whole thing right now, if I can. From the 200m mark on, I start to get tired and I kind of slow down near the finish.”

Throw in a start that can still use plenty of work – “I’m pretty slow at the start and then I kind of catch up the first 100 metres” – and it should be interesting to see what the future holds in store.

Also a devotee of both hockey and volleyball on a competitive level, Will Mackey of Lasalle decided to spend a little more time on his best track event, receiving a nice spillover benefit in walking off with gold in both his signature triple jump (11.18m) but also the long jump (5.34m).

“I practiced a lot with the triple jump this year with coach Jim Taylor,” said Mackey. “I didn’t really practice the long jump – but I’ve got the same run up for everything, I jump off the same foot for both, so as long as I am jumping right off the line, I am pretty much set.”

Space restrictions might not allow us to cover each and every other individual champion, though a few more certainly deserve some attention:

Sarah Guignard – NG – LOE – first in 80m hurdles and HJ – 2nd in the 100m dash

Caleb Mead – NB – STB – first in 800m and 3000m (9:59.80)

Lucia Salmaso – JG – MMT – dropped down in distances and still took 1st in both the 800m and 1500m and second in the 400m

Maeva Sullivan – SG – LCS – 1st in HJ and LJ; second in 100m dash

Locals will be back in action next Wednesday and Thursday as Sudbury plays host to NOSSA Championships this year.