You guessed it, at the same Edmonton meet on May 22 where Leanna set a new provincial record and Paige broke through the 4 m barrier, Corey seemed inspired. He added a foot to his previous best (set just 2 weeks earlier) with a 4.57 m leap. With a Jr. Pan Am standard of 4.65 m Corey has his eyes set on the next 8 cm.
May 22 on a beautiful vault day in Edmonton, Paige came through with a 4.01m jump that looked all too easy. The jump puts her in the top 10 nationally during a banner year for womens vault in Canada. We have the strongest crew of jumpers Canada has ever seen and our EITC jumpers are snuggled in to represent our city and our province. Congrat's Paige on breaking through and achieving a long term goal. Having seen the jump myself, I am confident that much more is to come. Can't wait to see your next big jump.
On May 10 at the Calgary Spring Challenge Meghan added 20 cm to her personal best. That by itself is impressive. To do it a day after setting that previous outdoor best makes it much more exciting. Meghan is currently ranked 2nd Nationally and is hoping to add 5 cm to her big jump to make standard for Jr. Pan Am Games.
Congratulations to the newly married Lindsey Mix (Bergevin) who was named to Team Canada for the Summer Universiade Games in Gwangju, Korea. This is Lindsey's third time going to FISU. The track and field portion of the games will occur July 8-12. We wish Lindsey all the best!!!
Early in the season, Lindsey equalled her provincial outdoor record of 4.25 while down in Phoenix Arizona.
Leanna Carriere was quick to respond on a beautiful Friday night in Edmonton by posting a new lifetime personal best of 4.27.
Leanna is now currently tied for third in the National rankings. She is hoping to improve that mark in order to be top two in Canada to make the Pan Am Games this July in Toronto. Leanna was close this past Sunday May 31st, having good attempts at 4.35!! Lindsey is ranked fifth Nationally and just back from her honeymoon. We are so excited to see the girls train hard and see continued improvements. Both are currently ranked in the top 75 in the World!
Lindsey Bergevin was quick to respond to Leanna's big jump in March with her own lifetime personal best in April!
Lindsey jumped 4.25m at the Puma Outdoor held in Paradise Valley, Arizona to open up her 2015 outdoor season!
The friendly competition amongst EITC vaulters is ramping up as we enter the new season.
At the Saskatchewan Indoor Championships Leanna Carriere jumped 4.20m to set a new lifetime personal best!
It was a very successful meet for EITC athletes:
Kathryn enters the CIS national championships in a dead heat with three other women ranked 7th in the country. She improved that ranking by jumping a lifetime best 3.81m! This bested her previous PB by 6 cm and scored essential points for the Pandas in the team competition.
Nathan entered the weekend competition ranked third in the country and jumped 4.92m on his first attempt to capture the CIS silver medal. He also scored valuable points for the Bears in the team competition.
Megan Lim has done it again! This time with a jump of 3.50m her PB keeps on rising!
We've got another stellar performance from a developmental athlete to report. Hailey set a huge new personal best with a jump of 2.50m!
This group is making some very positive strides as we round out the indoor season and begin preparations for outdoors.
EITC athletes Kathryn van Ryswyk and Nathan Filipek represented the U of A Golden Bears and Pandas at the Canada West championships.
Kathryn entered the competition neck and neck with two others who were also ranked 3rd in the conference. With a jump of 3.70m Kathryn finished with the second best height at the competition but had to settle for the bronze due to count backs.
Nathan entered the competition ranked third in the conference. After some jockeying Nathan skipped to 4.93m, clinched a CanWest gold medal, and set an indoor personal best in the process! Just shy of his lifetime best, this jump has Nathan trending upwards at a critical moment of the indoor season.
Megan Lim made a splash with a new lifetime personal best jump of 3.40m at the Alberta Indoor Games and is well poised to continue the trend throughout 2015!
The Edmonton International Track Club places tremendous value in the developmental program and has seen steady improvements from all of the athletes in their practices.
These improvements have culminated in a new lifetime personal best for Lauren who jumped 2.61m at GBO!
Lindsey Bergevin tied her Alberta provincial record with a jump of 4.15m to open her 2015 indoor season at the Prairie Dual meet!
Our group is doing a great job climbing up the national senior rankings. Our top boys are ranked 4th and 5th (Deryk 5.10m and Nathan 5.00m) while the girls are ranked 2nd (Lindsey 4.25m), 4th (Leanne 4.15m), and 8th (Paige 3.90m).
This group brings together jumpers from three different clubs to enjoy a great training atmosphere and sights on an ever improving future.
There seems to be a common occurrence on the Alberta Pole Vault scene. Kassandra Hordal and Meghan Lim are having a great time, vaulting with big smiles and oh yea...... winning everything!
At the Western Tri Prov meet both the girls travelled to Saskatchewan to represent team Alberta. They each had a great day and won their respective categories.
On to Legion Nationals, the girls competed in the U16 (Kass) and U18 (Meghan) categories. They each took home a medal! This year Kass tied for the lead in height and took home the silver while Meghan jumped to a new height and gold medal. Congrats to Meghan on her first ever National Championship gold.
So, Nathan goes to Sr. Nationals with clear intent to get into the 5 m club. He jumped very well but as we all know, vault can be a mean mean event. Directly following nationals, Nathan came back home to welcome Shawnacy to his home turf at Foote field. On this day, Nathan would get his wish. He cleared 5 m for the first time. With ease and room, Nathan is a man on the move heading into the final few meets of the outdoor.
The women's side was very interesting as well. Nationals saw Lindsey win and clear one more bar than Leanne. With the tight top 6 girls at nationals that meant that Leanne finished 6th. Back at home and hungry to make a point, Leanne stepped it up to take a win at the EITC Classic! Oh yea, lifetime best too at 4.15 m. Lindsey jumped well again clearing 4.00 m to put together a very solid outdoor so far. Good luck to all of the Sr.'s in the coming weeks.
Mark and the group travelled across the county, returning to Moncton for the 2014 Sr. National Championships. On the girls side Lindsey, Leanne and Paige entered as a top ranked group. Paige tied her personal best performance of 3.90m and was very close to getting 4. Leanne looked the strongest of the group with a great warm up and convincing clearances all the way up to and including a 4.00m clearance. But on the day, it was Lindsey who dug deep into her bag of experience to net a 4.10 m clearance on her first attempt to clinch the win.
This years field was super tight with the top 6 girls crammed between 4.00 m and 4.10 m and two more girls at each of 3.90 and 3.80.
Congrats on 1st, 6th and 7th!
On the boys side it was a Barber vs Wurster show for sure. Jason equalled the Championship record and then Shawnacy added 5 more cm. EITC's lone male, Nathan Filipek sauntered into the comp. looking to climb the ladder. He placed 4th with a jump of 4.70m . . . but more on him in our next post.
Foothills Track in Calgary was host to the ASAA track and field championships June 6-7 where 3 students training with the club earned medals.
Meghan Lim of Calgary, who has been travelling up to Edmonton every couple weekends to train, won gold on the way to breaking the junior girls record of 2.91m with a personal best performance of 3.15m. The record was previously held by Paige Ridout of Calgary, who also started training with the club earlier this year.
Corey Woolnough also earned gold, defending his title in the senior boys category with a personal best clearance of 4.00m.
As well, Samantha Tewitz from Stranthcona Composite was able to grab a bronze medal in the girls intermediate category.
Congratulations to Kassandra Hordal on her gold medal at the Royal Canadian Legion Youth National Championships in the U-16 category. Kassandra successfully cleared 2.90m to win the Gold, and she continued jumping to clear 3.20m. Great Job Kassandra!
On the boys side, Corey Woolnough had an amazing warm up, but unexpectedly needed even bigger poles. We attempted to borrow a pole from another athlete, but unfortunately, it wasn't to be. Corey had an injury during the warm-ups and was unable to compete. Keep your head up Corey, great things are coming.
Best wishes to our two athletes, Kassandra Hordal and Corey Woolnough, who are travelling to Langley, BC, for their Legion National Championships, and to Nathan Filipek, who will be representing team Alberta at the Canada Summer Games in Sherbrooke, QC. Kassandra and Corey will be jumping on Friday, August 9th. Nathan jumps a week later on the Friday, August 16th.
Congratulations to Rachel Mintz, the newly crowned Maccabiah champion! On July 25th, 2013, Rachel was able to get past the blistering temperatures and many challenges of international travel with poles to win a gold for Canada in Israel. She made first attempt clearances at 4 heights before making three great attempts at a new PB. Great job Rachel!