Top performer Kyle Arndt hands off the baton to Kelton Kouri during the 4x100 relay.

Local high school track and field athletes had a good day at the South Central District Championships on Wednesday.  They dominated their home turf at Gutheridge Field and will be sending 53 athletes to Provincials as a result.

Outside of some wind, conditions were ideal for the athletes to perform and many of them put up some stellar numbers.  There were three new records set in the bantam division and there many just misses.

Peacock Collegiate's Kyle Arndt was one of the top performers at the event as he took home five gold medals in total.  Individually, he won the Midget Boys 400-metre, 800-metre and 1,500-metre races, as well as gold in javelin.  The Grade 9 student was also apart of the winning 4x100-metre relay team from Moose Jaw.

“Coming into (Districts), I didn't really know (what to expect), last week I won all my events as well and I didn't know if it was going to be easier or harder, so I just tried my best,” said Arndt.  “I thought it was harder this week, but I buckled down and tried hard.”

Qualifying for Provincials in four events is quite the accomplishment for the young athlete and he said he's excited about the chance to compete against the best Saskatchewan has to offer.

“It's pretty awesome and especially cause it's in Moose Jaw,” he said.  “I've been to a couple of track meets outside of Moose Jaw with guys from all over the province and done okay, so it's going to be a challenge.”

From one end of the age category to the other, Moose Jaw athletes performed well.  Vanier's Hannah Heisler was able to claim top spot in two events at Districts to advance to provincials.  She won gold in Senior Girls Discus with a throw of 30.82-metres and in Javelin with a throw of 30.51m.

“I haven't hit 30 very often in either of the throws and I hit 30 in both of them, so that was good and that was my goal coming, to hit that,” Heisler said after finishing up her events.  “I'm really excited (to take part in Provincials), it will be fun and especially because it's here.”

Heisler qualified for Provincials last year, but finished eighth in Javelin.  She's hoping to top that performance this time around.  “Maybe I can get a little better than that this year and do better in Discus than I have before,” said Heisler.  “I think it's an advantage (to have Provincials in Moose Jaw) because I'm use to the throwing areas and if you were going to go somewhere else, I've never thrown there before.”

Central's Royce Hanna is in his final year of high school and thought it would be fun to take part in track this year.  His curiosity has paid off as he qualified in two events for Provincials, winning the Senior Boys 100-metre with a time of 11.9-seconds and placing second in Long Jump at 5.77-metres.

“This is my first year in track, so it's been good,” Hanna said after helping the Senior Boys 4x100 relay team come within 0.6 seconds of the District record.  “I play football and am pretty fast in that, so I thought that I would take up track and be a multi-sport athlete.”

Obviously this will be Hanna's first trip to Provincials and he said he'll be going in with no expectations.  “There's some pretty good athletes out there, so I hope I get top-ten in the 100-metre,” he said.  “Our relay team is really strong, so we're going to do good in that.”

There were 410 athletes from Grades 7 to 12 competing at Gutheridge Field on Wednesday.  Click here to see the full results from the event.  Provincials will be held next Friday and Saturday here in Moose Jaw.

Welburn Has Record-Setting Day

Bengough's Joely Welburn put together quite the performance at Districts on Wednesday as she competed in the Bantam Girls division.  She won all four of her events and set new records in two of them.

“It was exciting,” said Welburn after the event.  “It's lots of practice to be here, but I've improved a lot this year.”

One of the records that Welburn broke was her own in the 200-metre dash that she set last year with a time of 28.00-seconds.  She bettered it by 0.1-seconds on Wednesday with a wind in her face to boot.

“I was really excited that broke it, I felt I could have done better, but it was still a huge accomplishment,” said the young athlete, who would have place first in the Midget and Junior divisions and second in Senior with her time.

The other record was set in Triple Jump as she launched a jump of 10.34-metres, which shattered the record set in 2002 of 10.18m.  The jump would have also given her first place in the Midget, Junior and Senior divisions, which is quite the accomplishment for a Grade 8 student.