Central’s Jonah Branning continues to re-write the track and field record book here in Moose Jaw and now the South Central District.
Branning broke the senior boys 100-metre and 200-metre records, as well as being a part of the record-breaking 4x100-relay team from Moose Jaw, during the South Central District Track and Field Championship at Gutheridge Field on Wednesday. (Click here for full results from the meet)
“I’m really happy about my day because I didn’t have high expectations after having football on the weekend, but to come out with those placings, it feels really good,” said Branning.
The 100-metre was another incredible showdown between Branning and Peacock’s Ryan Botterill and the fastest one yet. Branning won with a time of 10.20 seconds, which shattered the previous record of 10.80 seconds, which was set by Vanier’s Shane Nicholson in 1999.
While the time is hand-timed, which comes with some variation, it’s still amazingly fast as the Under-18 World Record is currently 10.15 seconds held by American Anthony Schwartz.
“It felt fast,” said Branning. “10.20 might be a bit of a stretch because it was hand-timed, but it was my fast race for sure, best I’ve ran this year.
“Even if it’s hand-timed, it’s got to be in a decent ballpark, so just knowing that it compares with people world wide, it helps with the confidence for sure and lets you know that you’re pretty fast.”
Pretty fast to say the least.
Botterill came in at a time of 10.27s in the 100m. “Seeing both of us in 10.20 was surreal, so it was a fun race to be a part of,” said Botterill.
The 200m saw Branning finish in 21.70 seconds and pull away from Botterill a bit over the final stretch to break another one of Nicholson’s records, which stood at 21.90 seconds for 18 years.
Heading into provincials, Branning hopes he can keep pushing his times lower.
“I know what I need to work on by watching video, so if I spend the next week working on things like starts or just mentally, I think I can shave off a little bit of time, not anything crazy, but every millisecond counts,” he said.
Botterill is looking forward to provincials and getting one last crack at topping Branning in 100m and 200m.
“He’s up 3-2 in the 100m, so maybe it’s my turn, we’ll find out,” he said. “I know (Regina Riffle’s Vaughn Taylor) is going to be there as well, so both those finals are going to be crazy.”
Branning and Botterill teamed up with Peacock runners Griffin Barrett and Mukire Kiroro to blow away the 4x100-relay record with a time of 44.70 seconds. They finished almost six seconds ahead of second place.
The SHSAA provincial meet goes next Friday and Saturday in Saskatoon.
Bosch Continues Dominating in 400-metre
When someone goes to look up the 400-metre records in Moose Jaw in a few years, there will be only one name that they see, Vanier’s Hunter Bosch.
Bosch broke the senior boys 400m record again on Wednesday with a time of 49.90 seconds, giving him the Moose Jaw Invitational, city championship and district championship records.
“It’s something that I really wanted for a long time,” said Bosch. “I knew that they were definitely in reach this year and I got some great training over the winter, so that definitely helped me.”
Wednesday’s time was 0.04 seconds slower than the one that Bosch posted at the city championship last week, but he had to content with a fairly strong wind over the first 200 metres this time around.
“I was a little slower the first 200 metres and there was just a crazy wind at the bend, so I knew that I had to kick it into another gear to go for the record,” said Bosch. “I’m really pumped that I got it.”
Bosch also won the 800m title with a time of 2:07.8 and finished in third place, behind Branning and Botterill, in the 200m with a personal best time of 22.60 seconds.
He said he’s looking forward to seeing what he can do at provincials now.
“We’ll see who I’m running against, I’ll be keeping a close eye on the Regina and Saskatoon city championships, and I can’t wait,” said Bosch.
Three More Records Set
In the junior girls quadathlon, Peacock’s Jenna Helland broke new ground with a point total of 1,612, which broke the old record of 1,485 set by fellow Peacock athlete Hanna Audette last year.
Helland said she was surprised and pleased to come away with the record.
“It feels so good,” she said. “I was very skeptical about even doing the quad, so being that I broke a record is pretty cool.”
The quad features the 100m, 800m, long jump and shot put with point totals being award based on the finish in each event.
“I’m not really good at anything, so being that this is a little bit of everything it was nice,” said Helland. “It’s nice that we compete together (with the senior girls), so then you have that drive, so it was definitely exciting.”
There was two other individual records broken during the day on Wednesday.
Caronport High School’s Tessa Neufeld set a new mark in midget girls shot put with a throw of 10.38 metres, which shattered the old record of 9.96m set in 2004.
Kincaid’s Derek Onraet broke the senior boys pole vault record, clearing 2.90 metres.
Fri, Apr 19, 8:00 AM
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