With students representing St James (Lively), St John (Garson), St Charles (Chelmsford), St Paul (Coniston) and St Anne (Hanmer), competition was fierce as boys and girls took part in eight different events split evenly between the track and the field.

Despite not having much of a background in organized sport, Bobby Chartrand of St Charles displayed his natural athleticism, capturing first place in both the junior high jump and 800m race.

A passionate snowboarder who keeps active with his bicycle in the summer, Chartrand admitted to not being smitten with the track events quite yet. “I prefer the high jump, because you don’t have to do a lot of running,” he said.

Mind you, that didn’t stop the grade 7 student from covering two laps of the track in 2:59.63, good enough for gold in the 800m distance. “I’m more of a fast starter, then I ended up going pretty slow. I tried to go faster, but I couldn’t.”

By contrast, Myla McCormick of St Paul is quite comfortable tackling the longer distances, having trekked out to run in five and ten kilometer races that are offered as part of local marathons.

Her training allowed her to dominate the field in the 800m junior girls event, posting an impressive time of 2:52.50. “I enjoyed the 800 a little better than the 400 because you get more distance” said McCormick, who was joined at the meet by older brother Myles, also a first place finisher.

A regular fixture within the local lacrosse loop as well as with the Sudbury Lady Wolves program, McCormick notes the cross-training benefit that comes part and parcel with her love of running.

“The running helps quite a bit, because you can go faster on the ice and you get more breath out of it,” she said. With one more year of elementary schooling remaining, McCormick is within twelve seconds already of the winning Midget Girls time at the SDSSAA city championships this year (in the 800m event).

Following is a listing of all event winners, along with their performances:

Grade 7 Girls
100m – Morgan Melnek (St Anne) – 14.44
200m – Morgan Melnek (St Anne) – 29.03
400m – Myla McCormick (St Paul) – 1:13.85
800m – Myla McCormick (St Paul) – 2:52.50
High jump – Alyssa Menard (St Anne) – 1.30m
Triple Jump – Jaiden Patrick (St Anne) – 7.30m
Shot Put – Tessa Scoville (St Anne) – 8.95m

Grade 7 Boys
100m – Blake Purcell (St John) – 13.91
200m – Bailey Henry (St John) – 31.15
400m – Josh Duckett (St James) – 1:10.07
800m – Bobby Chartrand (St Charles) – 2:59.63
Long Jump – Austin Morrow-Hayduck (St Charles) – 4.80m
High Jump – Bobby Chartrand (St Charles)
Triple Jump – Zack Tremblay (St Charles) – 7.91m
Shot Put – Zack Tremblay (St Charles) – 10.10m

Grade 8 Girls
100m – Riley McEwen (St Charles) – 14.75
200m – Dana Isaia (St Anne) – 31.81
400m – Bailey Laforest (St Anne) – 1:14.47
800m – Bailey Laforest (St Anne) – 2:58.66
Long Jump – Ashley Reiner (St James) – 3.40m
Long Jump – Ashley Simard (St Charles) – 3.40m
High Jump – Dana Isaia (St Anne) – 1.25m
Triple Jump – Riley McEwen (St Charles) – 7.50m
Shot Put – Destiny Robichaud (St Charles) – 8.55m

Grade 8 Boys
100m – Tyler Sinclair (St Charles) – 12.56
200m – Scott Istvandi (St Anne) – 27.53
400m – Tyler Sinclair (St Charles) – 1:00.15
800m – Myles McCormick (St Paul) – 2:47.66
Long Jump – Jamie Lafreniere (St John) – 4.15m
High Jump – Cameron Lizotte (St John)
Shot Put – Alex Yaw (St James) – 10.60m