Ashley Huard streaks to silver at national qualifier

Eleven athletes from Sudbury's Track North Athletic Club competed at the Ontario Junior Championships and National Qualifier track and field meet in Toronto this weekend.

Ashley Huard, fresh from a bronze medal performance at the OFSAA championships in Sudbury, continued her remarkable climb up the national sprint rankings, running a personal best 11.95 in the 100-m to win a silver medal. Huard's time was only .05 seconds from the qualifying standard for the Pan-American Junior Championships and ranks her second in the National Junior rankings. Huard also placed 17th in the 200-m with a personal best time of 25.72.

Teammate Emma Tallman, who competes for both Track North and Laurentian University, also set a personal best in winning a bronze medal in the open women's 1,500-m. Tallman's new mark of 4:37.61 was 10 seconds better than her former best time. Tallman also placed 6th in the 800-m with a time of 2:16.57.

Andrew Athanasopolous, marked his return to javelin competition by placing 3rd in the open men's javelin with a distance of 49.65 metres.

Ross Proudfoot placed 4th in the 800-m with a time of 1:53.21.

Matt Taylor placed 6th in the junior men's triple jump with a personal best leap of 13.13 metres. He also placed 17th in the long jump with a jump of 5.45 metres.

Grace Thomson, a finalist at the OFSAA track championships, made the finals over a higher hurdle height at this competition, placing 7th in a time of 15.53.

Jeremy Cooper placed 7th in the junior men's 5,000-m, with a time of 15:36.74, while training partner, Chantry Cargill placed 7th in the open men's 5,000-m with a time of 15:44.98.

Alicia Violin placed 13th in the junior women's long jump with a leap of 5.07m. She also placed 10th in the triple jump with a distance of 11.12 metres. Fellow jumper, Sean Moore, placed 13th in the junior men's long jump with a leap of 5.75 metres and 9th in the triple jump with a distance of 12.49 metres.

Brandon Shirk, hampered by a sore hamstring, ran 51.99 in the 400-m heats but was forced to withdraw from the final.

Track North alumni, Caroline Ehrhardt of Espanola, now competing for London Western, won both the long jump and triple jump with leaps of 5.98 and 12.66 metres respectively.

- Posted by Laurel Myers