Five more city records broken Thursday at SDSSA track meet

Though the numbers were down, the quality was every bit as good as usual as the 2015 SDSSAA Track & Field Championships wrapped up Thursday at Laurentian University.

Five more city records were added to the quartet of new standards established on Wednesday, with no less than nine athletes earning "perfect meet" status, capturing all three individual events in which they were entered.

And a good number of those covered both of the above categories, enjoying record-setting performances as part of their "golden trio.”

Two-time OFSAA medallist Danika Falvo fell comfortably into that grouping, sweeping all three throwing events in just her first year of senior competition.

The 16-year-old Grade 11 student at Collège Notre-Dame broke the previous marks in both the javelin and the discus, heaving a throw of 36.76 with the spear yesterday. "It was my first year back for shot put (she did not compete in that event in 2014), so I just wanted to make the top three," noted Falvo. "For discus and javelin, I wanted to beat my personal bests."

In fact, moving forward, she expects to focus entirely on these two disciplines as she prepares for NOSSA and OFSAA. "There's a few techniques that are kind of similar, like body positioning and stuff, so that helps in going from javelin to discus," she said.

"With the discus, it's a matter of making sure my hand is properly positioned when I release. That's the thing I concentrate on most when I'm throwing. For javelin, it's the smaller details, making sure my arm placement is right, that the javelin is placed right, making sure my whole body movement is in order."

After capturing both the midget boys 800m and 3000m races on day one, Josh Tillson of Lo-Ellen added to 1500m to the mix yesterday, finishing first in a time of 4:38.18, just over two seconds better than the previous record held by Tim Tindall of Lockerby.

Little surprise that Tillson migrated over to the folks with the Track North Athletic Club back in December, now looking forward to chatting with coach Darren Jermyn about the game plan in cutting down to just two distances for OFSAA.

"Ever since I joined with them, he (Jermyn) has the greatest advice," said Tillson. "He makes us work hard, but at the end of the day, I feel good."

Tillson was fighting off a slight injury that he aggravated somewhat in his opening two events as he pushed for three gold medals.

"I knew that I needed one more win to go for aggregate, and that really, really drove me," he said. "I rested a lot last night, and iced it on and off every 15 minutes."

Also reaching the three-win club was Marymount Regals junior athlete Allison Byrnes, duplicating the feat she achieved in the midget age class last year.

That said, the challenge becomes tougher each and every year for the 16-year-old who won the long jump, triple jump and 100m dash. "I expected to do a little bit better in my long jump," said Byrnes. "I jumped 4.85m, and I really wanted to try and break the city record (5.08m). Today, I am really proud of myself, running under 13 seconds."

In capturing first place in the sprint in 12.97 seconds, Byrnes edged out multi-sport sensation Kayla Folz of St. Charles, less than a tenth of a second back at 13.06.

The two-day resume of Sydney Tarini mirrored that of Tillson, with both Lo-Ellen midgets earning bragging rights in the 800m, 1500m and 3000m.

Despite running with a substantial lead throughout the 1500m on Thursday, Tarini came within a half second of breaking the mark set by current Laurentian cross-country athlete Emily Marcolini, posting a personal best time of 5:11.78.

"I tend to go out fast the first 200 metres, and then settle in to my pace," explained Tarini. "I know that midway through the race is always my slowest, so I try and make my mid-lap my hardest."

"There really wasn't much strategy today," Tarini continued. "I was impressed that I got 5:11, because I was still a little sore from yesterday, and it was pretty windy."

Joining Falvo, Tillson, Byrnes and Tarini as aggregate champions with three gold medals each were Leika Sutcliffe (Notre-Dame), Karly Hellstrom (Lasalle), Dawson Nootchtai (St. Benedict), Reinhardt Grobler (Lo-Ellen) and Liam Passi (Lasalle).

The record-setting crew from Thursday included Helena Havlovic of Lo-Ellen (senior girls high jump – 1.53m), Meagan McGaughey of Notre-Dame (senior girls long jump - 5.12m) and Passi (open boys 2000m steeplechase - 6:22.97).

Following is a complete list of event winners from Thursday:

Midget Girls
100m dash - Leika Sutcliffe (CND) - 13.29
400m - Kyndra Young (Champlain) - 1:05.78
1500m - Sydney Tarini (Lo-Ellen) - 5:11.78
300m hurdles - Morgan Smith (Lo-Ellen) - 51.09
Long Jump - Rebecca Jacob (Lasalle) - 4.62m
Triple Jump - Leika Sutcliffe (CND) - 9.80m
Shot Put - Kaylee Trepanier (CND) - 8.94m
4 X 100m relay - Lockerby (Martel/Coles/Hopkins/Keenan) - 56.34

Midget Boys
100m dash - Max MacGillivray (St Benedict) - 12.20
400m - Nicholas Brown (Macdonald-Cartier) - 1:00.49
1500m - Josh Tillson (Lo-Ellen) - 4:38.18
300m hurdles - Kelly Thompson (Lo-Ellen) - 51.29
Triple Jump - Alex Tassé (CND) - 10.95m
Shot Put - Elliott Prud'homme (St Charles) - 11.66m
Discus - Isaac Callaghan (St Charles) - 34.12m
4 X 100m relay - St Charles (Martel/Callaghan/Brunet/Kruk) - 50.13

Junior Girls
100m dash - Allison Byrnes (Marymount) - 12.97
400m - Karly Hellstrom (Lasalle) - 1:03.19
1500m - Karly Hellstrom (Lasalle) - 5:24.15
300m hurdles - Madi Kellestine (Lo-Ellen) - 52.82
High Jump - Hope Joly (Marymount) - 1.40m
Triple Jump - Allison Byrnes (Marymount) - 10.36m
Discus - Jordyn Brousseau (Marymount) - 18.21m
4 X 100m - Lockerby (McDougall/Maki/Sikora/Hancharyk) - 56.38

Junior Boys
100m dash - Darian Dechaine (Sacré-Coeur) - 12.03
400m - Dawson Nootchtai (St Benedict) - 56.93 1500m - Dawson Nootchtai (St Benedict) - 5:03.98
300m hurdles - Oliver Ecclestone (Lockerby) - 49.15
High Jump - Justion Levert (Sacré-Coeur) - 1.65m
Discus - Andrew Rocha (St Benedict) - 35.67m
Javelin - Darian Dechaine (Sacré-Coeur) - 46.74m
4 X 100m relay - Lockerby (Ecclestone/Muray/Gladu/Tulini) - 48.92

Senior Girls
100m dash - Danielle Roy (CND) - 12.85
400m - Laura Graham (Lasalle) - 1:00.99
1500m - Sarah MacLean (Lockerby) - 5:30.08
1500m steeplechase - Allison Caswell (Lo-Ellen) - 5:46.19
400m hurdles - Nicole Conlin (Lo-Ellen) - 1:12.88
High Jump - Helena Havlovic (Lo-Ellen) - 1.55m
Long Jump - Meagan McGaughey (CND) - 5.12m
Javelin - Danika Falvo (CND) - 36.76m
4 X 100m relay - Notre-Dame (Mayer/Roy/Philipow/Thorpe) - 51.42

Senior Boys
100m dash - Skyler Savage-Perreault (Horizon) - 11.39
400m - Reinhardt Grobler (Lo-Ellen) - 53.05
1500m - Liam Passi (Lasalle) - 4:18.80
2000m steeplechase - Liam Passi (Lasalle) - 6:22.97
400m hurdles - Reinhardt Grobler (Lo-Ellen) - 1:00.91
Long Jump - Jacob Pitawanakwat (St Charles) - 5.70m
Shot Put - Eric Paquette (CND) - 13.70m
Javelin - Eric Paquette (CND) - 40.03m
4 X 100m relay - St Charles (Bell/Pitawanakwat/Kaskiewicz/N'Galamulume) - 47.02