At the South zone track and field meet held last week, 18 of the 25 Nantyr Shores athletes who competed qualified to advance to the GBSSA Championship meet held this week at St. Theresa in Midland.  

But as with many spring events, the weather had its own schedule in mind, and delivered cold and rain for the nearly 12 hours of events.           

Despite the conditions, many of the Nantyr athletes performed exceptionally well and qualified to move on to the next level of competition — the Regional meet held at York University on May 29-30.            

“Every year the number of athletes (that qualify) increases,” said coach Alan Craig.

 One event where the school has a strong winning tradition is in high jump. Will Hughes, a former Nantyr high jumper who has returned as a volunteer coach, credits the coaching staff and the indoor training with their success. Gerry Lawrence, now retired, still returns each year as the team’s head coach.
           

Starting first thing in the morning at the Midland meet, with rain showers occurring periodically during the event, Chloe Major brought in the first win of the day when she was the sole jumper to clear 140 centimetres (cm) in the Junior Girls high jump beating out Jordan Leonard of St. Joseph’s.
           

She cleared 145 cm but when the bar reached 150 cm she didn’t make it.
         

“I was the only one (to clear 145),” she said.
           

Major qualified for the regional tournament last year in Grade 9 but after finishing fifth just missed qualifying for O.F.S.A.A.  The top four athletes move on to the provincial meet.
           

“It was hard (at regionals). I was mad,” she said, referring to her near miss. This year her goal is to qualify but she knows the competition will be tough.

Grade nine student Ky-Roh Dodd-May competed in the Midget boys division, missing 165 cm along with three other jumpers but due to earlier faults finished third.
           

For the three Senior boys triple jumpers, there wasn’t much competition at the earlier South zone, where Blake Gooding, Jevon Dixon, and Brandon Hawthorn dominated with first, second and third.

At the GBSSA meet Gooding secured first place with a jump of 13.81 metres, while Dixon pulled in a fourth and qualified for the regional meet with 12.45 m. Hawthorn finished 10th.

 Other successes at the meet include Zac Niemeyer and Taylor Keast placing second and fifth respectively in Midget boys discus, and Jordan Rainey finishing third in Junior Boys long jump.