The Sacred Heart track and field “machine” keeps on rolling.
The 74-year-old Arthur Drive school has done it again — repeating as overall winners at the Catholic Independent Schools Vancouver Archdiocese (CISVA) Championships, held at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby.
The Saints beat out 38 other schools to take top honours thanks to a program that is rich in participation numbers and volunteers. A staggering 78 percent of all students in Grades 3-7 took part this season with the support of 10 coaches, mostly teachers at the school.
“We have many staff who simply love coaching track and field, as well as staff who have done it and who want to pass on what they have learned,” explained PE teacher Jason Jones. “We also have former students who come back to help us as well at practices and meets.”
The coaches are also making sure it’s a well-rounded program with students learning the various field and jumping disciplines, in addition to running. This is vital when it comes to overall titles.
“Our team specializes in long jump, high jump, shot put and discus. This year we offered triple jump to a couple of our Grade 7 athletes. This event was only exclusive to the B.C. Elementary Track and Field Championship (in Richmond last month),” said John Kairis, another volunteer teacher coach.
Besides overall honours, the Saints brought home team and individual aggregate awards.
They took the 2005 (Grade 7) boys and girls team title, led by Gemma Dumas who captured the long jump event and was second in both the 100 and 400 metres. She was runner-up for the 2005 girls aggregate award.
“The 2005 students are a great story of never giving up,” said Jones. “In Grade 3, they had one aggregate point at the CISVA meet. But with new additions, coupled with the students getting better, they improved on their point total each year, and now look where they are!”
All other age groups were near the top of the standings, adding to the Saints’ point total.
Individually, Taila Dunsmoor captured the Girls 2006 award, winning the high jump, 400m and 800m events. She also ran a great 800m leg for the 2006 medley girls relay team that placed second.
The Saints thrived in the 4x100 relay event with a first place finish for the 2008 boys. There were also valuable points gained from: a pair of thirds for the 2008 girls and 2007 mixed, a fourth for the 2008 boys, a fifth for the 2009 mixed, a sixth for the 2005 mixed and an eight for the 2006 boys.
Cooper Maxwell produced a pair of third place finishes in the 2007 boys 800m and 1500m races. At the same age level, Trystan Read won the high jump and was just two centimetres off setting a new meet record.
Kiersten Kuchma won the 2008 girls long jump for the second straight year.
The meet culminated weeks of hard work that began in the school’s PE classes.
“Time is dedicated during gym classes as part of curriculum for students to practice their track and field skills,” added teacher Tamara Falcos. “As well, students practice before and after school several times a week with our amazing staff so they can really hone in on the techniques needed to excel in their particular race or field event.”
The program made use of the loose gravel track at Delta Secondary but Falcos hopes a proper venue will be available soon for future use.
“Since teaching about physical, mental, and emotional health is so important in our curriculum, it would be great to see the provision of new and improved facilities being an actualization in our community,” she added. “Jason does a fantastic job working with our space at Sacred Heart, alongside our amazing support coaching staff and parents who volunteer their time to ensure the students who are passionate about track and field get the training and time to put into excelling in their skills.”
