There was a silver lining behind the ominous dark cloud of a Foothills Comp student getting through her last year of high school.
Foothills Falcon Rachel Mathieson took home the silver medal in the Senior girls long jump at the track and field championships in Edmonton on Friday.
“It was good for not training — I stopped doing club track this year just because it was overwhelming in terms of training and I wanted to focus more on school,” Mathieson said.
Her silver-medal jump of 5.07 came on her third attempt, just before Kory White from Strathcona High in Edmonton’s gold medal leap of 5.16m.
“She and I have been rivals since Grade 10, I wanted to beat her in the last year, but I just didn’t have what it took,” she said.
Mathieson said her best jump was her final one, however it didn’t count.
“I faulted by about millimetre,” she said with a chuckle.
“It was kind of a crummy way to have your last high school jump.”
Mathieson followed her silver medal performance by finishing sixth in the province in the Senior girls’ triple jump the following day.
“I was kind of disappointed because I know I could have done better, but that’s what I get for not training all year,” Mathieson said matter-of-factly.
“You got to have your rhythm down and stuff.”
Mathieson is one of the most decorated track athletes in recent Foothills history.
She has won a gold medals in both the triple jump and long jump in her three years at the Comp.
She also has two silver medals in the long jump and another in the triple jump.
“I think I represented the school well,” she said.
A long shot
There’s nothing like throwing a three-kilogram shotput to relax after two grueling games of rugby.
One day after playing No. 8 for the Holy Trinity Academy Knights in the rugby provincials in Lethbridge, Rylee Stone won a silver medal in Intermediate girls shot put with a throw of 11.44m on Saturday in the Capital City.
“My goal was just to do my best,” Stone said. “Knowing I was coming up from rugby, I didn’t know what kind of shape my body was going to be in.”
She was second to Kira Kopec from Brooks, who threw 12.72m.
“She is a great athlete,” Stone said. “She actually ran the 800m between throws. She won the pentathlon.”
Kopec posted her best throw on her fourth attempt, with all but one of six being longer than Stone’s mark of 11.44m.
Although Stone watched Kopec hurl the shot put like Henry Burris throws a football, the HTA student didn’t get down on herself.
“I was pretty happy for her honestly, she works hard for that,” Stone said with a laugh. “But I wanted to beat her.”
Stone’s personal best is a 12.5m. However, she said she didn’t believe she could have reached that mark due to the rigours of playing rugby the day before.
The Knights’ Michaela Bianchini also had a strong meet. She was fifth in the Senior girls 800m at 2:31.77.
She also made the finals in the 400m, coming in eighth at 1:05.34.
The Knights finished fourth in the 3A team totals. The 3A title was won by perennial power the Cochrane Cobras.
Spartans shine
The Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans didn’t quite defend their 2A track championship but they were close.
“We were second at provincials in the 2A category with 167 points to Hillside High School (northern Alberta), with 180 points,” said Spartans head coach Rob Lederer. “We sent up 19 athletes.”
The Spartans were led by Grade 10 student Emy Udoh who took home the bronze medal in the triple jump with a leap of 10.97.
Grade 12 student Melissa Obi repeated her bronze medal performance last year with another bronze in the Senior girls 100m. She was clocked at 12.87s.
She just missed a spot on
