March 20th, 08
Sorry for the suspense, because university nationals took me away from school for 5 days I've had a busy two weeks of catching up, writing midterms and working. Theoretically I could have studied in Montreal but I like to separate work and play :)
OK, so Thursday was the first day of the meet and there wasn't much on besides Pentathlon. After practicing exclusively for polevault and shot put for the past couple weeks I went in just hoping to maintain my ranking. I managed a personal best in hurdles and a good long jump of 6.40 before heading to shot put. Unfortunately, all the practicing of tossing the ball far didn't stop me from faulting my first 2 throws. Because I only had one throw left, I had to play if safe (so I didn't get 0 points for that event) and finished with a poor mark. After those 3 and an alright high jump of 1.83 I went into the 1000m in last place! I guess people are good at that meet. By this point Rosilyn, Nicholas and Lewis were all in the stands near the finished line as I began the dreaded 1k race. 3 of 5 laps in I was sitting in 10th place and maintained my pace as I passed a couple athletes, with 1 lap to go I was up to 7th and I started to kick(give whatever I had left). It wasn't till the final turn but I made it around a pack of 3 and held them off for 4th spot. The points were enough to give me 11th overall which was all I had hoped for. Polevault was one of the last events on Saturday and I was ranked 8th with a 4.57metre jump. Rosilyn, Lewis, Nicholas and Karine all made it out for the weekend spectacle. Unfortunately I was hurting and the warm up felt terrible, my coach kept me positive and although I wasn't about to give up mentally, I wasn't as optimistic as I should have been. The first height was much higher than usual, 4.30 and everyone cleared it. 4.45 was the next height which I have only ever jumped 3 times. I missed my first attempt so my coach gave me another pole with more pop that got me over the second time. (I used only 15 foot poles that day, he didn't want to risk the 16 again :) Now by this point I'm starting to feel the pressure because I haven't yet solidified 8th spot and the next height is higher than anything I've jumped before. 4.60 was the height and using yet another pole for my first attempt.....I made it! That tied Guelph's school record and was good for 6th place in the meet!
As for points, the top 8 placings win a designated amount of points for their school. Guelph, somehow, ended up with 1st place in men's by 3 points AND in womens by 6 points. Almost everyone on the team achieved their ranking or higher, so we got to jog around the track holding the 2 banners and 2 trophies while high-fiving, hugging, chanting and laughing. Guelph has never placed higher than 3rd at nationals so all the coaches, athletes and friends who made the trek to the great white north were pretty excited.
Montreal's record amounts of snow this winter allowed us the experience of digging/pushing out our bus from the snow the next morning on our way back. Overall, it was a wonderful experience that I'm very grateful for and I'm pretty happy that the family made it out too.
The quality isn't optimal but here are 3 short clips from the showdown.
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