OLDS — The season is winding down for Olds-area athletes specializing in events like throwing discus, shot put or javelin.
Some area throwing athletes have had some very promising results.
During provincials in Calgary last month, Abigail Ripco of Olds placed fifth in the U18 girls javelin with a personal best of 22.30 metres (m).
“She’s on the bottom end of U18 and just started throwing javelin this year with Olds High (School) in late April, so I expect she’ll be top three in the province next year,” coach Rachel Andres wrote in an email.
Also, although she’s really a U14 athlete, Natalie Harrison competed in the U16 category and did very well.
She placed fifth in discus out of a field of 11 and threw a new personal best of 17.71m.
Harrison also finished in sixth place in shot put out of a field of 14 with another new personal best of 7.84m.
“U14 doesn’t usually allow individual events and makes athletes run, jump, and throw in up to eight events over two days in order to place,” Andres wrote.
On July 17, Ripco and Andres competed in the Columbians Track Classic in Edmonton.
Ripco took first place in U18 girls javelin, throwing a personal best of 23.19m.
Meanwhile, Andres took first place in her category with a throw of 51.92m., a feat even more amazing as she had given birth to a baby girl just this spring.
Andres said she’d thrown further in Nationals, but “I had competition to push me there. My closest competition at this meet threw 37m.”
Less than a week later, Andres bettered that throw with a discus toss of 52.82m to take first place during the Sherwood Park Track Classic.
“I also threw shot put for the second time this season and bettered my mark from two weeks prior by half a metre, throwing 13.43m to take first,” she wrote.
It was a busy meet for Andres.
When she was not competing, she was coaching a couple of athletes on the tri-provincial team.
“Coaching and competing simultaneously has become normal for me,” she wrote.
On July 27, Andres and Harrison competed in a discus-only meet in Calgary.
Harrison threw a new personal best of 19.56m. Andres threw 51.64m.
There are only two events left on the calendar now: Aug. 27 and Sept. 24, both of which will be held in Calgary.
Andres said the plan is for Ripco to continue training and attend those last couple of meets with a view to getting ready for provincials next year.
Andres said the last couple of meets are smaller -- attracting roughly 20 athletes, versus about 400 at the larger ones.
“There’s not a whole lot of people competing right now, so it’s mostly for us to practise and try to get some better marks in," she said.
It was suggested that the smaller meets might be less intimidating for young athletes than the larger ones that attract more competitors.
It can work the other way too, Andres said.
“Sometimes the big meets are nice, because you get more people cheering and actually kind of pushing you forward,” she said.
“So it’s definitely a different atmosphere between the big, full meets and these smaller ones.
“Like our last one up in Sherwood Park was packed, with kids from age eight all the way up to athletes competing at (age) 85.
"One woman I see frequently is 79 and she throws everything. Apparently used to throw like me back in her younger days in Japan. She’s pretty awesome," Andres wrote, adding her name is Yuko Nakano.
