Local throwing athlete Haylin Eling competed in the Alberta Summer Games held in Grande Prairie and placed highly in her events as well as setting new personal bests.
Eling recently picked up the throwing at the end of her Grade 9 year and proved to be quite proficient in the various events.
She became number two in her zone in the province and qualified to participate in the recent Alberta Summer Games held July 19 -22.
Eling kicked off the games on Friday with hammer and was nervous but also very excited about.
She placed third during her second time competing in the event. Her score for the event was 27.54m.
“I think that what I did for hammer, I’m not disappointed in how I played even though I placed third,” she said. “Considering this is my second meet in hammer I think I did really well in that.”
Following hammer the next event Eling participated in was discus where not only did she place third but she earned a new personal best of 24.45m.
Eling said she felt good about beating her personal best in the event as she said she’s had some ups and downs with discus.
“Sometimes the technique of it kind of shifts me off but with my coach being there, that helped me,” said Eling. “I found that if I relaxed more it went further.”
The next day began with javelin and she felt trepidation about how the event would turn out.
“Walking in I felt very nervous because javelin isn’t my strongest event and I know that I’m capable of going far with it.
“I just haven’t been putting a lot of focus into javelin lately,” Eling admitted.
Eling placed fifth earning a new personal best in javelin with a score of 25.26m.
To cap off the games for the local athlete was the shot put event and she walked in with a sense of confidence, as it is one of her stronger events and despite her muscle fatigue at that point in the weekend.
Eling placed second with a score of 10.89m in shot put.
Looking forward to next weekend’s event -- the Tri-Prov Western Canadian Championships where she will play for team Alberta -- Eling plans to aim high and use what lessons she learned from the Alberta Summer Games to improve and play better there.
