McCurdy leaps to golden meet record

  The St. Joseph's Ram takes junior girls pole vault with personal best effort

  while Dorchester's McIntyre returns to win senior 800 meters

 April 27, 2023

St. Joe's Rams Libby McCurdy set a meet record winning junior girls pole vault at the Forest City Mustang Invitational April 26 at Western University. (photo / courtesy Libby McCurdy)

By Rob J. Ross 

LONDON, Ont. - Libby McCurdy keeps rising at the pole vault pit while Hannah McIntyre is back running at the track.

Both athletes won their events at the Forest City Mustang Invitational track and field, April 26 meet at Western University, the opening meet of the 2023 high school season.

McCurdy set a meet record, winning gold in junior girls pole vault, with a personal best (PB) leap of 3.20 meters.

"It's crazy. I don't even know how I did it. I'm shocked myself," expressed McCurdy. "I have a lot of motivation from my coach and family, which really makes me strive to do better and hopefully more PBs this outdoor season."

The St. Joe's athlete crushed the meet's former best mark for junior girls of 2.75 meters, set in 2019, by Woodstock Collegiate's Breanna Egan. McCurdy tied the record height on her second jump of the day and never missed until attempting 3.30 meters.

"It's pretty cool to me considering I only started last year and I've come so far," said McCurdy, who passed her old PB of 3.05 meters, making 3.10 meters.
"It was surprisingly good today. Usually in practice I'm just alright, but I started going to the gym with my dad and getting stronger, so I think it really helped."

McCurdy finished last year's high school season at OFSAA, bringing home provincial silver in the novice girls division.

McIntyre, of the Dorchester Beavers, won the senior girls' 800-metre run, in a time of two minutes and 21.26 seconds (2:21.26), edging London South's Kaitlyn Koyanagi (2:22.92). The pair finished about four seconds ahead of the rest of the field of 25 runners.

"It's incredibly exciting," said McIntyre. "It's not just the race itself that excites me, it's the sense of accomplishment that comes with it, knowing that I have overcome an obstacle and now able to do something that I love again is a feeling like no other."

It is the first race for McIntyre since the 2022 indoor provincial championships, recovering from a leg injury, that caused her to miss the entire 2022 cross country season and this year's indoor season.

"Racing again after being injured felt amazing," said McIntyre. "Although I wasn't sure how I was going to run after being away from the sport for so long, I was overjoyed to be back on the track. I am happy with my run. I really had no expectations going into it, so I used it as a check in, to see where I am in my training. I felt strong during the race and think it was a good opening to the season."

Four additional Elgin County and Dorchester athletes won gold.

St. Joe's Matt Piekny won senior boys pole vault with a PB effort, clearing four metres.

Keenan Friesen, of the East Elgin Eagles, won junior boys javelin, with a throw of 43.12 metres.

Fletcher Taylor, of the Central Elgin Titans, shared gold in novice boys high jump, with Medway Cowboys' Kailer Jenney, both clearing 1.55 metres.

Dorchester's Andrew Urquhart won novice boys shot put with a heave of 12.72 meters.

Along with McIntyre and Urquhart, the Beavers had eight athletes total nine top three results.

Evan Stevens placed second in junior men's javelin (41.75m) and third in pole vault (2.85m). Ryan Johnson finished second in the junior boys 1500 meter run (4:33.20), one spot ahead of teammate Fernando Medina (4:33.64). The pair of runners placed fifth-sixth, in the 800-meter run. Kirk Hallman placed third, in the novice boys 1500 (4:38.66) and fourth in the 800 (2:16.87).  Luke Bradish was second in junior boys high jump (1.65m), while Nabeel Haliru was third in senior boys high jump (1.81m).

Parkside's Merrick Rollins was second in junior men's discus (42.61m).

Central Elgin Titans Dollan Brown tied for third in novice boys shot put (10.72m).

St. Joe's Flourish Nmor placed third in the novice girls 400-meter dash (1:06.04).

Thorndale's Jadyn Luna, who attends Medway high school, finished third, in both the senior girls 100-meter dash (13.02 sec.) and 100-meter hurdles (16.14 sec.).

All athletes are training and competing at various invitational meets, preparing for the Thames Valley Regional Athletics (TVRA) championships, May 17-18 at Western. Qualifiers from that meet, move on to the Western Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association (WOSSAA) championships, May 25-26, also at Western. The OFSAA West regional is June 2-3 in Cambridge, followed by OFSAA, the high school provincial championships, June 8-10, in Ottawa.

Complete meet results: Forest City