by Karina Hunter

Having traveled the greatest distance to arrive in Manitouwadge for the 2009 Our Lady of Lourdes Elementary School Track and Field Invitational did not disadvantage Holy Angels Elementary School of Schreiber returning home as champions of the Northwestern Ontario Elementary school competition.

The Angels took the top spot by the narrowest of margins in this one day, 7 school track meet at the Manitouwadge Community Field, scoring a total of 148 points after Tuesday’s final race. Manitouwadge Public School place 2^nd with 144 points while the host team, Our Lady of Lourdes placed third with 108 points.

Julie Bouchard, St.Martin's Elementary with a great running long jump.

Athletes 9 – 15 years of age from École Publique Franco-Manitou (Manitouwadge), Manitouwadge Public School, Our Lady of Lourdes (Manitouwadge), Holy Savior Elementary School (Marathon), Pic River Elementary (Heron Bay), Saint Martin Elementary School (Terrace Bay), and Holy Angels Elementary School (Schreiber), competed in shot-put, broad jump, running long jump, as well as relay and individual races at the outdoor track while high jump was held at the OLOL school gym.

For the majority of 13-14 year old participants, this meet being their final opportunity to compete in Track & Field inspires them to give it their all. Grade 8 student, Devan Pelletier, said after his time of 25.70 seconds broke a long standing record in the 200m event that “Knowing that this is your last opportunity to compete in Track means you push yourself that much harder” Pelletier will be attending Manitouwadge High School next year which does not have a Track & Field program and added “there is no next year so you push yourself in a way you might not if it was just a step towards the next level of competition, you leave it all on the field!”.

Lianne Morin, OLOL, receives the baton from Chelsea Malakoff in the Girls 11-12 1500m Relay

Records were also broken by Julie Lamonthe, Manitouwadge Public School with 2.29m in broad jump; Whitney McFarland, Holy Angels School with 3.90m in long jump and a time of 6min05:58seconds in the 1500m; Kaliee Michano, Pic River Elementary with 9.71m in shot-put; Devan Pelletier, Our Lady of Lourdes with 25:70 seconds in the 200m and the team of Kassandra Sullivan, Morganna Morell, Janelle Bell and Courtney Belisle with their time of 1min06:48seconds in the 1500m Relay.

The day ended with a medal presentation by Karly Nakani and Anick DeMars, meet organizers for OLOL, to the top scoring boy & girl competitors in each age class. Top points scores were: 9-10 yr boy: Colin Desmoulin, Holy Savior Elementary School; girl: Jamie Thompson, École Publique Franco-Manitou; 11-12 yr boy: Sydney Halloran, Holy Angels Elementary; girl(s):Julie Bouchard, Saint-Martin Elementary & Courtney Belisle, Manitouwadge Public School; 13-14 yr boy: Devan Pelletier, Our Lady of Lourdes School; girl: Whitney McFarland, Holy Angels Elementary; Pelletier and McFarland also received trophies for their top overall placements.

Nathan Keough, OLOL, with a huge running long jump in the boys 11-12 group.

Organizers wished to thank all the schools which participated as well as the many volunteers who helped make the event a success.

Depending on the paper, I tried to submit photos from the school(s) in their town.  Submitted on June 10th, to: Chronicle Journal, Thunder Bay; Marathon Mercury; The Echo, Manitouwadge; Terrace Bay-Schreiber News