Changing of the track and field guard

This time last year, after watching the district school track and field meet, I predicted the next few years of track and field locally would likely belong to Central Kings.

This was based largely on the performance of the junior teams from Coldbrook, a Central Kings feeder school, which showcased a strong contingent of athletes of both genders - but especially the boys.

This year’s district meet, held May 20 and 21 in Kentville, did nothing to change that suggestion. Last year’s Coldbrook Grade 8s are now in Grade 9 at C.K., and they turned in another impressive performance: C.K. won the district intermediate boys’ banner with a whopping 440 points to 113 for runner-up Horton. C.K. won 12 of 15 events and had 41 top-four placings (out of a possible 60). In some events, they had the top three (and even the top four) finishers, three of the top four or even four of the top five.

The names are worth remembering – Brandon Patterson, Alex McCarthy, Mitch Best, Jacob Gee, Shawndell Sampson, Todd Dow, Michael Foote, Matt Butt, Iain MacMillan, Andrew Jennings-Lindsay, Devin Locke, Connor Simmons, Mitch Getson, Mitch Gough, Brandon Best, Jacob Seyforth, Brian Leamon.

The C.K. intermediate girls were also in the hunt for their banner, before settling for third behind West Kings and Kings-Edgehill.

Probably 10 years ago was the most recent “spike” of track and field success at Central Kings. Since, though there have been some individual successes, the school has usually ended up playing second fiddle to Horton or even NKEC.

It’s a well-known fact in sport, especially at the high school and university level, success runs in cycles: everything that goes around eventually comes around. It would probably go to follow it would once again be CK.’s turn to shine – and, if not dominate, then at least narrow the gap – even if there wasn’t what appears to be an “era group” of athletes just starting their Central Kings careers.

It should be noted the Coldbrook pipeline hasn’t exactly dried up. The Coldbrook junior girls won the district banner at the most recent meet, and the junior boys were a relatively close fourth, just 24 points out of top spot.

Horton, which has pretty much dominated the intermediate and senior divisions the past several years, doesn’t appear as strong in the intermediate division right now; with the strong feeder system it has in place, Horton teams should continue to be competitive.

NKEC can usually hold its own, due to the presence of some strong individuals, and look for better things from West Kings as Pine Ridge Middle School continues to feed that high school quality athletes, particularly on the female side. Pine Ridge has been strong in junior girls the past two years, with the result West Kings, maybe surprisingly (but maybe not), won the intermediate girls’ district banner this year, finishing 32 points ahead of the nearest competition.

The only real negative surrounding this year’s district meet – other than the weather (windy the first day, rainy the second) – was the decline in the overall number of competitors. The excitement was there, but the numbers were disappointing. One can hope it was a temporary thing - there’s really nothing in high school sport to match a track and field competition - but, the reality is, there’s a lot for school-aged kids to choose between these days. Soccer and football are taking a real bite.

Hopefully, we will continue to have quality local athletes maintain an interest in track and field, as well as dedicated coaches willing to train them to excel at a high level. With both Central Kings and West Kings appearing poised to take their performance to the next level, it should make for some great competition over the next several years.