Ryan Gaiesky knew he had it in him to dominate the junior boys hurdles events at the North Central zone high school track and field meet.
The 15-year-old D.P. Todd secondary school student is within a fraction of a second of making the hurdles standard to compete in the Legion National meet later this summer in Langley.
On a showery day at Masich Place Stadium Friday, Gaiesky proved he's more than just a hurdler. Having already claimed the triple jump title Thursday, he bagged his fifth gold medal of the meet, winning the high jump with a personal-best 1.75 metres.
"Considering he has not trained high jump at all this year, that is amazing," said Corine Masich, who coaches at College Heights secondary school and has watched Gaiesky's progress at the Prince George Track and Field Club. "He just has natural ability but he's also very coachable."
The downpour that swamped the high jump pit for the girls competition let up just before the boys took over but it was still slick when it was Gaiesky's turn to jump.
"I'm really happy with how I did," said Gaiesky, who improved on his previous best by six centimetres. "When I was doing my run-up for my jumps I kept slipping. It was tough at times. The weather was pretty gross. It was like a lake when I started my [300m] hurdles."
Gaiesky clocked 14.78 seconds in the 100m hurdles and ran the 300m hurdles in 42.92 seconds. His best 100m hurdles mark is 42.52. He'd never run the 300m hurdles before Thursday. He also smashed his own record in the triple jump despite not having practiced that event heading into the meet. His best jump measured 11.82m, 30cm further than he'd ever gone.
Gaiesky, a member of the Athletics North track and field club, also ran the lead leg in the 4 X 400m senior boys relay Friday, teaming up with his brother Sean, Lynden Zazelenchuk, and Boyd Marchand to win the event in 3:59.
All athletes who placed in the top two in their respective events at the zone meet qualify for the B.C. high school championships which start Friday in Langley. Gaiesky, who placed fourth in the 100m hurdles at last year's provincials, plans to compete in all five events he won at the zone meet. He's two-hundredths of a second from the Legion National qualifying grade for the 300m hurdles and needs to lift his body 10cm higher to qualify in the high jump.
"I think with practice, I can make it," he said.
Alex Nemethy of Vanderhoof loves to go the distance and for the last two years has dominated the senior boys 2,000m steeplechase and 3,000m run. He's quite often all alone at the front of the pack in those events and was untouchable again at the zone meet.
"I won both events by quite a ways and that's expected because there's not a whole lot of competition here," said Nemethy, a Grade 11 student who edged Isaac Goodrich of College Heights in both distance races. "It's tough, I really have to pace myself the first few laps or otherwise I'll pay for it later. A lot of it is in the mind."
Steeplechase is one of the most physically-demanding track and field events. Each of the five laps requires runners to jump over four 33-inch high steeples and a water hazard. Just three entered the zone race.
Nemethy finished in 6:32 (6:22 is his best time, set last year in Kelowna) and he ran a time of 9:19 in the 3,000m, his best so far this season and 12 seconds off his PB.
Nemethy, 17, a national-level cross-country runner, is looking forward to running the steeplechase again at the provincial finals next weekend because he knows he'll have plenty of company on the track.
"Its really fun down there because there's like 20 guys in the race, some guys a bit faster, some a bit slower," he said. "We start off with a huge pack and it runs slow off the start and then it gets faster and faster. It's really competitive and really exciting.
"It's hard to go all-out for the steeplechase because you have to save a bit [of energy] for the water pit. If you're dead-tired and jump into the water pit you'll just fall down there. It's really hard to have a sprint because there''s a steeple near the finish."
Nemethy was also part of the silver-medalist Nechako Valley 4 X 400m relay team which finished second, nine seconds behind the D.P. Todd team.
