Sprinter Omar Medina learned the hard way.
When you're trying to pull off your best impression of the Flash and burn rubber on a 100-metre track, sometimes a timely rest is just as crucial as a muscle-flexing workout.
That came as a painful lesson to the College Heights secondary school student when he pulled up lame after tearing his hamstring during the 4 X 100m relay a year ago at the North Central zone track and field championships.
The injury spelled the end of Medina's season and with that went his hopes of making the B.C. team for the Legion National championships.
"It's been a roller-coaster for sure, hopefully I can remain injury-free and hopefully I can sneak on the B.C. for nationals this year," said the 17-year-old Medina.
"I learned you need to take your time for everything and accept that each individual peaks at their own time and to not always work hard. Sometimes over-training isn't a smart thing, it's all about training smart and getting your rest."
Medina gave his thoroughbred legs a solid workout Saturday at the Sub Zero track and field meet, winning the senior boys 100 m race in 12.03 seconds. He crossed the finish a comfortable eight-tenths of a second ahead of second-place runner Josh Muir of Quesnel.
It's early in the season but Medina's win was a confidence-builder as he takes aim at qualifying for the Legion meet in Ste-Therese, Que., Aug. 7-9.
Medina's best 100m time is 11.80. Considering there was a steady headwind on a cool blustery day Saturday at Masich Place Stadium, he was satisfied with his time and successfully avoided the painful pop of torn muscle tissue.
"It was the first race back from a year without competing and the point was to not get injured and I'm glad," said Medina, a Prince George Track and Field Club member who last year trained with Athletics North. "Even today I'm still always nervous about it. We were behind schedule so staying warm was a big concern with the weather going up and down."
Medina also had plenty of spring in his step in the long jump lane Saturday, winning the senior event with a personal-best leap of 6.13m.
"I haven't done long jump for a long time, I just did the two events today, I'm taking it easy," he said. "On a day like this it's important to stay hydrated and important to stay moving so you stay warm."
Medina will be in Kamloops for the Centennial meet, April 17-19, and will be back running at home at the high school zone meet at Masich Place, May 29-30. If all goes according to plan, he'll be racing in the provincial high school championships in Langley, June 4-6.
He says he's stopped growing vertically and won't be adding any more height to his five-foot-six frame.
"I look like a little squirrel running against big pumas out there sometimes, but I'm trying my best."
Carolina Hiller has expanded her track and field horizons. The 17-year-old, a three-time medalist at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in long track speed skating, is well known for her speed on the track in 100m and 400m running. On Saturday, she showed she's entirely capable of rising to occasion as a high jumper.
Hiller started her Sub Zero meet winning the senior girls (18-19-year-old) high jump, an event she and PGTFC clubmate Rebeka Kidd starting practicing just four days before the meet.
"I just started doing it for fun -- we've had two practices so far," said Hiller, who cleared 1.41 metres with her third jump, edging out Kidd, who made it as high as 1.30m.
Hiller went after 1.43m but that proved a painful exercise when she banged the inside of her knee off the pole standard.
"I had too much speed and I took off too late and jumped too close to the pole, I got a bruise but I iced it and took some Advil and was good to go," said Hiller.
Hiller went on to win the 400m race in 1:01.27, well ahead of clubmate Shelby Jansen (1:03.77) and Adaleena Mercuri of McBride (1:10.43). Hiller was expecting Jansen to be right beside her at the finish but Jansen hurt her calf on the last stretch, which hampered her finishing kick.
Hiller clocked 13.33 in the 100m, finishing second behind Emma Floris of Vanderhoof. Floris and Hiller have had their share of battles in the 100m, including a loss to Hiller at the 2014 zone championships. On Saturday Floris gained her revenge.
"I was kind of nervous at the start but as I was running I felt pretty good, pretty fast," said Floris. "It was a really good race. It does feel pretty good to beat Lina, she's a really good competitor."
Floris also won the 16-17-year-old girls long jump, clearing 5.03m to better her previous best mark of 4.78m.
It was a great season-opening meet for 11-year-old bundle of energy Makenna MacWhinnie, an unattached athlete, who won the long jump (3.68m), 200m (31.26) and 100m (14.75). Another 11-year-old, Joshua Fiala of PGTFC won the 600m (2:15.32) and 1,000m (4:05.90) races, while his 11-year-old clubmate Cole Laing captured the high jump (3.72m), shot put (7.44m), 200m (33.62) and 100m (15.72).
Alex Nemethy of Vanderhoof showed he hasn't lost a stride in distance events, winning the 18-19-year-old boys 800m (2:13.39) and 1,500m (4:37.24).
In other Prince George results, Andre Dreyer topped the list in the 13-year-old boys triple jump (7.89m) and high jump (1.28m), while Rachel Kidd won the 14-15-year-old girls 80m hurdles (14.18), long jump (4:46m) and triple jump (8.97m).
