A student sprinting to the finish line at the IHMS track and field meet

This year’s grade 4-8 track and field meet was held at Sisler High School on Wednesday, May 12th. This was the rain date - the original date was postponed due to rain.

IHMS has been holding its track and field events at Sisler for years because they have all the facilities we need - a large field for throwing events (such as shot put, discus, and ball throw), a sand pit for long jump, and a large asphalt track for running events. Unfortunately, because it takes place on a large open field, there’s very little shelter from the sun and wind. Washrooms are available, but are located in a nearby community center on the other side of the field, and it takes a few minutes to walk there and back.

The weather was cool and wet leading up to the rain date, and no one was sure if the event would be postponed again to a second rain date. But the day turned out to be quite nice - cloudy with some sun and a high of 14 degrees. So after opening exercises, the students left for Sisler on two chartered buses.

Students relaxing after arriving at Sisler High School

Track and field is always exciting for the grade 4 class because it’s their first real track meet. Since the grade 4-6 students are learning what kind of events they may excel in or enjoy, they have fewer options than the junior-high students in selecting the events they want to enter - they are required to take part in all track and field events. These events include:

• Ball throw
• Long Jump
• 60 m race
• 200 m race
• 800 m race

Grade 4-6 students participating in their events

The junior high students, on the other hand, were able to sign up for whatever they wanted, as long as they chose a minimum of three running events out of five. However, everyone had to participate in shot put, discus, and long jump. The grade 7 and 8 events were:

• Shot put
• Discus
• Long Jump
• 100 m race
• 200 m race
• 400 m race
• 800 m race
• 1500 m race 

Junior high students participating in their events

Each event was supervised by a teacher and parent volunteers:

• Mrs. Stanowych and Mrs. Skromeda were in charge of long jump.
• Mrs. Wittevrongel and Mrs. Karpa were in charge of shot put and discus.
• Mrs. Halayda, Mrs. Szun, and Mrs. Katerynuk were in charge of ball throw.
• Mrs. Naurocki, Mrs. Skakun, Mrs. Wdowiak, Mr. Dedio, Mrs. Kopec and Mrs. Fostey ran the races and recorded each racer’s time.

A few of the teachers supervising the track events

High jump is the only field event that is usually done at IHMS because the large foam mattress, the poles, and the stands are too large and bulky to transport to Sisler High School. Mr. Dedio does high jump in the school gym during regularly scheduled Phys. Ed. classes.
 
For lunch, the students were given one hot dog freshly barbequed by parent volunteers. They were also given their choice of fruit, a bag of chips, and something to drink. This made it very convenient for the students because they didn’t have to bring a lunch to the track meet.

Some of the parent volunteers who helped serve lunch to the kids

The kids seemed to enjoy the day, and around 2:30 p.m. the chartered buses returned to Sisler to transport the exhausted students back to IHMS. The winners for the different events will move on to represent our school at the “Knights of Columbus Track and Field Meet” at the beginning of June.