It took some time but the standings have finally been released for the BC High School Track and Field Championships.
Of the approximately 100 schools in the “AA” division, Smithers finished 10th overall, with the girls in sixth and the boys in 16th.
The scoring is perhaps a bit unusual since athletes in individual events compete against each other and results from this competition are scored regardless of division and afterwards, schools are ranked based on their division.
The athletes are only separated into AAA, AA and A divisions after the competition is over to determine the team standings.
“If you win you are the best for your age group out of all of the high schools in B.C.,” said coach Cindy Thummerer.
This makes the accomplishments of the medalists from Smithers even more impressive. Logan Unruh was the gold medalist in the javelin in the Grade 8 division, while Grace Allen was the bronze medalist for pole vault in the senior girls.
Gryphons team members also had a number of top 10 finishes in the competition.
On the other end, individual results may have ranked higher if they were scored by division. In some events, it is possible that no competitors of a particular division placed in scoring position against the entire field so none would have scored points.
An athlete in fourth place, for example, would get fourth place points from the entire field regardless of their school’s division. However, an athlete in ninth place overall would get zero points even if they were the top finisher in their division.
The age categories are relatively simple. There were Senior, Junior and Grade 8 divisions in both boys and girls. Grade 8 competitors’ results did not score points towards a team’s total.
Overall in the competition, there were around 2,500 athletes and 275 schools from both the public and private sector.
According to coach Neal Currie, only two public schools in the province scored higher than Smithers. Many of the private schools are in the south and have the benefit of superior training facilities that they can access year long.
Tier 2 classification, or AA division in track and field, is based on schools having between 126-420 students in Grades 11 and 12 so Smithers was classified as AA based on last year’s enrolment figures of 274.