Proudfoot Wins Major Track Title
Takes Gold at Nike Invitational 3000m
Lively's Ross Proudfoot, competing for Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School, won the Nike Invitational 3000m High School Boys race at the Rowland Games Track and Field Meet this past weekend in Toronto, ON. In winning gold, Proudfoot ran to a new personal best time of 8 minutes, 27.23 seconds.
Each year, the Nike Invitational race features the best high school distance runners from across the province. Proudfoot's winning time was not only one of the fastest winning times in the meet's long history but quite possibly the fastest 3000m ever run by a Sudbury high school student.
"I felt great the whole race", commented Proudfoot. "I got out quickly with the lead pack and then settled into third place for most of the race. I noticed the leaders were fading a bit and so with 600 metres to go, I made a move to the front and pushed hard to the finish." Proudfoot won the race by over 4 seconds, with Xavier King of Pickering High School claiming the silver in 8 minutes, 31.90 seconds.
"We'll have to do some digging through the local track and field archives to see if any Sudbury high schooler has run a time faster than this." commented Proudfoot's Track North coach, Darren Jermyn. "The great thing is, its still only April and we have only completed a few outdoor track workouts to date. This definitely sets up Ross for a solid remaining high school and summer track season."
Other impressive results from the Rowland Games meet include Caroline Ehrhardt (Espanola High School) winning gold in the Senior Girl's Long Jump with a leap of 5.56 metres; Joe Burke (Espanola High School) placing 4th in the Senior's Boys 1500m race in a time of 4:10.06 and Jeremy Cooper (Manitoulin High School) placing 13th in the Nike 3000m with a time of 8:50.02.
Also this weekend: Track North athlete, Andrew Ellerton ran the lead off 1200 metre leg for Team Canada in the "USA vs. The World" Distance Medley relay race at the 116th Penn Relays in Philadelphia, PA. Ellerton ran a time of 2 minutes 53.55 seconds and handed off the baton in 3rd place in a race against Morocca, Australia, Kenya and two teams from the United States. Canada finished the race with a 6th place finish.
