Guelph Mercury: A Lean Victory

Article By:  Rob Massey

Retrieved From:  http://news.guelphmercury.com/Sports/article/631904

GUELPH — A quick stretch run, a little lean, and victory in the senior boys’ 1,500 metres belonged to Drew Anderson of the Centennial Spartans.

The lean at the finish gave Anderson (with a time of 4-minutes, 18.69-seconds) the win in a photo finish edging Centre Wellington Falcons Austin Trapp (4:18.75) and Scott Brydges (4:19.02). The race was one of the final events of the first day of the two-day District 4/10 high school track and field championship meet Wednesday at St. James. The meet concludes today.

“It went out a bit slow, but it picked up toward the end,” Anderson said of the heat. “It was a hard race.”

“Unfortunately, we went out pretty slow so I had to lead the race and kick it from just over 800 (metres) until the end,” Trapp said. “Towards the end, I was tightening up.”

Trapp led heading onto the final stretch, but was run down by both Anderson and Brydges.

“I was just giving it my all, trying to get to the finish as fast as I could and trying to catch him at the line,” Anderson said.

“I didn’t know he was close to me,” Trapp said. “He kinda caught me by surprise. When I finally saw him catch up, I tried to turn it on and I think he might have got me at the line – he must have. The last 100 felt like it was forever.”

In the end, it was Anderson’s lean that gave him the win, although it isn’t anything he practises.

“It just happens at the end,” he said.

Hilary Colley of the Ross Royals was the beneficiary of the misfortune of Eszter Nagy of the Centennial Spartans in the senior girls’ 100-metre hurdles final.

Nagy, who said she had “a bad race” lost her rhythm, so necessary in hurdles, while ahead with two hurdles to clear. Rather than crash through the hurdle, she stopped, stepped back and then restarted. However, that cost her victory as Colley passed as Nagy was having her problems. Nagy recovered in time to finish second.

“That’s the first time I’ve beaten her,” Colley said.

As the top four in each event go on to next week’s CWOSSA championship meet at Kitchener Resurrection, both Colley and Nagy advance.