PA’s Ace Athletics club is sending athletes to meets from Manitoba to New Brunswick

Ace Athletics Prince Albert, formerly known as the St. Mary Athletics Club, is sending eight athletes to track and field tournaments from the Prairies to the Maritimes.

Heading to the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg from July 28 to Aug. 13 are siblings Austin and Taylor Strauss. Austin will run the 200-metre and 400-metre dashes while Taylor competes in the 4×100-metre relay.

Ace Athletics Coach Arlene Town said competition is stiff at the Canada Summer Games, even for Saskatchewan’s best runners.

“What we’re hoping for is personal best times,” she said.

Calvin Napope and Landon Sasakamoose will be in Toronto from July 16 to 23 for the North American Indigenous Games. Napope will compete in the high and long jumps and Sasakamoose will run the 100-metre, 200-metre, and 400-metre dashes and the 4×100-metre and 4×400-metre relays.

“Calvin and Landon have been successful throughout their high school careers so there’s no reason to think that they couldn’t post PBs, possibly even medal, at NAIG,” Town said.

French immersion students Jamielyn Dyer, Ian Leach, Samantha Monette and Lauren Town will run and jump against other French speakers at the Canadian Francophone Games in Moncton and Dieppe, N.B. from July 11 to 15. Dyer is participating in the high, long and triple jumps, Leach and Monette are competing in the 800-metre and 1,500-metre runs and Lauren Town is running the 100-metre and 200-metre dashes.

“For the kids that are going to the French games, not only are we hoping for some PBs, but … because you’re collecting from a smaller group, you’re collecting from a specific French-speaking group, we figure that some of our kids do have an opportunity to medal there given the results from past meets,” Town said.

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