Barrhead Elementary School’s (BES) indoor track teams are taking their first steps towards improving on their 2017 Running Room Indoor Games.
The games have been taking place in one form or another for the last 39 years. The purpose of the games is to allow Grade 3 to 12 athletes from across the province who compete in the various track and field events.
BES has competed in the competition for more than 20 of those years in the 8x200 metre relay event.
In March, BES won two silvers in the elementary and junior high school girls events while the boys elementary and junior high school teams finished fourth and 12th respectively. The BES teachers also won bronze, competing for the first time in the 8x200 metre relay event.
Brent Wierenga, who is entering his third season as head coach, said he is always impressed about how many students are interested in the team.
He said their first official practice in early November about 50 students tried for the team. That does not include the junior high school contingent from Barrhead Composite High School, which runs under the BES banner.
“Last week we went to the Agrena twice, did a timing and from there we selected a more manageable 20 boys and 20 girls,” Wierenga said, adding the eventual goal is to whittle the teams down to 10 each.
To help them make their final decision the coaching staff has arranged to take the team on three different outings to Edmonton’s Universiade Pavilion, better known as the Butterdome, for a series of practices.
After the coaches make their final cut Wierenga noted that is when the real work begins.
“We haven’t really done a lot yet,” he said, noting the indoor running team is getting off to a late start because of the school’s triple ball/volleyball season. “After we narrow the teams down to 10 that is when we really will start to ramp things up with three-a-week practices.”
As for what is happening on the junior high school side, Wierenga said they would once again be able to field both a boys and girls relay teams.
“There’s a lot of interest, especially on the girls side. They [girls] have a pretty solid core with a lot of the Grade 7s who were on last year’s team returning,” he said, adding close to 20 girls are trying out for the squad. On the boy’s side about a dozen Grade 7s and 8s are vying for the 10 positions.
The next round of cuts are expected to take place mid-January.
