Haliburton Highlands Secondary School athlete, Evan Backus, made the podium at OFSAA June 10, garnering a silver medal in the 300m hurdles.
Coach Karen Gervais said Evan started the day strong by winning his qualifying heat to make the finals.
Evan said, “I thought I wouldn’t do as well for the heats because I was put in lane eight, which I thought was a little bit of a disadvantage, but I ended up coming first in my heat.”
For the finals, Evan was seeded third but ran a personal best of 42.01 to place second in the province.
Running the race, Evan said he was aware of the hurdler in front of him, “and was trying my hardest to catch him, but once I crossed the finish line, I just didn’t care anymore, because I knew I got second place.”
Running the race, Evan said he was aware of the hurdler in front of him, “and was trying my hardest to catch him, but once I crossed the finish line, I just didn’t care anymore, because I knew I got second place.”
“It was really cool. Once I saw that there was a podium, all I really wanted to do was stand up there and have my name announced. It was a really cool experience to be up on there.”
Evan said making it required “lots of hard work.” He added he had a lot of help from coaches, senior athletes and friends.
Evan also finished 12th in the 100m sprint hurdles June 9.
Gervais said the top 24 athletes from the six different regions in the province compete at OFSAA.
“It has been many years since a Haliburton athlete has made the podium in track and field,” she added. “OFSAA is dubbed the third most competitive high school track meet in North America.”
Gervais said she asked Walter Tose, who used to coach at the school and keep records, when the last Red Hawk athlete to medal at OFSAA would have been.
Tose said, “I’m pretty sure that Matt Duchene was the most recent OFSAA medalist before Evan, winning bronze in the novice boys’ discus in 2006.
“Kate Campbell won gold in the 300m hurdles in 1998 and followed up with a bronze in the 400m hurdles two years later. Nicole Manary won bronze at OFSAA in novice girls discus in 2002, and Kate Dawson won bronze in senior girls’ javelin at OFSAA in 2005. And, of course, Lesley Tashlin won bronze at OFSAA in 1987. There are several other HHSS athletes who had top four to eight finishes at OFSAA as well over the years and several other ‘should have been, could have been’,” Tose said.
