Friesen PBs her way to three SOSSA golds

Hanging on the wall in Mia Friesen’s bedroom is her collection of Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association gold medals.

That collection unexpectedly grew by three last week after the Grade 11 student at Governor Simcoe struck gold in the senior girls long jump, triple jump and 100-metre hurdles at the SOSSA track sand field meet at the Niagara Olympic Club.

“I didn’t really expect that,” the 16-year-old said. “Being in Grade 11, you’re a minor senior and it is a lot harder.”

She wasn’t expecting to win triple jump because E.L. Crossley’s Audrey Morrison was jumping almost 11 metres and Friesen was jumping around 10.5 metres for most of last year except for an 11-metre jump at last year’s Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships.

Friesen wasn’t sure how she would do in the 100-metre hurdles because she had finished second at the Zone 4 meet the previous week. As for long jump, that too was an unknown.

“From the beginning of the season, I wasn’t sure what my third event was going to be.”

She ended up choosing long jump because she was already being trained in the triple jump by Paul Peebles of Athletics Niagara.

“He’s also a long jump coach so I decided to do long jump too and kill two birds with one stone in practice.”

(Editor’s note: No birds were harmed in the writing of this story.)

Given that background, Friesen wasn’t making a spot available to hang more SOSSA gold.

“Going into SOSSA, you want to win them all, but I just wanted to make it to the next meet (OFSAA regionals),” she said. “That’s all I had to do.”

She ended up winning SOSSA gold with a personal best time in the 100-metre hurdles (15.13 seconds) and personal best jumps in both the long jump (5.18 metres) and triple jump (11.1 metres). Her triple jump was .07 metres better than her previous best and 0.6 metres better than she had jumped all season. She added 0.13 metres to her personal best in the long jump.

“Those were all pretty big PBs and the weather was crazy,” she said, with a laugh. “I was jumping and the winds were like tornadoes.”

Her three SOSSA track and field golds added to the one she garnered in Grade 9 and the three she won in Grade 10 (80-metre hurdles, triple jump and relay). Her track and field medal haul is joined by a SOSSA gold she won this year in wrestling.

Heading into this week’s OFSAA regional track and field meet Thursday and Friday at the Niagara Olympic Club, Friesen isn’t expecting to bring home another three golds.

“Again I think it is going to be tough, but I think I can win the 100-metre hurdles and do a PB again,” said last year’s OFSAA champion in the junior girls 80-metre hurdles. “Winning the triple jump is going to be hard because there is a girl who jumps 12 metres, but I think I have a shot at the long jump.”

Friesen, who this spring won a silver medal at the juvenile national wrestling championships, has taken a break from wrestling to focus on track and field. In addition to training with Peebles, she is coached in the hurdles by David Lavictoire at the Thorold Elite Track Club.

“Wrestling is on the back burner right now because I want to give both sports an even go so I can figure out what I want to do at the post-secondary level,” she said.

She trains every day after school at Governor Simcoe and also on Sunday, and is hoping that hard work will help her achieve her 2019 goals.

“I want to make the OFSAA finals in al three (events) and possibly win a long jump medal,” she said. “But being a minor senior, you never know.”

In addition to primary high school sponsors. Johnny Rocco’s and Mick and Angelo’s, BPSN’s coverage of the track and field season is made possible with the support of the Niagara Olympic Club (https://nocrunners.com)