William E. Hay student Dacia Gramlick is doing very well for her first year in club track, medaling in each track competition she has attended this year so far.
Last week, she was in Sherwood Park on July 12 and 13 for the Alberta Outdoor Track and Field provincials, winning gold in high jump, silver in long jump, bronze in javelin, and fourth place in the 100 metre race. This coming weekend, she competes in the Alberta Summer Games in Airdrie, and she will be in Langley, B.C., for the Canadian Youth Legion Track and Field championships. For the national championships in B.C., she was chosen as one of 15 young women to represent Team Alberta.
“It’s very awesome,” Gramlick said. “I was so happy to see my name on the roster list. It was pretty unbelievable; I’m super happy about it.”
At the Alberta Summer Games, she will be competing in the heptathlon event for the first time. The heptathlon includes the 100 m hurdles, 200 m, 800 m, high jump, long jump, shot put, and javelin.
“We’ll see how it goes,” she said.
She gets flown up to B.C. for nationals with Team Alberta, but her mother and siblings plan to do the 13-hour drive to see her compete.
Her favourite event is also the one she feels that she is best at – high jump.
Gramlick has competed in track throughout her schooling, but this is her first year in club track – this encompasses track athletes from anywhere, not just a specific school.
She attends practices twice a week in Red Deer, and during training, focuses on one or two events and tries to hone her technique.
She is going into Grade 12 this September, and hopes to continue with track beyond high school.
“We’re just getting into all the college stuff and looking at colleges,” she said. “That’s definitely one of my hopes, to be on a team and get to continue track and continue with awesome coaches.”
She started track because she liked it and knew that it was something she could succeed in.
“It was something I was good at and something I thought I could excel at, and just the feelings that come with getting a personal best and making new friends,” she said. “I wanted to continue with it and see what I could do.”