Two Tommies got-off to a record-breaking start this season at the 2015 Gagetown Indoor Track and Field Meet Nov. 28.
Jonathon Gionet broke the New Brunswick shot put record with a 14.86 meter throw, while Sarah Hickman broke St. Thomas University’s record in the 60 and 200 meters race.
Gionet, a fourth-year student from Bathurst beat the 21-year-old former record of 14.85 meters. This was also a personal-best performance for Gionet that earned him the 2015 Atlantic University Sport title.
Gionet said breaking the former record felt amazing, but breaking his own affirmed his success.
“There was something about only beating it one centimetre that bugged me,” Gionet said. “When I broke my own record and surpassed the 15-metre mark (at 15.11 metres) for the first time I felt like this was finally my record.”
Gionet’s track and field career began with a middle school competition in the Maritimes (Jeux de L’Acadie). He started with the javelin throw, but admits he was, “horrible at it,” so he decided to quit the sport all together.
“Then came my Grade-Eleven year of high school,” Gionet said. “I grew five inches and gained 50 pounds which led to the high school coach approaching me to try javelin again.”
Gionet won the provincial bronze medal that year in javelin prompting him to transition to shot put and discus throw. In his grad year he got bronze in all three throwing events at the New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletic Association.
He perused shot put intensely in an attempt to gain a spot on Team New Brunswick for the 2013 Canada Games where he qualified at the trials in fourth position.
“The thing that makes me love the sport is the work you need to put in to be able to perform at your best,” Gionet said. “When you perform and do well, it brings you so much satisfaction knowing you worked so hard to achieve that good performance.”
Gionet said coming to St. Thomas as a track and field recruit was scary in the beginning.
“After a little bit of a rough start, I was guided into the right path,” he said. “I found my first coach who had coached me for my first three years here at STU and with his help I have accomplished many things.”
Gionet also cited STU’s, “incredible athletics department,” and its director Mike Eagle as having helped and supported him in numerous ways. He has also teamed up with a new coach Yvan Pelletier since winning the AUS title.
With that said, Gionet made the conscious decision to quit STU’s rugby team this past fall in order to focus on track and field.
“I believe the results are showing that it was the right choice to make,” he said. “It has lead me to start right from the get-go and not have to almost catch up once the (rugby) season is done.”
Gionet said he’s been able to spend more time building up his strength and working on his technique since quitting rugby. This has led to what he believes to be his best start to a season yet.
At the end of the month, Gionet will attend his first national-level meet of the year in Montreal. He will compete against some of the best in the country, something he’s excited about.
“In previous years, I have never felt ready for it,” he said. “But I am currently ranked eighth in the nation and with this I have found a renewed confidence and I am really excited to get there and solidify my chances of qualifying for CIS Nationals in Toronto.”
Gionet will also travel to the AUS Conference Championships at the end of February. Although it’s still early, he said he feels he’s headed in the right direction.
As for the rest of the season, Gionet said his remaining goal is to defend his AUS title and possibly beat the AUS record.
“With tough competition, it will be a very interesting end of season,” he said.
Tommies’ Sarah Hickman, a first-year student from Middle Sackville, Nova Scotia broke two records by finishing first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 29.08 and placing fifth in the 60-meter dash in 8.66 seconds.
Hickman also broke the 300 metre race record in 46.07 seconds at a separate meet in Moncton on Dec. 19.
“I’m happy to hold the three records,” she said. “In the moment, finding out I had broken them was a relief due to the fact that it was my pre-season goal before Jan. 2016.”
Hickman said she knew breaking these records was a good way to start the season, but also a good way to set new goals and work to achieve them.
“(I) worked hard in spring competition season along (with) pre-season during the summer of 2015 to be able to achieve the three records,” Hickman said.
Hickman believes striving for personal bests every race is something every racer should do. She admits she was nervous when it came to the first two meets, including Gagetown.
“I wasn’t sure if I had trained enough or something,” she said. “But nerves are good because it tends to mean you want to do well.”
Hickman said athletics have always been a part of her life. She started running cross-country in elementary school. “However, I had never really been interested in sprinting at a younger age,” she said.
In ninth grade, Hickman was approached by her school’s track coach Mr. Payne to get involved in the sport after seeing her running and sprinting on the soccer field. She said she has been involved since.
“From the first practice, Mr. Payne had pushed me towards my new potential,” Hickman said. “The friends I made while competing (with) my high school team was a key component (as) to why I continued to run track.”
Hickman attributes her love for the sport to, “the feeling in the block, the adrenaline rush and being able to push yourself until you collapse,” which she says is when she knows she’s done her absolute best.
“Track is all about competing with yourself,” she said. “From the moment I ran my first 100 metre race, I was involved, (but) now I run for fun. If you love something you shouldn’t be forced to do it. You should want to.”
Hickman came to STU after winning the Irving Athletics scholarship. She then traveled with STU’s track and field team to the McGill Team Challenge in late January of her grad year.
“This trip was a major eye-opener and 100 per cent why I chose STU,” she said.
Hickman said that hard work and dedication to pre-season training, motivation from her teammates, and working with STU’s track program’s main coaches – Alex Coffin, Mary Astle, Dane Young and Jeffrey Amose enabled her to reach her potential in recently breaking the three records.
Hickman’s plans for the rest of the season are to compete at the AUS Championships in hopes of ranking in the top 15. She hopes to conquer the 400 metre, as well as running a 44-second, 300 metre during the indoor season.
“I also hope to build a team atmosphere and to have everyone want to run and enjoy it,” she said. “A team should be a family and that’s what I would love to have by the end of this season in hopes for the years to come.”
