Magee鈥檚 Julie Kawai Herdman placed fifth in the senior girls heptathlon at the B.C. high school track and field championship in Langley on May 22.
The Grade 9 Lion finished the seven-event competition with 4,001 points, 1,045 off the untouchable Maple Ridge gold medallist Nina Shultz but a mere 67 points ahead of Little Flower Academy鈥檚 Sophie Pauls, who came sixth in a close field of 16 girls.
Only 535 points separated second through sixth places, the difference coming down to the last two events, the javelin throw and 800 metre race.
"I was pretty surpised because I thought I was going to come last because I heard they were the best people in the province," said Herdman.
Pauls, who trains with the Thunderbirds Track Club, tied for second in the 100-metre hurdles with her time of 16.03 seconds and cleared 1.56 metres in the high jump to finish fourth in the discipline.
鈥淚 knew most of the girls going into it and they were all very strong,鈥� said Pauls, who will compete in both high and long jump at the provincial individual meet June 4 to 6, which marks the start of the summer season.
For athletes like Pauls and Herdman who are competitive on both the track and the field, the multi-disciplinary sport of heptathlon tests their range in seven events. The 10 evens of decathlon is open to boys. These competitions don鈥檛 reward sport specialization, but reward the athlete who can, like a Swiss army knife, pull out the right tool for the task.
鈥淵ou know who you鈥檙e competing against because you鈥檝e done all seven events with them 鈥� you know if they're good at throwing or running,鈥� said Herdman, who will compete as a junior in the individual long and high jump events as well as the 200m.
In addition to the hurdles and two jump events, the heptathlon includes shot put, javelin and 200m and 800m races.
鈥淲e鈥檙e mostly power athletes,鈥� said Pauls, referring to the explosive, muscular output needed to leap and throw. The outlier is the 800m race, a difficult and technical distance twice around the track.
鈥淚 mean, who likes it? It鈥檚 a pretty long sprint. It鈥檚 the last event and for most girls who do heptathlon, it鈥檚 definitely not anyone鈥檚 favourite.鈥�
At last years鈥� individual meet, Pauls fell one cemtimetre shy of the podium in the long jump and was in the top eight for high jump. She wants to crack the top eight in both events again.
Also in the heptathlon, Lord Byng鈥檚 Jodie Dressel and Alina Cook finished 10th and 14th, respectively, while Stephanie Stressing finished 13th for Crofton House.
