Garrett King finished his high school track and field career in a blaze of glory.
The 18-year-old Paul Kane student was the fastest competitor in the senior boys’ 100-metre hurdles and the 400m at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association championships at Foote Field.
“I was really happy. The weekend was crazy because I was also graduating so it felt really good to have a strong performance to end my Grade 12 year, said King.
His time in the 100m hurdles was a personal-best 13.76 seconds on a wet and chilly Friday afternoon.
“Considering the wind and the rain I was really happy with my run,” he said. “The two runners who got second and third [Ryan McKay of William Aberhart at 13.81 and Alex Smith of George McDougall at 13.89], we’re all really good friends in track. We’ve been competing against each other over the years in high school track and club track and it was a really close race between the three of us.”
The next day King celebrated his high school graduation by winning the 400m with a clocking of 50.52. It was the fifth gold and sixth medal at provincials with Paul Kane.
“I ran my 400 prelim [50.94 as the top finisher] at 9:50 a.m. and as soon as I finished my race, I put on the cap and gown and drove down to the Shaw because I had to go to commencement. After that I drove back to the track and ran my final and then I ran home, got changed and got back to the Shaw for the evening ceremony,” he said. “I was pretty pumped. It was just a really good day and evening overall.”
It was a special day filled with mixed emotions.
“It’s really a stepping stone. This is where you finish your high school track career and the next year you move on to the university track circuit and likewise your high school educational career is done and you move on to university or go into the work force,” said King, who will compete on the CIS circuit next season while studying engineering at the University of Calgary. “I didn’t cry that day but I did forget my dress pants for commencement so I had my grad gown on with my dress shoes and basically my track clothes on and a dress shirt underneath.”
This weekend at the CALTAF Track Classic in Calgary, King is looking to place in the 400m hurdles to cement his spot at the Western Canada Summer Games Aug. 5 to 14 in Kamloops.
“I do have standards, I just have to place in Calgary.”
The accomplished hurdlist is also in the hunt to make the U19 junior nationals, July 8 to 10 in Winnipeg.
His main focus during training sessions at the Edmonton Olympic Track and Field Club while pursuing westerns and junior nationals is the 110m and 400m hurdles.
“The 400 hurdles is a brutal race. You’ve got to be in good condition and work on the hurdle technique as well,” said King, a four-time participant at the Royal Canadian Legion nationals. “With the 110 hurdles your technique over the hurdles has to be really good because that is often where the race is won or lost, where as the 400 hurdles the technique is less but you have to be that much stronger and have endurance to sprint the 400 metres as well to hurdle.”
