Niki Oudenaarden is heading to the world junior athletics championship after a record-breaking javelin throw at the Calgary Spring Challenge last weekend that also surpassed the world junior standard.
The first-year U18 junior set a new provincial mark with a toss of 49.27 metres for second place in the senior division. The winner was Liz Gleadle of the Chinook Track and Field Club at 54.26 metres.
The provincial junior female records were 48.72 metres by Nicole Chimko in U19 in 1997 and 44.72 metres by Leslie Taylor in U18 in 1987.
Junior worlds are July 10-15 in Barcelona, Spain.
The Grade 12 Paul Kane High School student also qualified for the Olympic trials at the end of June in Calgary.
The Capital City Track and Field Club athlete is concentrating on throws and sprints this year instead of doing the complete heptathlon because of a knee injury.
Oudenaarden will attend San Diego State University in the fall on a track scholarship.
Meanwhile, Morgan Christensen of the Edmonton Olympic Track and Field Club swept the 100 and 200 metre finals in the U17 female division at the Calgary Spring Challenge.
The Grade 10 student at Bellerose Composite High School was clocked at 12.46 seconds in the 100 and 24.87 in the 200.
Four club teams are representing the St. Albert Volleyball Association at the Canadian Open championships in Toronto.
The female U15, U16, U17 and U18 teams qualified by winning provincials. Most of the players are from the Bellerose Composite, Paul Kane and St. Albert Catholic high schools and the Lorne Akins, Sir George Simpson, Vincent J. Maloney and William D. Cuts junior high schools.
Nationals started Thursday and end Tuesday. This is the first year Volleyball Canada is staging its six national championship events together under one roof. More than 800 teams will compete in 14 categories, ranging from 12 to 65 years old.
Visit www.volleyball.ca for results.
Thomas Foster and Liam McNamara of the St. Albert Raiders were honoured this week by the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
Foster was the winner of the Brian Sutter Award, presented annually to the top defensive forward, as selected by the league’s coaches. The centre from Slave Lake received an engraved plaque and a $100 gift certificate from the Source for Sports Dealers in Alberta.
The last Raider to win the award was Mike Klassen in 1996.
Foster finished fourth in team scoring with 13 goals and 11 assists in 31 games and played for Team Alberta at the Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup.
The first-year midget was picked 20th overall in the 2011 Western Hockey League bantam draft by the Vancouver Giants. His brother, T.J., plays for the WHL champion Edmonton Oil Kings.
McNamara, a Grade 12 student at St. Albert Catholic High School, was the recipient of a $1,000 scholarship from the league.
McNamara scored eight goals and added seven assists in 33 games for the 2012 league finalists.
Andy Tiedemann of St. Albert was named to the Canadian senior men’s rugby roster for a series of international test matches.
The 23-year-old prop is one of 17 players on the 26-man roster from the 2011 Rugby World Cup squad.
Canada, ranked No. 13 in the world, will play the United States Eagles on June 9 in Kingston, Ont., Italy on June 15 in Toronto and Georgia on June 23 in Burnaby, B.C.
Tiedemann is credited with 11 caps and 14 Canadian appearances.
This season he played for the Castaway Wanderers, the British Columbia premier semifinalists.
The Paul Kane High School alumnus will be on the pitch Sunday with the Calgary-based Wolf Pack at 1:30 p.m. at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
The Okotoks Raiders swept the visiting St. Albert Miners in Saturday’s doubleheader in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League.
The Raiders scored four unanswered goal in the third period to win the junior A opener 13-9.
Brendan Kelly led the Miners with two goals and four assists. Spencer Gelinas struck on the power play and the penalty kill and captain Ryan Davis had four assists. Tommy Buckley led the team with seven loose balls.
The Miners finished 3-for-11 on the power play and outshot the Raiders 45-34. In net was Scott Kavalinas.
In the senior B tilt, the Raiders (2-1) outscored the Miners 6-4 in the third to win 10-7.
The Miners (1-1) led 3-1 after the first and trailed 4-3 after two periods.
Graedon Cornfield and Chris Schmidt tallied twice for the two-time defending provincial champions. Kyle Schram, Mike Blondin and Calvin Roberts notched singles. Between the pipes was Jon Marrese.
Wednesday the junior A Miners host the Edmonton Eclipse at 8 p.m. at Northstar Hyundai Arena and the senior B team plays the Spruce Grove Slash (1-1) at 7:30 p.m. at Grant Fuhr Arena.
