Hurdler chases down OFSAA bronze
Chase Larsen has come out of nowhere to be an OFSAA medalist.
The 15-year-old student at West Niagara Secondary School earned a bronze medal in the novice boys 300-metre hurdles at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations meet in Windsor earlier this month, only a couple of years after failing to qualify for the DSBN (District School Board of Niagara) finals in Grade 7.
“Chase has proven to be a dark horse several times already in his track career,” Thorold Elite coach Steven Fife said. “Once he started training he came in a year later and won the 400 at DSBN.”
Larsen squeaked in with the last qualifying spot at South Regionals and then ended up with the fastest time in the preliminaries at OFSAA.
“He worked really hard the entire season but especially in the week leading up to OFSAA to really put the race together at the right time,” Fife said.
Larsen, who admitted to getting off to a poor start to the season, was gratified his hard work paid off.
“We expected it for sure, I just hadn’t seen the result yet,” he said. “With the training leading up to it, we knew I could definitely do it.
“I expected to place well, I just didn’t expect to do as well as I did.”
Larsen feels earning a medal bodes well for the future.
“For sure it gives me a lot of confidence,” he said. “Just knowing I can do that against the guys that beat me there gives me more confidence going into the club season.”
Larsen took up hurdles at the suggestion of Fife.
“It is (unnatural),” Larsen said. “I didn’t want to do hurdles for a year and then went to a beginner’s practice so I thought I might as well.
“It’s all the timing and you’re teaching the body to do something you’re not used to. It’s a movement that’s unnatural; you’re not supposed to move your hips like that.”
Larsen stuck with it when things didn’t fall into place right away.
“At first, it did take me a while. Took me about three or four months to get to where I was,” he said.
He credits Fife and his clubmates with helping him through the rough patches.
“They help me up and support me through anything,” he said. “As soon as you fall, you have to get right back up and run again because it’s a confidence thing.”
Thorold Elite recognized Larsen with a Promising Athlete Award last year.
“He is definitely living up to that,” Fife said. “We look forward to seeing him come away with some big accomplishments at provincials and nationals.”
Larsen is cautiously optimistic about the future, shooting for gold at the provincials and a top three finish at nationals.
“Who knows? We’ll see. You never know what’s going to happen with injuries,” he said. club mates
Dear reader. If you liked this story or one of the 6,100 other stories found on our website, please consider hitting the Support Us button on the right-hand side of our home page and making a PayPal contribution to our website. Your support would be much appreciated. If you are a business owner, please consider advertising on our site. Our rates are reasonable and we provide plenty of exposure for your business. Contact bpotrecz@outlook.com for more information.
