Jumping for joy (updated with link to results)

Hallie Van Niekerk didn’t have much down time at the Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Zone 3 meet Tuesday at Centennial.

The 15-year-old, Grade 9 student from E.L. Crossley competed in junior girls pole vault in the morning before turning her attention to the 300-metre hurdles and then topped things off with the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relay races.

“It’s tiring but it’s just a one day thing so I just try and do my best,” the Wainfleet resident said after placing first in the pole vault. “The track meets in high school are definitely more intimidating than in elementary school.”

Van Niekerk, who came up just short of her personal best of 2.50 metres with her jump, was encouraged by her older brother Ethan to give the sport a try.

“I wanted to try it and it’s really fun to do it,” she said.

And also a lot of work.

“There is a lot to think about, so many different steps. You have to be running and also think about what you’re doing in the air,” Van Niekerk said. “You take it one step at a time. Learn one thing first and then keep adding on stuff so it wasn’t like I could just do it right away.”

Van Niekerk’s disciplined approach quickly caught the eye of Crossley track coach Jordan Lew.

“She’s just a hard worker, especially for a Grade 9,” Lew said. “It’s a kind of a learning year for track coming in and you don’t really know where you fit in, big school, but we had a couple of senior pole vaulters who did fall sessions and she jumped at the opportunity then and has been sticking with it.”

Lew said learning the components of the pole vault can be daunting, but Van Niekerk quickly caught on.

“It’s getting the steps down and combining everything. The kids had me doing it last week and it was tough for even me to do it,” he said. “The biggest thing is the mental aspect because you’re running with a 13-foot pole and jumping in the air. That’s the biggest challenge for any of the kids. Just overcoming that fear and nervousness.”

Lew feels Van Niekerk, who also runs cross country and plays basketball for the school, could have a bright future on the track.

“It is tough (to gauge), especially if the only training is at high school because it’s only for a short period of time and then it’s almost a whole semester before we start up again. It depends on how dedicated they are and how much they want to get better because then they can go train at clubs. If that’s what she wants to do and she puts her mind to it, then definitely she can go really far.”

The top four finishers in each event qualify for SOSSA (Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association) next week at Centennial.

https://www.nrhsaa.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-Zone-3-Results.pdf

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