By Jeff D'Andrea

Lehner meets Olympians at Calgary meet, ready for busy summer

Jul 19, 2012 | 5:38 PM

It will be a very busy summer for Katelyn Lehner, who will travel all over this fine country to compete against the top track and field athletes Canada has to offer.

The first-year St. Mary senior will compete at the Canadian Junior Track and Field Championships in Winnipeg, July 27-29, then head to the Saskatchewan Summer Games in Meadow Lake Aug. 1-4, before making her second appearance at the Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Charlottetown, P.E.I. Aug. 17-19.

Lehner will have the advantage going into those meets after a great experience at the Canadian National Championships in Calgary June 27-30, which were run in conjunction with the Canadian Track and Field Olympic Trials.

Not only did she pick up two medals in the high school invite category, a silver in the 100m and bronze in the high jump, but met a ton of elite track athletes. The long list includes Humboldt’s Brianne Theisen, who is a five time NCAA champion with the University of Oregon, Canadian hurdler legend Perdita Felicien, Canadian Jessica Zelinka and American Olympic athlete Ashton Eaton, who owns the world records for both the decathlon and heptathlon.

“It was really cool,” said Lehner. “Most of them were so nice and down to earth and fine to meet you and get pictures and everything.

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“Just competing there and kind of being with the other high level athletes was such a good learning experience. It was so neat to watch the high level athletes do their thing and being able to watch them compete, and be up there front and centre.

“It’s different actually being there than watching it on TV… it was a really fun experience.”

With the season she’s been having, Lehner will look to add to her ever-growing trophy case.

At the SHSAA Provincials in June, St. Mary’s set a school record for gold medals in a single provincial meet with 11 and Lehner earned almost half of them. She earned five gold medals, four in individual meets (100m, 200m, 80m hurdles and long jump), while also getting a gold in the 4x100m relay.

Lehner will head to the Canadian Junior Track and Field Championships in Winnipeg entering in the heptathlon, a seven-event competition including 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200m, long jump, javelin and 800m.

Although the heptathlon has several events relatively new to her, Lehner said she’s been preparing for all of them and even participated in a heptathlon earlier this year in Regina.

“There’s a few new events that I haven’t done a whole lot but I’ve been training for those and hoping I can better my scores,” said Lehner.

jdandrea@panow.com
Twitter: @jeff_dandrea