Canmore sprinter hurdles way to gold at provincials

CANMORE – Lukas Boruta is an “anomaly” in Canmore when it comes to the high-speed 100 metre hurdles.

Crushing the competition at provincials in Edmonton earlier this month, the Grade 10 junior sprinter strung a gold medal around his neck after hurdling his way into a time of 14.21 seconds against seven other athletes.

“This is an anomaly and an impressive statement to Lukas that he was able to beat a whole bunch of city kids,” said Jane Marzetti, track coach at Our Lady of the Snow Catholic Academy (OLS).

“The Bow Valley is very strong [when it comes to] endurance athletes, but we don’t often get a lot of track athletes who are able to go to Calgary and compete at provincials at a very high level.”

Alberta’s junior boys record in 100m hurdles is 13.25 set in 2015.

After falling in the first heat, Boruta focused on not tripping in the final heat rather than the shiny gold medal. However, he was too quick for the pack, finishing 0.35 faster than the closest runner.

The speedy athlete thinks the time and effort he put in paid off after seeing the banner with his name on it, flying high in the OLS school gym.

“It was pretty surreal,” said Boruta. “I was happy that all the hard work paid off during the season.”

Boruta started in the sport after Kendra Silk, a teacher in his Grade 9 year, encouraged him.

“She inspired me to take on hurdles because she saw that I had potential,” said Boruta.

“It was kind of weird to get used to at first, but then I progressed and my flow got better. Then I started liking it more after I started seeing more improvement.”

Marzetti watched as the athlete became faster and more consistent throughout the season, noting that he even trained at home when it came time for the big event.

“After he qualified for provincials, he did a bunch of training at home,” she said. “He just got really strong at the sprints in between, and making sure he was able to jump over every single one.”

The track community is growing in the Bow Valley and Marzetti is hoping that Boruta serves as inspiration for more to join.

“I’m hopeful that more kids will see this and want to join up in track and field,” Marzetti said.

“I’m finding that over the years, our track team has steadily grown. Between junior and senior high we had almost 50 athletes.”