Ex-gymnast found calling on track

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This article was published 31/07/2017 (3349 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tegan Turner never imagined she would represent Manitoba on the track at the Canada Games.

Turner, a former gymnast, started sprinting in Grade 9 at Nelson McIntyre Collegiate because it was the only sport that would fit around her gymnastics schedule.

“Track was first thing in the morning on Wednesdays, so I was able to do that. It was a way for me to get into school sports and it turned out really well,” Turner said.

If someone would have told her then that one day she would be not only a member of the University of Manitoba Bisons’ track team but also the provincial team at the Canada Games, Turner says she “probably would have laughed.”

“It’s such an honour to be here and I couldn’t have pictured anything better. I have a great team around me and it’s nothing that I could have hoped or wished for,” said Turner.

The decision to take up track turned out to be a great one for Turner. Athletics Manitoba named her both female sprinter of the year and female junior athlete of the year in 2014.

Despite the high school successes, Turner says it wasn’t until her freshman season at the U of M that she really started to train seriously. She’s now heading into her fourth year with the Bisons’ track team, and the 21-year old kinesiology student already has an impressive resumé. She won three gold medals at the 2015 Western Canada Games, finished in the top 20 in the 100 metres and 200 metres at the Canadian Olympic Trials in 2016, and set the Canada West record in the 60 metres this past season.

Turner will have three chances to add to her athletics resumé this week as she is competing in the 100-metre, 4×100-metre relay and the 200-metre races. After Day 1 of athletics competition, Turner has set herself up for a chance at the podium. Turner recorded the second-fastest time in the 100-metre qualifier Monday afternoon at the University of Manitoba Stadium with a time of 11.84 seconds. The 100-metre final takes place Thursday, but Turner isn’t stressing about whether or not she claims a medal — she just wants to enjoy the ride and see what happens.

“These only come around every four years. I really just want to have a good time because that’s when I do my best,” said Turner.

Athletics medal Manitoba’s first

Brooke-Lynn Boyd became the first Manitoban to win a medal in athletics at the 2017 Games with her bronze in women’s javelin on Monday afternoon.

The Manitoba Bisons athlete says she wasn’t expecting to medal and that the support of the crowd was incredible.

“Throwers usually don’t get a lot of support because we’re usually hidden off to the side. After my first throw, I heard everybody in the stadium. It was exciting having everyone here, and now I’m walking around and everyone is congratulating me,” said Boyd.

Boyd, a graduate of West Kildonan Collegiate, is coming off a successful season with the Bisons, during which she won shot put gold at the Canada West Championships. The 21-year-old says she’s been involved in throwing sports since Grade 9, but it wasn’t until her senior year at West Kildonan that she started to invest her time into training.

“I didn’t really take it seriously until Grade 12 when I realized, ‘Oh, I like this pointy thing,’” Boyd said.

Boyd may be done with the “pointy thing” for the Games, but she will have a chance to add another medal when she competes in shot put. The qualifying round starts today at the University of Manitoba Stadium at 6 p.m.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @TaylorAllen31