UNews - Jonathan Doucette

Horns' Millman always had U of L on his mind

trevor.kenney — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 20:56:58 +0000

Peter Millman’s track career began with him trying to run over hurdles as fast as he could. Today, Millman could just hurl them out of the way and waltz down the track – he’s clearly found his niche.

“I thought I was going to be a hurdler in Grades 6 through 8 and honestly, was really bad, and it was sort of embarrassing for my dad,” laughs Millman, whose father Paul coached track at the provincial and national level. “So I started throwing the discus in Grade 8, won provincials my second year and that’s basically where my throwing career began.”

Ready to embark on his second year of studies at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, Millman is already a known commodity on the Canadian Interuniversity Sport track and field scene. That will happen when you win gold and silver medals in your first Canada West Championship meet and are named Canada West Rookie of the Year – and that was just the beginning.

Millman, 19, spent the summer racking up personal best throws and more accolades as he claimed three medals at the Canadian Junior Track and Field Championships. The Truro, N.S. product won gold in the shot put and silver in each of the discus and hammer throw events. He was then named to Canada’s Pan American Junior Championship team and competed in Medellin, Colombia at the end of August, qualifying for the finals of the hammer throw event and improving his Pan Am ranking from 10th to seventh position.

Peter Millman prepares to throw the shotput during the Pan American Junior Athletic Championships.

“Coming here and focusing on throwing and training with Larry Steinke, I believe opens everything up for me,” says Millman, who eyes world championship and Olympic appearances in his future. “I had opportunities to go to the United States but to me, it looked like an athlete factory down there and with Larry, it’s one-on-one focussed training designed to get you to the next level.”

The U of L didn’t have to spend a lot of time recruiting Millman, he was essentially in the family from the time he took his first training trip to Lethbridge in his Grade 10 year.

“I tried to convince my parents to let me move out here in Grade 10 and just start training with Larry but that wasn’t going to happen,” he says. “I had chosen the U of L by Grade 10, it was always where I was coming.”

The draw of course is head coach Steinke, leader of the national throws program and the mentor to Olympians Jim and Heather Steacy. He’s been mining talent from Truro for years, having previously brought Kate Forbes and Jonathan Doucette (now the coach at Dalhousie ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ) to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. Along with Millman came Kayla Gallagher (last year’s CIS gold medallist in weight throw) and Montana Forsyth. In the fall, Millman says his dad will bring another high school group to Lethbridge for a week of training, possibly laying the foundation for future throwing prospects attending the U of L.

“The thing about Larry is that his programs are so individually based and he’s so knowledgeable about track, even outside of throws events, he knows the sport so well,” says Millman. “He understands what you need in terms of lifting, really everything within your training, he sets it up. Everybody has their own program focused on what they individually need to develop.”
Millman has changed his academic focus this fall, moving away from international management and focusing on history. He admittedly struggled last year and looks to return to the strong classroom performances he put in while in high school.

“I wasn’t going to force myself to study something I didn’t really want to do,” he says of the management vein he tried to follow in the shadow of father’s career (he runs an international student recruitment program in Nova Scotia). “I want to take something where my interests lie and I’ve done that this year. I really like the courses I’m in this semester so I hope things go a lot better.”

His competitive goals are enhanced this year as he looks to build off his rookie success as well as the summer experience he gained internationally.

“Hopefully, I want to medal this year at the CIS Championships. I had such a great outdoor season with the shot, I hope it transfers to the indoor season,” he says. “After that, theoretically the NACAC Under-23 (North America Central America and Caribbean) Games are a possibility. I’m still pretty young and would have another shot at it in two years but it’d be great to make that team.”

GET THE FACTS

• Millman says he still has an autograph from former Pronghorn thrower and Olympian Jim Steacy on his bedroom wall back home in Truro from his initial visit to Lethbridge in Grade 10

• Millman competes in each of the discus, hammer/weight and shot put events but says, “I’m starting to think that maybe I have more potential in the shot put.”

• Millman has a younger sister in Grade 12 who he describes as a “genius”. She also throws hammer and is looking at attending an Ivy League school in the eastern United States

• Millman placed fifth in shot at the Pan American Junior Athletic Championships, while Horns teammate Kayla Gallagher won bronze for Canada in the hammer throw

Gallagher caps rookie season with CIS gold

trevor.kenney — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:40:48 +0000

The torch has officially been passed and it continues to burn as bright as ever for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns throws team.

With the brother/sister combination of Jim and Heather Steacy no longer competing, and winning medals, for the Horns, a new group of throwers debuted at the U of L this track season. In terms of medal counts, the team hardly missed a beat.

Rookies Kayla Gallagher and Peter Millman posted double medalist performances at the Canada West championship meet, each winning gold in their respective weight throw events and silver in the shot put. Gallagher then set the track community on its ear with a dominant performance at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport national championships, claiming gold in the weight throw for yet another throws national title for the program.

"I just wanted to place higher than what I was ranked going into the meet," says Gallagher, who was ranked fifth nationally. "A fourth-place finish would have been fine with me and getting on the podium would have been awesome – that was my thinking."

First-year Pronghorn thrower Kayla Gallagher continues the long tradition of excellence in the Horns' throws program.

She exceeded awesome by throwing 18.24 metres in the CIS final, a personal best by nearly two metres and almost a metre better than the rest of the field. At just 19, Gallagher is already on the fast track to a stellar career, and serves as another example of the talented athletes that head coach Larry Steinke continues to bring into the program.

Of course, Steinke had the inside track on Gallagher all along. A Truro, Nova Scotia product, Gallagher comes from a throwing hot spot, training with the Truro Lions club that spawned former Pronghorns Kate Forbes (the CIS Championship Meet record holder in weight throw) and Jonathan Doucette.

Her Truro coach, Paul Millman, is the father of fellow rookie Peter Millman, and is a close friend of Steinke's, so much so that Gallagher had twice visited the U of L for training camps as a high school athlete.

"I was never going to stay home for track," says Gallagher. "The biggest decision for me was whether I would go to the United States or stay in Canada but I honestly never really looked at any schools in the U.S., it just made sense to stay in Canada."

And to work with Steinke, the national team coach who has consistently produced the country's best young throwers.

Of course, it wasn't all record-setting throws and medals for Gallagher this season. She actually opened the Canada West season well off form.

"It was a rough start to the season, I was throwing worse than I had been two years ago," she says. "I had to reevaluate what I thought I could accomplish."

Devoting more time to weight throw (she also throws discus and shot put), Gallagher started to see results. She threw a personal best at the Canada West championship meet and established the longest throw ever for a CIS rookie in winning gold.

"When I threw 18-plus metres at CIS, it didn't surprise me because that's what I'd been throwing in the two weeks of practice leading in. The fact that I did it in a competition as opposed to just in practice was the big thing," she says.

She credits Steinke's coaching technique for much of her success, as well as the opportunity to train alongside Olympians such as Jim and Heather Steacy.

"I really enjoy Larry as a coach, he explains things really well and can show you how to correct things," she says. "He uses a lot of visual techniques, either with a video camera or by physically just showing you what to do, and that works for me because I'm a very visual learner."

Her transition to university life is an ongoing learning cycle. She admits that the time constraints of training for track and working a job take their toll on studying. Interested in psychology, Gallagher says she is working hard on improving her time management skills.

Considering the strides she made in the throwing circle in just one season, it's safe to say that when Gallagher puts her mind to something, she's likely to reap the rewards very soon.

GET THE FACTS

· Gallagher is currently training with Steinke and a group of elite throwers in Phoenix, AZ through Apr. 8

· Millman was named Canada West Rookie of the Year

· Gallagher has set her sights on breaking Kate Forbes' CIS weight throw record of 19.66 metres (2005 CIS Championships), then wants to take aim at Heather Steacy's Canada West and school records (20.28 metres)

· Gallagher will compete for Nova Scotia at the Canada Summer Games in August, and hopes to turn a strong performance at the Canadian national meet in Quebec into an invitation to the Pan American Junior Track and Field Championships in Peru, also in August

This story first appeared in the April 2013 edition of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - Jonathan Doucette

Horns' Millman always had U of L on his mind

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Gallagher caps rookie season with CIS gold

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