UNews - Daegu

Steacy fifth at Universiade

trevor.kenney — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:19:05 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns thrower Heather Steacy has completed her competition at the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China, finishing fifth in the final of the women's hammer throw event.

Steacy faulted on three of her six throws and managed a best throw of 67.72 metres in the final. The winning throw was recorded by Zalina Marghieva of Moldova, who set a new national record with a toss of 72.93m. Steacy was slightly more than three metres shy of the bronze medal position.

Meanwhile, Steacy, along with her brother Jim, also a former Pronghorn athlete, was named to Canada's World Championship track team that will compete at the World Track and Field Championships in Daegu, South Korea, Aug. 27 to Sept. 4. The meet is considered a dress rehearsal for Canada's national team as it prepares for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Steacy siblings triumph

trevor.kenney — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:02:28 +0000

Jim and Heather Steacy added to their impressive track resume this past weekend, winning both the men's and women's Canadian Senior hammer throw titles in Calgary.

Jim Steacy, a 2008 Olympian and former Pronghorns star, completed more than a year long road to recovery and claimed his seventh Canadian Senior title with a throw of 76.27 metres. Steacy missed the entire outdoor season with a pair of injuries that required surgeries to both legs.

Having achieved his second 'B' standard throw of the season at the Canadian Championships, Steacy has qualified for his second World Championships later this summer in Daegu, South Korea. Steacy finished 13th at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan. He is the Canadian record holder in the hammer throw with a distance of 79.13 metres.

"I am very happy to be at the level I am at after only four months of training," says Steacy. "To have qualified for the Worlds is a huge step along the path towards the London Olympics next year."

Heather Steacy, a four-time CIS medalist, earned her first Senior National title in Calgary beating out the Canadian record holder and former Olympian Sultana Frizell. Steacy edged out Frizell with a throw of 70.86 metres.

Her throw on Saturday was just shy of her personal best of 70.98 metres but was also her second 'B' standard of the season. It will now be up to Athletics Canada to decide if she will compete at the World Championships, as Frizell has achieved the 'A' standard, automatically qualifying her for the Worlds. If she does get named to the Canadian team it would be her first trip to the World Championships.

Both Jim and Heather will get a good test in Edmonton this week at the Edmonton International Track Classic. American Kibwe Johnson, who broke the 80-metre mark for the first time this season, will travel to Edmonton, while the second ranked female in the world, Kathrin Klaas of Germany, will also compete in Edmonton. Johnson has the second furthest throw this season in the world with a mark of 80.31 metres.

The World Championships will run August 27th to September 4th in Daegu, South Korea.

Steacy on record run

trevor.kenney — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:29:20 +0000

If you didn't hear Heather Steacy's name last year, it wasn't because the Pronghorns track and field star suddenly fell back to the pack and wasn't the dominating force we've learned to expect. Instead, Steacy was just bolstering herself for a record assault that is now in full bloom.

The two-time CIS gold medal champion in weight throw (indoor) stepped away from the CIS stage last year, focusing instead on training for the hammer throw and the summer outdoor season. While it took her out of competition for nearly a full calendar year, Steacy has returned to the indoor scene with a vengeance. At the Feb. 5 Bison Classic at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Manitoba, Steacy became the first woman in CIS history to break the 20-metre barrier, doing so twice as she easily won the gold medal.

"Technically, I'm a lot more consistent now," says the 22-year-old Steacy. "I felt before that I was always disappointed with the distances. I wasn't disappointed with the end result and the wins, but nothing ever felt consistent with how I was throwing. Now I feel like I'm in a much better place. It really comes with experience, repetition and knowing your body and how it moves."

That consistency is evident in her results. Two weeks before the Bison Classic, Steacy set a new personal best mark with a throw of 19.24 metres at the Golden Bear Classic. In Winnipeg she bettered that mark on all four of her qualifying throws and topped the 20-metre barrier with throws of 20.16m and 20.28m (a new Alberta provincial record). To put her dominance into context, the silver-medal winning throw was 13.99m.

"It was hard to step away last season because I knew I wouldn't be competing for almost an entire year," says Steacy. "From summer of 2009 until last summer, was a long time between competitions. In terms of training, it made so much sense. With hammer throw you need loads of volume, thousands of throws to get anything set, so it was definitely worth it."

The ultimate goal for the music major is to take her hammer throw prowess to the Olympic stage. Still a youngster for her sport, she is right on track for an Olympic appearance.

"I'm hoping to go to London in 2012, but I'm more looking forward to competing at the Rio Olympics in 2016," she says. "I would really like to go to London to get that experience under my belt and get a chance to see what it's like so I can know what to expect if I get to go to Rio."

In the meantime, she's branching out academically at the U of L, taking a variety of language classes to enhance her musical skills. She feels the knowledge of language will come in handy as she continues to take her talents to meets around the world. This spring, after competing at the Canada West and CIS championship meets, she'll represent Canada at the World ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Games in Shenzhen, China. In August, she hopes to be throwing hammer at the World Track and Field Championships in Daegu, South Korea.

The Canada West Track Championships are Feb. 25-26 in Winnipeg.

For a look at the February issue of the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - Daegu

Steacy fifth at Universiade

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