Hetherton jumps to silver at nationals

Prince Albert star Chloe Hetherton earned a silver medal at the Canadian junior track and field championships last weekend in Prince Edward Island.

After a week of practice and competition, she returned home from Charlottetown on Monday.

Hetherton placed second in the triple jump with a leap of 12.54 metres. Her main competitor, Caroline Ehrhardt, was first with a jump of 12.81 metres.

Hetherton wasn't disappointed with her second-place finish.

"I jumped a season's best, so the best I've jumped all year," she said.

"I keep kind of slowly improving this year."

The 16-year-old was happy to hear that her Canadian juniour record of 12.64 metres still stands, because of an illegal wind the day of the competition. Those conditions made Ehrhardt's jump not count as a record.

"Hopefully, next year, I can go and beat my own record," Hetherton said.

She was also part of the provincial relay team that took home third place.

"It's not too bad for Saskatchewan," Hetherton joked.

One of the things she really enjoyed about competing in Charlottetown was the new track.

The same track will host track and field events at the Canada Games next month.

"The track was awesome," Hetherton said. "I loved the track. It was very nice."

It's been a tiring month for Hetherton, who had just returned from an international competition in Brixen, Italy, and didn't get back to Prince Albert between the two events.

"I think everything went really well, considering I hadn't got time to go home," she said. "I was pretty tired. Yeah, I am really happy with how everything went."

Hetherton heads to the Canada Games in mid-August. She plans to compete in the triple jump and the high jump, and possibly the long jump, depending on whether Brianne Theisen takes part.