Delhi teen brings home silver

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A Delhi athlete has brought a silver medal home from a national competition in Nova Scotia.

Ashley Spain of Delhi attended the 2019 Royal Canadian Legion National Track & Field event at Cape Breton University. The events spanned from Aug. 9 to 11 and hosted athletes from across the country.

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Spain placed second in U18 javelin and eighth in U18 shot put.

Spain and her parents travelled to Nova Scotia a week before the competition. Ashley spent her time training for the events.

“I was training almost every single day and when Saturday came around I was just feeling really ready,” said Spain.

Her first throw of the javelin event was 43.45 metres and she remained within the 40-metre range the entire time.

“That was pretty awesome, so I ended up getting second. I brought home a silver representing Ontario.”

Shot put didn’t land Spain on the podium.

“I did a lot better than I expected going into it,” said Spain. “I ended up getting eighth, which is still Top 10 in Canada.”

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Spain has taken part in Norfolk Secondary School Athletic Association (NSSAA) and Ontario Federation of School Athletics Association (OFSAA) events, but said this was a completely different level of competition.

“It’s way above what you see around Norfolk County, you’re competing against girls that have been training for a lot longer than me,” said Spain. “It’s a whole different level. You go in there not knowing what to expect because you haven’t competed against a lot of these girls before.”

Spain’s parents started her in baseball when she was three years old.

“I’ve pretty much been throwing my whole life,” said Spain. She said the mix of that and needing to sign up for four events in her Grade 9 year of track and field was what led her into javelin and shot put.

Spain will be entering into Grade 12 at Delhi District Secondary School this September and has begun her search for a post-secondary school. She has meetings set up with multiple American schools to look at their throwing programs.

Spain had words of advice for girls just entering Grade 9 that are considering trying a new sport.

“Whatever it is that you want to try, do it, you won’t regret it,” said Spain. “I remember second guessing wanting to try javelin and then I fell in love with it. Whether you want to try volleyball, basketball, track, rugby, football, do it. You might end up falling in love and it might be something you want to do for the rest of your life.”

astaylor@postmedia.com