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•T he I FP • H al to n H ill s •T hu rs da y, A ug us t 8 , 2 01 3 22 15 MOUNTAINVIEW RD. N., GEORGETOWN 905-877-2296 www.georgetowntoyota.com 2013 Corolla CE $17,545 + taxes Model #BU42EM-BA Financing Available 0% up to 84 mos. OAC orolla CE Model #BU42EM-BA $18,545 - 1,000 Rebate SPORTS "Quote/unquote" 'You could say I was born to jump.'-- High jumper Sean Cate... see story below A competitive high jumper for just the past six months, local resident Sean Cate is now regarded as one of the top prospects on the Canadian track & fi eld scene follow- ing a rather dramatic entrace at an indoor meet in February. The 19-year-old former basketball star has literally improved by leaps and bounds in a sport he rediscovered after leaving quite an impression on the coaching staff of the Speed River Track & Field Club in Guelph. Frustrated by where his promising hoops career had taken him after a year at a North Carolina high school called Chris- tian Faith Center Academy, the 6-foot-5 small forward enrolled in the University of Guelph's political science program last fall and was an athlete "drifting around with- out a sport" until his father made a sug- gestion. "You're a good jumper and you did some high-jumping before. Why don't you try track," said dad Adam, a native Iranian who played on a basketball scholarship at the University of South Alabama. "You might as well give it a shot." Born and raised in Georgetown, Sean's mother Meg described him as an ener- getic toddler whose athletic exuberance sometimes overpowered his co-ordination, leading to many bruises and stitches, but happily, no serious injuries. "I was always jumping around as a kid. Those Jolly Jumpers that you put in a door- way? I lived on that," he laughed. "You could say that I was born to jump, and track seems to personify everything I enjoy doing. I just never associated it with something I'd do long term. I was good at it in Grades 7 and 8, got away from it and now I've found it again. It's a different envi- ronment than basketball for sure." Cate walked into the fi eldhouse at Guel- ph Jan. 31 and asked a couple of the Speed River coaches if they would work with him. A personal best of 5.5 metres in the long jump was decent, but nowhere close to the 7.5m mark that some of the club members were registering. Cate's 1.80m in the high jump, however, piqued their interest. With just a few prac- tices to begin building his technical form, he successfully leaped 1.85m at his fi rst in- door meet in Windsor. Then a week later, at the ironically named Last Chance Meet in Guelph, where athletes have a fi nal opportunity to qualify for provincial and national championships, Cate caused a stir by clearing 2.06m to win the competition against some experienced university competitors, putting him into the top 10 in the country. "To make 2.06 in basketball shoes was amazing and I'm glad I got it on my IPad. He turned everyone's heads at the univer- sity because of the limited amount of tech- nical background he had," said his coach at Speed River, Garth Peet. "We call him Hops. He has that natural gift of spring in his steps and if you watch him, he actually walks on his toes. Sean's a huge talent and defi nitely a name to look out for with the potential to be one of the best in the country. Being a crossover from basketball, you can see that he approaches the high jump similar to how he'd dunk the ball. High jump is like anything else, but there's a large technical process behind it and Sean is picking it up really well in practice. He could clear 2.15 tomorrow." Since the revelation at the Last Chance meet, Cate hasn't been able to match that height in competition, although he's still listed as the number one-ranked jumper among 19-year-olds in Canada. He placed eighth at the senior nationals in Moncton in June, which was won by 2012 Olym- pic bronze medalist Derek Drouin, and just missed earning a berth at the Canada Games in Quebec, placing second at the qualifi er in Windsor. Cate was deemed ineligible to earn in- ternational points for the University of Guelph's varsity team this past year, al- though he did train with the group, but will be able to compete for the Gryphons as a sophomore. In his last big meet of the summer, Cate fi nished in a tie for fi fth at the Canadian Junior Track & Field Championships in St. Therese, Que. last month. Having im- proved his personal best by .26 of a metre in less than half a year, he needs to reach 2.06m at a meet before the end of the sum- mer to qualify for Quest for Gold fund- ing from Athletics Canada, but has set his goals much higher. "The cutoff for the Olympic standard is 2.25 to 2.30 and I expect to be jumping 2.20 to 2.25 by the end of this year," said the confi dent Cate, who graduated from Toronto District Christian High School in Woodbridge last year. "Timing is everything and from what I've learned so far, being consistent is the key. Two Canadians jump more than 2.30 and they're at least 22 years old. For 2016 in Rio, I'll be about Derek (Drouin)'s age when he was in London last year. The Olympic cycle looks good for me and I should be approaching my peak for sure." Cate is enrolled at Guelph for the com- ing year, but there has been some interest from NCAA schools in the U.S. about pos- sible scholarship offers for 2014-15. The family's garage has been transformed into a gym and although the closest high-jump- ing facility is at Speed River, Peet says Cate never misses a practice and usually shows up well before his teammates. "We've already had some schools from the U.S. call and say, 'Hey, we've seen you jump. We're willing to work with you, but one more year at Guelph will help you de- velop and refi ne the talent you have with a well-respected program that's won (CIS) na- tionals three of the last fi ve years. I have no doubt that'll help me improve," Cate added. Peterborough's Travis Samuel edged out three other riders at the fi nish line to win the feature 108-km elite road race at the ninth-annual Tour de Terra Cotta held Monday afternoon. Five hundred and twenty six riders registered for one of the six races on the schedule, which included an Ontario Cy- cling Association series youth time trial. Toronto's Jamie Gilgen took top spot in the women's elite road event in another tight fi nish, beating Jennifer Stephenson at the line by three seconds. Cate 'Hops' to it By EAMONN MAHER Staff Writer Local resident Sean Cate's re-intro- duction to high jumping has turned some heads in the national track & fi eld community in just a few short months. Submitted photo Monday's Tour de Terra Cotta drew 526 riders. Photo by John Bachmann Samuel wins Tour