Owen Robins just keeps getting better and better results at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations track and field meet.
In Grade 9, the Grade 11 student at Port Colborne High School finished 11th in the shot put with a personal best throw and had a heart-breaking result in discus when he triple faulted. In Grade 10, he won gold in the junior boys shot put and placed fourth in the discus. This spring, he was a double gold medalist in the senior boys shot put (16.69 metres) and discus (51.38 metres).
It has been an impressive run for Robins who only started throwing in May of Grade 9. Away from high school, he won bronze at the under-18 nationals in hammer throw, his favourite event, in 2023 and placed in the top five in discus and shot put, missing a bronze medal in the latter by one centimetre. He was a three-time gold medalist at provincials last year.
“I think this past off-season really made it happen for me. We were throwing a lot. It was three or four days plus lifting three or four days a week,” he said.
The 16-year-old Port Colborne resident credits Hamilton Olympic Club coaches Sean Doucette and Holly Taylor for taking him to another level.
“I PBed (recorded a personal best) by three metres in shot put after three months of zero full throws because you can’t do it indoors. I think there is a lot more there this summer.”
Going into the high school season, the 6-foot-2, 280-pounder didn’t place any expectations on himself.
“I didn’t look at provincial rankings once this year and that was a big thing that helped me get better. My whole mindset sort of changed and it was all about how do I improve myself. Even in competition, instead of thinking the guy in first is two metres ahead, I was just thinking about cues that I took from practice and how to do better than what my last throw was.”
It all paid off at OFSAA.
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