Put a challenge in front of Erika Lealess and she’s bound to meet or exceed it.
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For a 16-year-old track athlete, that’s exceptional – with an exceptional future in front of her.
The West Perth resident and Grade 11 student at St. Michael Catholic secondary school in Stratford captured two gold medals in two events, the senior girls 400 metres and the 400-metre hurdles, at the 2023 Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) track and and field championships in Ottawa June 8-10.
Lealess, the daughter of Perry and Kendra Lealess of Line 24 in Hibbert Ward, set personal best times in both events, but what is even more astounding is that she won provincial gold in the 400-metre hurdles after just six competitive races.
She’s just getting started, in other words.
Mark Dewan, the track and field coach at St. Mike’s, raved about Lealess’s professionalism, maturity and discipline for such a young athlete.
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“Isn’t there an expression about chess and checkers? It might be a little cliché, but she was playing chess while everyone else played checkers,” Dewan said after her double gold performance.
“She had a race plan in place for each of her races, and she executed them even under stress. In her 400 heat, the plan was for her to cruise the first 250 metres and then push at 150 to go. There were two girls ahead of her heading into the 250. She didn’t panic and waited until the 150 mark to push, and ended up winning her heat by over a second.
“The same in the 400-metre hurdles, there was a girl just ahead of her with 100 metres to go – no panicking, just execution of her race plan, and she won that race by over one second as well,” he continued.
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Lealess couldn’t explain why she decided to try the hurdles at the start of this high school season, only acknowledging that it was something she’d like to try as she continues to improve in the 400-metre event itself.
“It’s something I always put off,” she said simply, before adding “I don’t exactly know what made me decide to move over to hurdles but … I think it’s just something to give it a shot at before I moved clubs or made a bigger decision.”
It was a challenge, in other words, and she’s quickly met it. She joined a hurdling group out of London after getting her times down for the 400-metre race and, after practising and learning the technique, has flourished.
Lealess ran a time of 1:00.62 in the hurdles June 10, a day after winning the 400-metre gold. The time beat her personal best by almost two seconds, ranks her as the top under-18 hurdler in Canada, not to mention ninth in the open rankings, as well as 16th in the world.
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“Running and walking is something that comes naturally to people, but there’s a lot of form and technique to hurdling,” she said when explaining what she’s enjoyed most about the transition. “It takes practice and it puts you in a very vulnerable position when you’re not immediately getting the hang of something.”
Earlier this year during the indoor track and field season, Lealess set a new Canadian meet record by two seconds in winning the 400 metres in the U18 division. Her time of 54.38 in the 400 metres at OFSAA June 9 was a personal best and cemented her ranking as the number-one under-18 400-metre runner in Canada. Right now, she also ranks 18th in the world.
So to sum up, that’s two top rankings in the country in two different events that also ranks her in the top 20 in the world.
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The summer season awaits, and Lealess says the steady parade of meets across the continent – she’s competing in one in Pennsylvania June 15-18 – allows her to remain in top form.
“At this point, you could typically say someone is peaking. After having meets every week or every other week makes someone improve faster, I think,” she said. “Even in the winter season, at the start I was at a different place then I was at the end after nationals in New Brunswick.”
After her first taste of competing in the hurdles, she’s noticed there are few girls doing both, another feather in her cap.
“There typically is a divide in the people that do those events,” she said. “It does make it more special, honestly. It’s not the same people so it’s nice. I don’t know that many girls that hurdle yet.”
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Learning how to properly jump over hurdles is something she’s focused on, and to come this far so quickly is amazing, Dewan noted.
“She has so much potential in both events and since this was only her sixth ever 400-metre hurdle race, I’m looking forward what she can do with more experience,” he said.
Lealess agreed.
“The 400 is something I’ve been working on for a long time. Not that I don’t have that focus on the hurdles, but I haven’t been able to set the pace for where I’d want to be at, learning how to run the race because the 400’s a really strategic race, so just figuring that out and the more time I have with it,” she said.
As Dewan also noted, “I have a feeling there will be many chapters. This girl is heading places!”