When you come into a sporting event as the nine-time defending champion, it's difficult to distinguish yourself from those who won before you, but the Westwood Vikings did just that at the Knights of Columbus indoor elementary school track meet on April 20, capturing the school's 10th straight overall championship as well as dominating the event and age group results.

The Vikings nearly doubled the point total of the runner-up Deerwood Dragons, who were also second at last year's event, racking up 289 compared to 148 for the Dragons. The Riverside Rams took third place with 126 points, followed by the Burntwood Bobcats with 82 points, the Juniper Jaguars with 45, Wapanohk Wolves with 13 and La Voie du Nord, of the Franco-manitoban School Division, with two points, which they picked up in the 4x100 metre relay, the last event category completed in the finals.

In addition to winning the overall championship, Westwood claimed the trophies for the eight-year-old, nine-year-old and 10- to 12-year-old age groups as well as having the most points in each of the seven event categories - shot put, high jump, 1,000 metres, 50-metre dash, 300 metres, co-ed relay and the 4x100-metre relay.

Deerwood came from third position to finish in second spot with a strong performance in the 4x100-metre relays, picking up 56 points, second only to Westwood's 72, to erase a six-point deficit and surge past Riverside, which was fourth in the 4x100-metre relay event with 28 points, 10 back of Burntwood.

Wapanohk picked up 11 points in the high jump and two more in the 4x100-metre relays.

The schools finished in precisely the same order as last year, though Westwood picked up 29 more points than in 2011, mostly at the expense of Deerwood, which collected 56 points less than last year. Riverside was down 12 from last year, while Burntwood, Juniper, La Voie du Nord and Wapanohk all increased their totals from last year. The Bobcats and Jaguars both increased their totals by 18, while the Wolves gained three and La Voie du Nord one.