Even though she didn’t get to step onto the podium, 16-year-old Dennita Cameron still made her mark at the 2017 Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg.
As it stands, Cameron was the only athlete to represent Thompson at the largest multi-sport event for young people in the country, ranking 12th place in the female high jump event with a jump of 1.60 metres.
While Cameron admits that her performance at the Summer Games wasn’t her best, being able to clear at least 1.69 metres at previous events, she still feels pretty accomplished just making it there in the first place.
In order to qualify for the event, Cameron had to attend a number of practices and preliminary meets in Winnipeg throughout the year, all the while attending school at R.D. Parker Collegiate here in Thompson.
“For a couple months I would go almost every weekend and then have practices when there wasn’t meets in between,” she said.
However, Cameron reveals that all her hard work paid off when she was eventually selected for Team Manitoba over a lot of local athletes from Winnipeg, many of whom belonged to club teams.
But compared to previous track meets she attended, like Athletics Manitoba Age Class Championship and the Legion Nationals, Cameron said she was a little out of her element competing against athletes who were much older than her.
“Being the youngest one was pretty intimidating,” she said. “All the other girls had more experience and then they were all going into their twenties, late teens.”
Regardless of the result, Cameron’s mother Anita Crate said it was a thrill to watch her daughter compete in an event of this scale.
“It was exciting. We had family come from Alberta to watch,” she said. “But to go for some of those meets she does have to meet a standard in order to enter … so even just meeting that standard I think is a huge accomplishment for her at such a young age. I’m a proud mom, obviously.”
Looking forward, Cameron already has her mind set on the 2021 Canada Summer Games in Niagara Region, Ont. and is going to use the next four years to prepare for this national event.
“I want to do better at the next games, because I’ll still be eligible to compete,” she said. “[This means] having practices down south, competing in all those track meets, and getting better. Getting more experience.”
Team Manitoba ended up ranking sixth place overall at the 2017 Canada Summer Games with a total medal count of 42 (10 gold, 15 silver, 17 bronze)
