Adrian Heller
Track and field
Long sprinter Adrian Heller helped Queen’s to a fourth place finish in the men’s 4×400-metre relay at the CIS Track and Field Championships held at the University of Windsor Mar. 12 to 14. He was also part of the men’s 4×200-metre relay team, which placed eighth overall.
Now completing his third year on the team, Heller said he knew he had a future on the track since elementary school.
“I’ve been doing it since about grade two,” he said. “Whenever I played another sport, my speed was kind of my best attribute so it was just the logical sport to go into. I really like the fact that the work that you put in is really the amount you get out.” Heller has competed at the top level in every age group throughout his development; he represented his high school at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships while training with the University of Toronto track club and has competed overseas as well as at the Junior Nationals.
Heller said it was almost by chance that he picked to specialize in low-to middle-distance races.
“I started out doing sprints and sprint hurdles,” he said. “In high school my coach thought that I would be well suited to trying out 300-metre hurdles and 400-metre hurdles, so while my training focused on the shorter stuff, I tried running that a little bit. Eventually, I realized that my skill set was better suited for [longer distances].”
Once on the track, Heller was quick to point out that the mental aspect of the sport is just as great as the physical work put in.
“One of my bigger strengths is that mentally, I know that I want to win the race as badly, if not more so, than anybody else on the track,” he said. “I really try not to take any runner I’m against for granted and I make sure that every time I get out on the track is a better race than the time before.”
Track and field head coach Melody Torcolacci agreed with Heller’s self-assessment and described him as having a strong work ethic and lots of positive energy.
“He has worked extremely hard,” she said. “He’s improved significantly from his rookie season because of his work ethic and he’s a natural leader. He gets guys up and going and has got the guys working hard together as a group. He is a key driving force out there.”
Torcolacci said Heller is a great addition to the team off the track as well.
“He’s got respect through the team,” she said. “He gives them his time too. I know he’s helped a couple of first-year athletes in different subjects. He’s what you’d want for a teammate.” With the relay team remaining largely intact, Torcolacci said the future is bright for Heller as he continues his career with the Gaels.
“He’s a very intense competitor, very focused. If he keeps working the way he has the last few years, I can see next year him being even better.”
—Anand Srivastava
Jan Stirling
Track and field
The 2009 CIS Track and Field Championships concluded last week at the University of Windsor and long sprinter Jan Stirling returned home with three top-10 finishes. Stirling, a former All-Canadian athlete, finished eighth in both the women’s 4×400- and 4×200-metre relays and also placed 10th in the individual 300-metre category.
Head coach Melody Torcolacci praised Stirling’s combination of skill and determination leading to her strong finishes.
“She is so talented, first and foremost,” she said. “She’s one of the best people out there. She’s very intense and very focused and she lays it on the line. She gives what she has to give.”
Torcolacci said Stirling, now concluding her fourth year, has enjoyed great success with the Gaels, despite missing the last two seasons.
“Jan’s been two years away from track,” Torcolacci said. “She’s on our all time top-10 performances list 20 separate times, I think that will tell you what type of athlete she is. I think just having back-to-back seasons, she’s going to be incredible next year.”
Stirling began running with her high school and has not looked back since.
“I’m from Nova Scotia and I competed on some provincial teams there,” Stirling said. “Then when I came to Queen’s, I started running in my first year.”
Stirling, who was named team captain this year, said the team camaraderie has created a positive environment for everyone to improve in.
“The team here at Queen’s is great,” she said. “There’s good coaching and a lot of really great athletes, all good people with great personalities. I really enjoy coming out to practice and pushing myself physically but also enjoy the social aspect of it, being with the team and having a group of people always there to you.” Stirling said her ion for the sport stems from the satisfaction that comes from seeing your preparation reflected in your results.
“It’s definitely a lot of hard work,” she said. “Your progression is something you can see training early on, so I like that you see yourself making improvements and you can feel your body getting fitter. You can make personal bests, you can improve and a lot of the time your hard work does pay off.” Stirling was pleased with her team’s performance in Windsor and said the experience gained at the meet would be key moving forward into next season.
“We did really well,” she said. “We came in and placed just a little bit higher than what we came in ranked. Fortunately the whole team for the girls’ relay is coming back next year so we’re really excited about getting this experience. People will have been there and been in a high performance competition.
“Next year we’ll set goals and we’ll know what we can do and are capable of doing. We know we can compete with them.”
—Anand Srivastava
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