Athlete of the week: Gabby Arsenault

Gabby Arsenault is an avid athlete in a variety of sports, but one of her favourites is Track and Field.

The grade 11 student at Huntsville High School (HHS) has been involved in track since Grade 1.

“Every year I looked forward to competing with my friends,” she says. “As I got older I started focusing on sprinting and it has now become one of my favourite sports.”

Catherine Smith, the HHS track and field coordinator, describes Gabby as an amazing sprinter. “She has lots and lots of fast twitch muscles and also has the competitive drive necessary for this fiercely competitive sport.”

Track and field allows Gabby to compete and to push herself to see if I she can beat her previous run times every year. ”I just set a new personal best for the 100m which is now 12.87 seconds. My goal now is to push and beat this time when I compete again next year,” she says.

This season, Gabby competed in the regional GBSSA (Georgian Bay Secondary Schools Association) races and placed second, by a hair, in the 100m as well as in the 200m race. “Her races at GBSSA were breathtaking,” says Smith.

Gabby qualified for the Central Regionals for the 100m and 200m races bringing home a fifth in the 100m and an eighth place in the 200m. She didn’t qualify to move on to the finals at the OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations) but she will begin her training for next year!

Gabby has been recognized by the athletic program at Huntsville High School and has received the award for the Most Outstanding Player for the last two years.

Gabby says her most memorable moment so far was attending OFSAA in 2017. “I qualified for OFSAA in fourth place with a photo finish in the 200-metre race. I then went to participate at OFSAA which was an amazing experience. I placed nineteenth in Ontario.”

And she gave a shout-out to her coaches: “Our high school track team has amazing coaches who push us in practice every day. Stephanie Parry was my coach for sprinting and Pierre Mikhail was my coach for endurance and fitness. Catherine Smith kept everything organized and made sure everyone was signed up for races and had enough practices. I’m very thankful for having such amazing coaches who keep the program organized and keep their athletes in top shape.”

Gabby is also actively involved in basketball as her other passion. Running track helps her with her endurance. “My speed helps me be a great point guard and keeps me on my toes while playing defense. I’m always up to racing another player down the court.”

Good luck with your future athletics, Gabby!

To read about Doppler’s previous Athletes of the Week, click here.

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