Hucul, Blackwell part of stacked S’toon Sports Hall of Fame class

Jenni Hucul, right, shakes hands with 2024 Hall of Fame class members. 

Jenni Hucul was once the fastest 14-year-old girl in the world.

Actually, she still holds the record for the fastest 50-metres ever run by a 14-year-old girl at 6.38 seconds set indoors back on February 8, 2003. In Saskatchewan’s track and field scene, Hucul has folk hero status with the numerous junior high school and high school records she still holds.

The 100-metre and 200-metre dashes were her specialty. She went to the World Youth Championships in 2003 in Sherbrooke, Que., and the World Juniors in 2006 in Beijing, China.

In June of 2005 late in her Grade 11 school year at Bishop James Mahoney High School, Hucul tore her Achilles tendon near her left heel. She came back to the sport but was no longer the phenom record setter that she was before her injury.

She continued with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Track and Field Team for a season winning bronze in sprint hurdles in 2007. She switched over to bobsleigh for a season becoming a member of Bobsleigh Canada’s program in 2007-08.

In bobsleigh, Hucul finishes third in the two-person event with Alberta’s Lisa Szabon in nationals at Canada Olympic Park in October of 2007. She won silver in the mixed bobsleight-skeleton team event at the 2008 FIBT World Championships in Altenberg, Germany, in February of that year.

On Thursday during a news conference at the Gordie Howe Sports Centre building on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds, Hucul, who is now 36-years-old, was announced as one of the athlete inductees for the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame’s 2024 class. The official induction dinner will take place on November 2 at Prairieland Park.

“It is kind of like that after sport dream come true, because in sport, you want to go to the Olympics,” said Hucul. “After sport, it is just amazing to feel recognized after 20 years.

“I’m no spring chicken anymore. It is amazing just to feel like my name is still present, and I can still make some more accomplishments.”

Jenni Hucul broke numerous records in her track and field career.

Hucul has times she wishes she could go back in time to be a kid again running races and setting records. She remembers those days being a tonne of fun, and she enjoyed getting to see her friends every day.

When it comes the Achilles injury she dealt with, Hucul has times she things about the “what ifs” had that injury never happened. With that noted, she is a peace with how her track and field career went.

“The story is what the story was,” said Hucul, who stands 5-foot-9. “If it didn’t happen the way it did, it just wouldn’t have been.

“I think that is part of it is, yeah, I would have loved to go to the Olympics. I would have loved to have competed into my late 20s or early 30s. That is just unfortunately not what my story was.

“I still really appreciate all the fun opportunities I got, when I got them when I was healthy. It is always in the back of your head where you are like, ‘Ah, Olympics would have been cool.’ A lot of things would have been cool.”

These days, Hucul still does coaching with an inner city track and field program at the Saskatoon Field House. She enjoys cheering on and seeing others from Saskatoon like Michelle Harrison, who has won three straight Canadian 100-metre women’s hurdles titles, excel and go further than she did in the sport.

Hucul hears on a frequent basis that she is still remembered. One of her friends who coaches in the sport said all her athletes knew who Hucul was, and it was cool seeing all the records she still has and how fast she was.

“I think I find it surreal, because again when I was doing it, it was just fun,” said Hucul. “It wasn’t for me being like, ‘I’m going to be the fastest in the world, and I am going to be the best.’

“It was, ‘I’m going to go, and I’m going to have fun and hey, I am really good at this and this is really fun and I am doing well and let’s keep doing it.’ It is kind of fun for like the kids like my sister’s kids. They are like, ‘Auntie you have a record.’

“I’m like, ‘Yes. You have a cool auntie’ when I am not. It is OK. I like to think I am cool.”

Dione (Meier) Blackwell with the Carnduff Southeast Steelers in 2022.

Joining Hucul as part of the 2024 class is one of the best softball pitchers Saskatoon has ever produced in Dione (Meier) Blackwell. She was a member of provincial championship teams in bantam, midget and junior.

Blackwell developed a stellar rise ball pitch, and she would become a member of Canada’s Senior National Women’s Softball Team. She was a relief pitcher for Canada in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

Blackwell said it was an honour to named to the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame. She was excited to be part of the class that sees the DBJ Leasing Senior Women’s Softball Team from 2000 that won a Canadian Championship enter the Hall in the team category as well.

“The coolest thing is getting inducted with DBJ (Leasing), because when I was a teenager, that was the team that I started facing that kind of changed my outlook on the sport,” said Blackwell. “Stacey (Thomson) was there.

“Jacki (Nichol) was there. They talked about Carla (Agarand). They showed me so much by playing against them and kind of the potential that was ahead.

“They kind of brought along us younger girls and paved the way for us as well. It is just cool. It is a full circle experience.”

Blackwell said the most memorable moment of her career was getting to go to the Olympics in 2008.

“Obviously going to the 2008 Olympics, it still feels pretty surreal,” said Blackwell, who stands 5-foot-6. “It is kind of like you finally made it.

Dione (Meier) Blackwell, left, shakes hands with Stan Holcomb.

“It is all your hopes and dreams as a kid watching the Olympics on TV. It is kind of when everything comes together and is something I’ll hold on to forever.”

Blackwell is proud to be part of the storied softball history in Saskatoon. At age 42, she still gets into games here and there. She helps out with coaching when she can, but add she is having fun coaching her nine-year-old son in baseball in the current day.

Along with coaching, Blackwell enjoys seeing the young generation of pitchers that have trained in Saskatoon go on and have success like Jorde Chartrand and Emma Frisky. Chartrand just finished her junior season with the University of North Carolina Greensboro Spartans in the NCAA Division I ranks. 

Frisky got to play for Canada’s under-18 Women’s National Team that played at the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation Americans Pan Am Championship this past March 30 to April 6 in Monteria, Colombia.

“It is cool, and I’m so proud of the community that we can keep producing those girls that do well provincially, nationally and even internationally,” said Blackwell. “They’re working hard, and they’re putting in the work.

“If I can just teach them one little thing that might help them in any moment in their career, it is amazing.”

Also heading to the Hall in the athletes category are Elan Ballantyne and Stan Holcomb for their exploits in multiple sports.

The three builders in the 2024 class include Ron Boden in athletics, Todd Hinds in wrestling and Brenda O’Connor in both soccer and athletics. The Lee Morrison Curling Rink from 2009 that won the Canadian masters 60 and older national championship are heading to the Hall in the team category.

Members of the 2024 class for the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame.

The Saskatoon Valkyries Women’s Football Team was named the Sports Organization of the Year.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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