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.

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Huskies celebrate special season

The Huskies women's basketball team's fifth year players and coaches.

    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies athletic program had a season they will never forget.

    The 2015-16 campaign saw the Huskies capture four Canada West championships coming from men’s track and field, men’s wrestling, men’s hockey and women’s basketball. The women’s hoops team capped the campaign claiming a national championship, when they downed the Ryerson University Rams 85-71 for a Canadian Interuniversity Sport title on March 20 in Fredericton, N.B.

    On Friday, the current class of all the Huskies teams gathered together at TCU Place to celebrate their accomplishments at the Huskie Salute, where the U of S athletics program hands out its seven major team awards.

    Members of the women’s basketball team took three of the honours. Lisa Thomaidis, who is one of the best bench bosses in any sport in Canada, was named the coach of the year, guard Laura Dally was the female athlete of the year and post Dalyce Emmerson was named the all-around female athlete of the year. Wrestler Kiera Prior took home honours as the female rookie of the year.

    The men’s awards included one individual from each of the Canada West title winning teams. CJ Gavlas was named the male rookie of the year, goaltender Jordon Cooke took home honours as the male athlete of the year and Jared Olson of the track and field team was the all-around male athlete of the year.
    The trainers of the year were Lisa Rystephanuk from Huskies wrestling and Stephen Hutton from Huskies track and field.

    The team awards were a capper to a campaign that saw 17 individuals win major CIS awards or be named all-Canadians along with members of the men’s 4 X 200-metre and 4 X 400-metre relay teams, who won CIS championship gold medals. The Canada West honours on top of that were big time numerous.

    The gathering at the Huskie Salute is one of those rare opportunities where all the athletes from all U of S teams can assemble in one place. All the teams on campus are elite programs and a lot times athletes can get locked into their own world of their own sport and their studies.

    During the season, players are good at getting out to see and support their peers on other clubs, but there usually isn’t a whole lot of time to get to see each other on a social basis. With how advanced year-round training has become for elite athletes, it is likely harder and more time consuming right now to be a CIS athlete than it ever has been compared to the past.

    Before the Huskie Salute, a large number of the athletes attended the school’s athletic wall of fame reception. The University of Saskatchewan Athletic Wall of Fame inductees included athletes Andrew Spagrud from men’s basketball and Karlyn (Serby) Wells from track and field, the 1998-99 CIS champion Huskies men’s volleyball team, and builders Michael PJ Kennedy and Gil Wist. Kennedy wrote two editions of the history book on the Huskies hockey teams and Wist spent over 30 years supporting the wrestling program.

    The main message echoed by all of those inductees was how much they enjoyed their time with the Huskies and how time has gone by so fast.

    During the Huskie Salute, the fifth-year athletes that won awards told the younger athletes to enjoy their time with the teams, because it goes by too fast. In the end, the athletes, coaches and staff will remember all sorts of other memories that occurred around practices and games. Those memories are the things that always stick with you.

    While the Huskie Salute was a time to celebrate, it was also a moment of finality. What the athletes might not realize that starting now there is a chance years and even decades may pass before they see some of the of the faces they saw on Friday night again. That was the last moment the 2015-16 Huskies would be together in one place.

    Before the awards were handed out, a moment of silence was held for former Huskies men’s hockey player Cody Smuk and former wrestling coach Todd Hinds, who both passed away last June. That was a small reminder of how finite life can be.

    When an athlete looks to join a post-secondary program, they are looking for a place where they feel they can belong. The Huskies over the decades have managed to accomplish that. Their athletes were and still are making memories they will carry with themselves forever.

Catching up with Clark for the Express

    I was back in the Saskatoon Express this week with a cool cover story.

    I caught up with Saskatoon product Emily Clark, who is playing forward for Canada at the women’s world hockey championships on right now in Kamloops, B.C. At age 20, Clark is the youngest player on Canada’s senior national women’s team.

    Clark joined the Canadian team right after her University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s team fell 3-2 in overtime to the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers in a National Collegiate Athletic Association semifinal game.

    She was also once a star on the Saskatoon Stars female midget AAA team. The story on Clark can be found right here.

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