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The Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-06-01, Page 22 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, June 1, 2016 Jordyn Stutzman MG 300mH 154 Mitch Deans JB LJ 134 Justin McKague SB 4x100126 Brittany Walden to Karissa Schiestel SG 4x100108 Submitted Mitch Ward SB SP 205 Taylor Montgomery JG SP 181 FE Madill athletes compete at WOSSAA track and field meet Maureen Lisle Contributor The WOSSAA track and field championships were held at the TD Waterhouse Stadium at University of Western Ontario in London. In the two-day meet, ath- letes from Huron Perth, Tri County and Thames Valley schools vied for top positions in each event in order to qualify for OFSSA West Regionals to be held at Jacob Hespeler SS in Cam- bridge May 27-28. To qualify for regionals, athletes had to rank in the top five in their events. Often the high school athletes experience notori- ously cold wet weather at WOSSAA but this year there were both sun and warm temperatures. This proved beneficial to athletes in achieving some of their best performances this season. From Huron Perth, the Madill team qualified 31 ath- letes to compete at WOSSAA. True to form, the team per- formed above expectations earning 28 'personal bests: There were 24 top 8 finishes. Ten athletes advanced to OFSAA West Regionals in 13 events, including one relay. OFSAA Regional qualifiers were as follows: Midget Division: Jordyn Stutzman-80m hurdles, Aus- tin Eadie -long jump, triple jump. Junior Division: Jessica Johnston -80m hurdles, 300m hurdles, Taylor Mont- gomery -shot put, discus. 4X100m relay team (Yasmin Eddijli, Jessica Johnston, Emma Metcalfe, Lexi Smith) Mitch Deans -long jump, tri- ple jump. Senior Boys Division: Ben Newell -discus, javelin, Justin McKague-high jump. OFSAA West Regionals is a highly competitive meet. Athletes from CWOSSA, WOSSAA and SWOSSA vie for the honour of advancing to the provincial champion- ships (OFSAA) to be held in Windsor the following week- end. eekend. Only the top four posi- tions in each event advance. OFSAA West Regionals are notorious for the challenging level of competition. Usually athletes who place well at West Regionals also place very well at OFSAA. Alice Munro Festival of the Short Story to take place June 2-5 Laura Broadley Goderich Signal Star The Alice Munro Festival of the Short Story will once again take people through workshops, readings, author panels and lectures from June 2-5, 2016. The festival will start off big with one of Canada's most renowned authors, Margaret Atwood, who will be reading a selection from her short story collection, Stone Mattress: Nine Wicked Tales. Atwood will be joined by award-winning author Meri- lyn Simonds to discuss Atwood's work, and other subjects in an informal con- versation, which will be fol- lowed by a book signing. The reading starts at 7:30 p.m. and the signing starts at 9 p.m. on June 2 at the Blyth Festival. Tickets are $25. Simonds is no stranger to The Alice Munro Festival of the Short Story. In the fall of 2014 she was hired on as a consultant to give advice on how to revitalize the festival. The work resulted in a 157 page report that gave sugges- tions to reinvigorate the festival. Simonds' proof of exper- tise comes in the form of a small writers' festival in Kingston, Ont., which she helped turn into one of the most successful in Canada. "I've been there, I know what it takes," Simonds said. "I just thought that the Alice Munro Festival had so much potential." Short stories are an impor- tant medium for emerging writers, and festivals cele- brating them are almost non-existent, Simonds said. "It's not a lesser genre. It's very difficult technically, but it feels manageable for new writers," she said. The short story is not just a proverbial stepping stone to the novel, Simonds said. Simonds is also well - versed in the work of Alice Munro, which makes her even more qualified. Simonds grew up in southwestern Ontario, and started reading Munro's work from the beginning. During that time there weren't very many Canadian writers that were women. "It was a tremendous encouragement for me as a writer," Simonds said. Again in the fall of 2014, Simonds was asked to sub- mit an essay for the Cam- bridge Companion to Alice Munro, which just came out in March 2016. It is a thor- ough introduction to the writings of Munro. Simonds re -read all of Munro's work, in order, in preparation for writing the essay. "It was really, really, a pro- found experience," Simonds said. Simonds will be partici- pating in an author panel with fellow contributor Eliz- abeth Hay on June 4 from 9 - 10:30 a.m. at the North Huron Museum in Wingham. Hay is the author of nine books, including a collection of short stories. She won the Giller Prize in 2007 for her novel, Late Nights on Air. Hay has been an avid reader of Munro since her early 20s. "I don't know Munro personally, I know her as a reader knows an author she admires with a passion," Hay said in an email. "In fact, it's more accurate to say I'm a re -reader of Alice Munro, since I return to her stories over and over again." The festival being in Mun- ro's hometown of Wingham brings an extra bit of excite- ment for Hay. "I'm most looking forward to being literally in the part of the world that produced Alice Munro," she said. The complete program and tickets for the 2016 Alice Munro Festival of the Short Story can be found online at www. alicemunrofestival. ca.