Cochrane High School Cobras track-and-field coach Esther Sieben has been inducted into the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association (ASAA) Hall of Fame as an athlete.
The Ecole Mallaig Community School Class of ’89 grad still holds the provincial high-school senior girl’s long-jump record of 5.80 metres, a record intact for 25 years.
She was named to the ASAA Hall of Fame at a May 8 induction ceremony.
“I was humbled,” Sieben said as she monitored her Cobras track athletes at the ASAA South Central Zone junior meet June 3 in Calgary.
And she’s surprised her record hasn’t fallen, but understands it’s all about what any athlete can bring on the day of competition.
“Every year I’m standing there at provincials and I’m waiting for the day where they ask me to hand out the medal to the senior girl’s long-jump champion and it’s breaking a record. I’m always waiting for that record to be broken.
“What’s amazing about those ASAA records is it doesn’t matter what you jump a week before or a week after. You have to do it on that day. Rain, shine, snow sleet. You have to jump 5.80. I remember. It was a yucky day that I jumped 5.80.”
She won three gold medals and a silver at the 1989 provincial championships, going on to a distinguished track career at the collegiate and national-team levels through the 1990s.
