Former NACI athlete succeeding at U of M
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- Published on Friday, June 26, 2015
Daniel Heschuk (Submitted photo)
By Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Banner
A former member of the Neepawa and Area Collegiate track and field team is starting to make his mark on the sport.
Daniel Heschuk, who is part of the University of Manitoba Bison’s Cross Country and Track and Field team, has qualified for the Western Canada Summer Games. The 19-year-old would earn his spot on the provincial squad by running a new personal best in the 5000 metre on Wednesday, June 17. Heschuk would then cap off the week by finishing third overall in the half marathon at the Manitoba Marathon on Sunday, June 21 in Winnipeg. He completed the event with a time of 1 hour, 12 minutes and 31.4 seconds.
After competing for the NACI track team for four years, Heschuk moved on to the University of Manitoba in 2014. He said running at the post-secondary level has been a tremendous opportunity and that this recent success has been a culmination of the past years’ effort.
“It’s just been incredible being a part of the U of M team and challenging myself against these high calibre athletes. I’ve been able to make improvements to my times for all my specialities,” said Heschuk.
“As for the 5000 [metre event], it was an event I have not really focused on before, so to succeed like this and make it to the Western Canada Summer Games is fantastic.”
Daniel’s former coach at NACI, Bryce Koscielny said that it’s great to see the amount of success Heschuk has been able to recently achieve.
“It’s unbelievable to see his progress. Daniel has really improved his conditioning and technique and it’s really coming through right now,” said Koscielny. “He always trained hard when he was here in Neepawa running for the Tigers and improved year over year. Now at the University of Manitoba, he’s really coming into his own.”
The Western Canada Summer Games will take place in August in Wood Buffalo, Alberta. Heschuk said his preparations for that competition are already well underway.
“With the training for the games, my coach and I are tweaking things a little bit. It’s important to make those types of adjustments because I’m still relatively new to running the 5000 metre event. When it comes to competitive running, a longer distance takes a completely different mindset than other events,” noted Heschuk. “I think it’s going to be very exciting to be able to compete against some of the best athletes from across western Canada at these games. When you’re up against that type of talent, you really have to bring the best version of yourself to it. Win or lose, I’m really am looking forward to hitting a new standard.”
