Hockey player Lincoln Kvill scored a hat trick of another sort at the Northwest district high school track and field meet at home in Lloydminster.
Read more: Northwest athletes stand out at district track meet in Lloydminster
Kvill, a Grade 10 student at Lloydminster Comprehensive High School, won all three of his junior boys’ events to punch his ticket in resounding fashion to the Saskatchewan provincials this Friday and Saturday at Saskatoon.
Last week on the Lloyd Comp track and field grounds, Kvill was golden in not only his traditionally strong field events — long jump and triple jump — but also in javelin.
He did his homework before the meet but still surprised himself with his javelin victory.
“Yeah, I probably practised that one more than all of them,” said Kvill, whose winning javelin throw was 47.61 metres. “My first three (throws) were not great, but then I pulled one out in the last three.”
With the perfect combination of strength, timing and speed, Kvill launched the javelin fortuitously with his right hand.
John MacNeil – Meridian Source
Notably, he broke his left arm with two months remaining in his hockey season with the U16 AA Lloydminster Blazers, one of the top teams in the Alberta Elite Hockey League this past winter.
“We were playing Fort McMurray and one of their big defencemen stepped up and caught my arm,” said Kvill, a 15-year-old blueliner who’s now all but fully recovered from that season-ending injury.
“It’s just got a little bit of stiffness to it, but it’s fine now.”
A nimble Kvill fielded a golden performance in Lloyd as 480 athletes gathered for the two-day district meet. He won his age division’s long jump with a 5.57-metre leap and the triple jump with a 11.54-metre distance.
“In triple jump, me and this one guy (Edam’s Bryar Carr) were kind of hand in hand for most of it,” Kvill said. “Then, I just jumped way further after and took a lead there.”
Part of a strong contingent from H. Hardcastle School in Edam, Carr placed second to Kvill in three events — triple jump (11.35m), long jump (5.09m) and javelin (41.52m) — and was runner-up to Lloyd Comp’s Bennett Amos in a tight 400-metre race (Amos, 58.53 seconds; Carr, 58.73 seconds).
At last year’s Saskatchewan provincials in Moose Jaw, Carr earned the silver medal in the intermediate boys’ javelin, and Kvill secured the bronze.
Now, they’re teammates again as part of the 25-member Northwest contingent bound for provincials at Gordie Howe Sports Park in Saskatoon.
Kvill and his contemporaries go into the provincial meet with confidence on their side, after gaining valuable experience competing in last year’s SHSAA championships.
“I’m just hoping to get as high of a placement as I can there,” he said.
It helps that the 2026 provincial meet is relatively close to home, compared to last year’s host city.
Weather-wise, this week has been generally wet, but the forecast for Saskatoon is 28 C and sunny on Friday, and 24 C and rainy on Saturday. (Two of Kvill’s three events are scheduled for Friday).
Last week in Lloydminster, temperatures were pushing 30 C, with slight winds providing a bit of a reprieve.
“I feel like the heat wears you down a bit, before everything, especially if you stay out there,” said Kvill, now almost six feet and 160 pounds.
He countered the heat by spending as much time as possible in the shade near the bleachers, drinking ample water and making sure he didn’t eat heavy foods. “It was, like, two snacks throughout the day.”
GRAYDON GOING TO CALGARY
Kvill’s athletic family includes older brother Graydon, a Grade 11 student at Holy Rosary High School and a defenceman with the U18 AAA Lloydminster Lancers.
Just like last year, both Kvill boys are headed to their respective provincial track and field championships.
After a couple of podium finishes at last week’s zone meet in Bonnyville, Graydon has qualified for this weekend’s School Sport Alberta provincials in Calgary. On the ice, he’s coming off a solid rookie season manning the U18 AAA Lancers’ blueline.
Lincoln also hopes to continue to climb the hockey ladder. He made gains this year with the U16 AA Blazers.
“I definitely got a lot better and gained a lot more confidence,” he said.
The captain of that Blazers hockey team, Lloyd Comp football quarterback Joseph Kelly, continues to excel in track and field as well. Kelly posted a record-setting performance in the junior boys’ quadrathlon. He won the multi-faceted competition, with gold-medal finishes in his 100-metre and 800-metre races and the long jump, and a silver-medal showing in the shot put behind Grady Andersen of Carpenter High School in Meadow Lake.
“He was very happy with his results,” Kvill said about his buddy Kelly, also a standout last year while competing in the intermediate boys’ quadrathlon.
Kvill also tipped his hat to Lloyd Comp senior Kyle Graf, a quadruple-medallist who accumulated 34 points. “His speed (is noticeable) and he’s a strong guy, too.”
Read more: Lloydminster Youth Council celebrates a decade of inspiring future leaders
