By Darren
Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex
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| Kendra Farmer does a practice run at the Track and Field Track. |
The 23-year-old Saskatoon product is embarking on her final
season of U Sports eligibility with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies
Women’s Track and Field Team. After graduating from Centennial Collegiate in
June of 2017, Farmer, who is a sprints specialist, joined the Huskies in the
fall of that year and has been with that program ever since.
During the spring and summer months, Farmer is a regular at
the Track and Field Track on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds training
and racing as a competitor and coaching young athletes with the Running Wild
Athletics Club.
“I feel like every year I’ve kind of went in just really
like always looking like performance wise for myself,” said Farmer. “I think
this year obviously I would love to improve on my performances from last year.
“I think I am just really like going in and just like
excited to and ready to just like embrace the experience fully. I think I am
just like planning on just like taking it all in (and) hopefully passing on the
love and the spirit to all the new rookies and the rest of the athletes on the
team to move on forward with the Huskies spirit. Honestly, it is weird for
sure.
“I thankfully have had my time to accept that this will be
my last year.”
Last season with the Huskies, Farmer won silver in the
women’s 300-metre race and gold in the women’s 4 X 200-metre and 4 X 400-metre
relays at the Canada West championships. She helped the Huskies capture a
fourth consecutive Canada West team title.
Farmer ran the 300-metre final at the Canada West
championships in a time of 38.32 seconds, which was a new record for the
Huskies women’s team. The old mark of 38.44 seconds was posted by Joanne McTaggart
back in 1975.
Farmer said that record and the fact the Huskies women’s
team has won the Canada West title in her previous four seasons of eligibility
are her biggest highlights with the program.
“Breaking the Huskie record last year in 300-metre (race)
was a huge goal for me kind of honestly since I started Huskies,” said Farmer,
who stand 5-foot-5. “That was a really big personal accomplishment.
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| Kendra Farmer takes flight at the Canada Summer Games Trials. |
At the U Sports championships, Farmer took home silver
medals in the women’s 4 X 200-metre and 4 X 400-metre relays. She helped the
Huskies team finish second overall.
Farmer was also named the winner of the outstanding
Student-Athlete Community Service Award at both the Canada West and U Sports
championships. She has also been a U Sports academic all-Canadian for the past
five straight campaigns including the 2020-21 campaign where all U Sports
nationals were cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has
gripped the world and athletes still pursued their studies.
This season, Farmer will get to go out with a couple of
special opportunities to go along with taking part in the Sanderson Classic to
be held at the Saskatoon Fieldhouse on January 13 and 14, 2023. The Huskies
will host the Canada West Championships on February 24 and 25, 2023 and the U
Sports Championships on March 9 to 11, 2023 at the Saskatoon Fieldhouse.
The Huskies last hosted the U Sports Championships way back
in the 2005-06 campaign. Farmer will get to graduate from the Huskies with her
last two big meets to be held at home.
“It is pretty cool,” said Farmer, who studies in the engineering
program at U of S. “It will be really fun ending it in front of a home crowd.
“It will be a little more nerve-racking, because I have all
of the family and friends here. That is also awesome, because there is more
support. We’ll have all of the cheers and the big crowd too.
“It is a pretty cool way to end my career. I’m excited about
that. That will be sweet.”
Jason Reindl, who is the head coach of both the U of
Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Teams, found it hard to
put into words what it has meant to have Farmer as part of the women’s team.
Reindl became the Huskies head coach in June of 2017, and he said Farmer has
been key creating a great vibe and culture for the program.
“I cannot put the amount of positives into words,” said Reindl. “She was one of the first main recruits when I took over in the summer of 2017 that was coming into the program.
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| Kendra Farmer, second from left, was Huskies rookie of the year in 2017-18. |
Reindl is happy he gets to coach Farmer with the Huskies for
one more season and that she will have two special opportunities in her final
season with the Huskies hosting conference and national championships.
“It is going to be a little bit of a unique year in the
sense that we are hosting both the Canada West and the U Sports championships,”
said Reindl. “For her to end her Huskies career as a fifth year of eligibility
with the two biggest meets of the year at home, it is going to be a pretty
special opportunity for her, her family, her friends and just all the
relationships she has made over these last couple of years, because everyone is
going to be able to come out and support her and the rest of the team.”
Farmer said one of the big turning points in her track and
field career was winning the Patricia Lawson Trophy Huskies Female Rookie of
the Year for the entire Huskies program in 2017-18.
“I can tell you when I got that award I was not expecting
it,” said Farmer, who also claimed the Huskies Track and Field female rookie of
the year award that is named after McTaggart. “That was a really exciting
experience for me.
“I think that was really good, because it kind of solidified
me as actually a Huskie that can go on and do things. I had expectations for
myself, but I didn’t really know how far I would be able to go. I think getting
that award really kind of helped step up my goals a bit.
“After that kind of first year, it was when I really kind of
started eyeing down those records that Huskie 300-metre record and getting some
of the higher-level awards, which I guess would be a goal for me this year as
well. That was a big kind of moment for me just in terms of like, ‘OK. I’m
actually not bad at this sport. I can go places.’ That was exciting.”
Going into her final season with the Huskies, Farmer had
some highlights during the outdoor season. At the Track and Field Track on the
Complex grounds, Farmer won gold in the women’s 200-metre at the Canada Summer
Games Trials on June 12 and the Bob Adam’s Saskatchewan Track and Field
Championships. She also captured a silver in the women’s 400-metre at the
Summer Games Trials on June 11.
At the Canada Summer Games held in the Niagara Region of Ontario, Farmer helped Saskatchewan win a bronze medal in the women’s 4 X 100-metre relay on August 19.
Farmer wants to help the Huskies win a fifth Canada West team championship this season.
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| Kendra Farmer helps coach with the Running Wild Athletics Club. |
“I don’t think I’m quite ready to give up on this sport
yet,” said Farmer, who is a member of the Central Urban Metis Federation
Incorporated. “I think I’ll definitely hang around for a little while.
“I love this community and just what track has done for me
over the years and who it has all connected me with. I definitely want to keep
going. I’ll for sure have another outdoor season after Huskies this year.
“I’m going to keep going kind of until I reach my limit. I
know I’m not ready to go until I kind of reach that top point where I feel like
I’ve gotten to the point where I can. I’d love obviously to make a national
team at some point.”
