Jeremiah Lauzon (rdnewsNOW file photo)

By rdnewsNOW staff

top honours

Lauzon, Soehn named Red Deer’s Athletes of the Year

Apr 1, 2020 | 10:34 AM

Jeremiah Lauzon and Kalena Soehn were recently selected as The City of Red Deer’s Red Deer Advocate Athletes of the Year.

Lauzon burst onto the national running scene in a huge way in 2019.

The Red Deer teen, who was born in Haiti and moved here as a child, is quickly growing into a track sensation under coaching with the Red Deer Titans Track and Field Club.

In 2019, the 19-year-old won gold at the Canadian Track and Field Championships in the under twenty 200 metre race. In June, he also ran the fastest time by any under twenty runner in Canada in the 200 metre.

Later in the year, he made the final at the U20 Pan American Games in Costa Rica and finished just off the podium in fifth. All that success earned him an invite from Athletics Canada to compete as part of the Canadian Olympic Developmental 4X100 metre relay team, a group of 11 runners vying for a chance to represent Canada at the Olympics in Tokyo.

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Lauzon also earned a scholarship to Simon Fraser University, where he is a sprinter for the only Canadian school competing at the NCAA level.

In March 2018, Lauzon was honoured as the rdnewsNOW DQ Athlete of the Month.

Soehn has made her mark over the years on the national and international scene but had one of her more memorable years in 2019.

The 20-year-old was a double medalist on home soil during the 2019 Canada Winter Games in the trampoline. In front of a large contingent of family and friends, she captured gold with a wonderful routine. One night later, Kalena combined with three other Team Alberta athletes to capture silver in the Team Mixed event.

Kalena Soehn (centre) following a gold medal win at the 2019 Canada Winter Games in Red Deer (rdnewsNOW file photo)

In addition to the success on home soil, Soehn also performed well at two other national events, winning bronze at the Elite Canada event and another bronze at the Canadian Championships in Oshawa, Ont. At the World Cup in Valladolid, Spain, she finished fourth in the double mini-trampoline.

Soehn is also a coach at Thunder Country Trampoline and Gymnastics and is currently attending post-secondary school in Calgary.