Thorold athlete Gates MacPherson took home the gold at the 2023 NCAA Commonwealth Coast Conference Track & Field Championship, which took place at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts last weekend.
MacPherson is part of the Endicott College Women's team which dominated the competition across several events, winning the conference title with a total of 166 points.
"This is really an honour for all of us to be in this position," MacPherson tells ThoroldToday. "We worked really hard these last few years and it's really exciting to see it all pay off and have it come forward in our results. We're all just feeling a lot of gratitude for being in this place and having all the opportunities that we have."
MacPherson won her gold medals in the pole vault and discus events, where she threw eight feet further than her competitors.
"It takes a lot of dedication and hard work to perform in that kind of manner," MacPherson says. "There's a lot of trust and reliance that we have with each other that everybody is going to do their best and fulfill their role that they were supposed to play on that day."
21-year-old MacPherson started her track and field career at Thorold Secondary School, and at sixteen, she left Thorold to attend the Williston Northampton Preparatory School in Massachusetts.
After completing her high school degree, she enrolled at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Last year, MacPherson was named Female Athlete of the Year at the 2022 Thorold Runway of Recognition gala.
MacPherson says that she is very proud to represent Thorold on the field.
"Of course I always have Thorold in me," she says. "That's where I grew up and where I was raised. I really think it's exciting to have so much support. I'm really grateful that I have been able to come this far and there are still so many people that are cheering me on."
So what's next for MacPherson?
"This weekend I will competing individually at the regionals at Springfield College," she says. "This spring I am graduating from my undergraduate degree and then I'm going back again this fall for my Master in Business Administration."
