High school athletes from Nanaimo and Lantzville won Vancouver Island track and field championships, and many of them will now get to go on to provincials.
The Vancouver Island High School Track and Field Championships were held Tuesday and Wednesday, May 20-21, at Victoria's Centennial Stadium.
Seven local athletes won Island titles in senior competition. Owen Harbo of Nanaimo District Secondary School won the long jump with a 5.8-metre leap, and Gavin Esleyer of Wellington Secondary won the 400m race in an exciting finish, crossing the line in 50.36 seconds to edge out the runner up by two-tenths of a second. In the senior boys' 800m final, Dover Bay's Rhys Beaudoin dominated, winning by more than five seconds with a time of 2:01.53. Lucy Russell of NDSS won the pole vault convincingly, clearing a 2.4m bar. Nanaimo athletes fittingly won the hammer throw in both senior boys' and senior girls' competition, with Uday Dangar of Dover Bay recording a 44.16m throw and Jenna Bunston of NDSS making a 41.74m throw. Also, Mitchell Gauthier of Dover won the shot put with a 10.87m distance.
Provincial championships will be June 5-7 in Langley.
Top-three results from Islands include:
Grade 8 - Finn Olsen, Wellington, gold, 80m hurdles, gold, 200m hurdles; Skyla Webber, Nanaimo Christian, silver, 80m hurdles, gold, 200m hurdles, bronze, long jump; Brynne Reilly, NDSS, gold, 3,000m, gold, 800m, gold, 1,500m; Evelyn Argyle-Anderson, Dover, silver, 3,000m, silver, 800m, silver, 1,500m, gold, 4x400m relay; Ember Vaitekunas, Nanaimo Christian, bronze, 3,000m, bronze, 1,500m; Taylor Grieve, Aspengrove, gold, 3,000m; Kristel Lim, Dover, gold, 4x100m relay; Elizabeth Linder, Dover, gold, 4x100m relay, silver, 200m, gold, 4x400m relay, gold, long jump, gold, triple jump; Serena Chapman, Dover, gold, 4x100m relay, bronze, 200m, silver, long jump; Aleah John, Dover, gold, 4x100m relay, bronze, 100m dash; Tessa Thibault, NDSS, silver, 400m; Baraka Gibson, Barsby, gold, 100m dash, silver, high jump, gold, long jump; Finn English, NDSS, gold, 800m, silver, 1,500m; Kieren Stussi, NDSS, bronze, 800m, bronze, 1,500m; Kamryn Bains, Dover, gold, 4x400m relay; Elizaveta Bobkova, Dover, gold, 4x400m relay; Katalina Hill, NDSS, gold, high jump; Samuel Welsh, Nanaimo Christian, bronze, javelin; Sophie Chang, Barsby, gold, javelin; Allison Edmonson, Dover, silver, javelin; Avery Ostle, Barsby, bronze, triple jump.
Junior - Kohaku Takada, Dover, bronze, 100m hurdles, silver, 4x100m relay; Tessa Bell, NDSS, gold, 80m hurdles, gold, long jump, silver, triple jump; Carl Casilon, Dover, silver, 4x100m relay; Martin Galloway, Dover, silver, 4x100m relay; Brian Mamedu, Dover, silver, 4x100m relay; Evan Yoo, Dover, silver, 300m hurdles; Megan James, Barsby, bronze, 800m, gold, 1,500m steeplechase; Rowan Clarke, NDSS, gold, 1,500m race walk; Brooklyn Chase, NDSS, gold, discus, gold, shot put; Anishka Moonsamy, Aspengrove, silver, shot put; Mason Miller, NDSS, gold, hammer throw.
Senior - Christiana Adegbola, Dover, bronze, 4x100m relay; Julie Opatrna, Dover, bronze, 4x100m relay; Audrey Mamedu, Dover, bronze, 4x100m relay; Jazmine Leconte Riley, Dover, bronze, 4x100m relay, bronze, triple jump, bronze, long jump; Joshua Situ, Dover, bronze, 4x100m relay; Nicholas Messier, Dover, bronze, 4x100m relay; Felix Beaudoin, Dover, bronze, 4x100m relay; Lucas Acosta, Dover, bronze, 4x100m relay; Mitchell Gauthier, Dover, bronze, 4x100m relay, gold, shot put; Gavin Esleyer, Wellington, gold, 400m, silver, 200m; Brea Gillette, NDSS, silver, 800m, silver, 1,500m; Rhys Beaudoin, Dover, gold, 800m, bronze, 1,500m; Ava Gauthier, NDSS, bronze, 2,000m steeplechase; Lucy Russell, NDSS, gold, pole vault, silver, long jump; Owen Harbo, NDSS, bronze, discus, gold, long jump, bronze, shot put; Jenna Bunston, NDSS, bronze, shot put, gold, hammer throw; Uday Dangar, Dover Bay, silver, shot put, gold, hammer throw; Reid Elston, Nanaimo Christian, silver, hammer throw; Annika McMinn, Dover, silver, hammer throw.
