High School Track Season Sprints Towards BCs
The 2009 Vancouver Island High School Track and Field Championships took place last Wednesday and Thursday at Centennial Stadium at UVIC. Not only did Victoria once again play a great host for the annual event, but many of the local high schools also dominated numerous events as well as the overall standings.
In the overall point total, Oak Bay High School took the title achieving a staggering 787 total points. Points were accumulated when an athlete from that school placed anywhere in the top tier of each event with the winner gaining 10 points, second 8, third 6 and fourth 5. Coming in behind Oak Bay was Lambrick Park with 333, St. Andrew's with 291, Dover Bay with 269 and Claremont with 217.5.
Oak Bay also won of five out of the six divisional points championships, as they won both the Senior (grades 11 and 12) and Junior (grade 10) boys and girls titles, as well as the Girls Bantam (grade 9) division. The Bays weren't able to pick up a full sweep however, as the Lambrick Park Bantam Boys team dominated their division finishing first over Oak Bay by 40 points.
In some of the individual performances, Daniel Bednarski of Lambrick Park set a new Island Championship record in the Bantam Boys 300 Meter Hurdles smashing fellow Lambrick student DJ Weirmier record of 49.64 seconds by over 5 seconds. In fact, the top 5 participants in that race all broke the previous record.
Claremont's Aleisha Cobb had a very successful meet, as she won the Senior Girls 100 Meter Dash, was a member of Claremont’s first placed 4x 100 Meter Relay squad and set a new Islands record in the Senior Girls Long Jump. Cobb's performances helped win her Most Outstanding Female Performance.
Oak Bay's David McKay won the Most Outstanding Male Performance by placing first in the Senior Boys High Jump and setting a new Islands record in the Senior Boys Pole Vault at 4.43 meters.
Lambrick Park also had a pair of athletes who were serious contenders for the top male performance, as Adam Keenan finished first in both the Senior Boys Discus and Hammer Throw, while finishing fifth in the Javelin Throw. Teammate Matthew Kereszti also had an outstanding meet as he finished first in the Senior Boys Shot Put, second in Hammer Throw and third in Discus.
Results in the some of the other events included Mt. Doug winning the Senior Boys 4 x 100 Meter Relay, Ladysmith Secondary’s Haleigh Llyod breaking the Islands record in the Senior Girls 400 Meter Hurdles, Parkland’s Mark McNeill taking the Senior Boys Triple Jump, Shane McIver of Laketrail winning the Senior Boys 100 Meter Dash and Vanessa Gains of Reynolds taking the Senior Girls Long Jump
Many of the athletes that took part in last week’s Islands have qualified for the 2009 British Columbia High School Track and Field Championships June 5 & 6 at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby.
VSO wishes congratulations and good luck to all of the Island athletes.
