Siemens, Pilgrim & Gibson Propel Mouat to 3rd

Three Valley Royal athletes led W.J. Mouat Secondary School to a third place finish in the senior girls’ division of the Gran Forza Relay held last Saturday at the Richmond Olympic Indoor Facility. The third place finish earned Mouat a prize of $500 that can be used for the track and field program at that school.

Sixteen teams took part in the senior girls division that was won by Pitt Meadows (3,757 pts.) with Oak Bay second (3753 pts) and Mouat third (3729 pts.). The scores were calculated by utilizing international scoring tables.

Mouat’s points came from Hailey Gibson with a third in the 60 meters (7.00), Jory Smallenburg with fifth in the standing long jump (2.15m) Alex Siemens who was second in the 800-meters (2:22.43) and middle distance runner Callum Pilgrim who placed 14th in shot put (6.07 meters). The above four girls combined to place fifth in the 4×200 meter relay (1:56.57).

Katie Crivello and Hannah Konrad were members of the Yale Secondary team that also took part in the senior girls’ competition. Crivello recorded a very respectable time of 7.10 in the 60 meters and grade 9 runner Konrad ran 2:27.97 in the 800 meters.

Peter Mitchell ran the 800-meter leg (2:10.55) for the Mouat Senior Boys’ team.

This coming Saturday a number of Valley Royal athletes will take part in the Emilie Mondor meet hosted by Simon Fraser University.

Sunny in Yakima, Mason at UBC…

A group of Valley Royal athletes got the 2013 outdoor track and field season off to a start last Saturday by traveling to Yakima, Washington to take part in that city’s Holder Relays.

Club performances were led by a couple of medal performances as Hailey Gibson placed third in the women’s 100 meters and Alex Siemens’ captured the same position in women’s 1600 meters.

Other notable performances by Royal athletes included Aidan Bingert who took part in the Sophomore 800 meters whose finishing spurt propelled him to fourth place. Erika Johnson put on a determined effort to win her section of the freshman girls’ 800 meters.

Ashley Heisler showed nice improvement by running her 400-meter leg of the distance medley relay in the low 62-second range. Ashley, who will be attending university in New York next year on a lacrosse scholarship, is deciding whether to concentrate on the 400-meter hurdles or the 800-meter event during this track and field season.

Meanwhile at the UBC Invitational Mike Mason of the Royals got his season off to a good start by winning the men’s high jump with a leap of 2.25 meters. In two week’s time Mason will travel to Los Angeles where he will compete in the Mt. Sac Relays.

This coming Saturday Hailey Gibson, Alex Siemens and Callum Pilgrim will be part of the Mouat team that will compete in the Gran Forza team pentathlon that will take place at the Richmond Indoor Oval.