Led by Vikramjit Gondara’s record breaking throw in the senior boy’s hammer throw, a good number of Valley Royal members qualified for the Provincial High School Championships that take place in Nanaimo during the first week in June.
Gondara set the pace for club athletes by surpassing previous record marks in the hammer throw at both the Fraser Valley and BC High School Championship level. Gondara tossed the 6-k hammer 59.86m a distance that surpassed the existing BC high school record by more then five meters. For good measure, Gondara also won the discus event with a toss of 42.46m.
Teammate Jayden Driver was a multiple medalist in the throwing events. Driver gave the club a one, two punch in both the hammer and discus with second place finishes in both events. Driver’s toss of 53.34m in the hammer also surpassed the previous record at the Fraser Valley and BC levels. Driver added to his medal collection with a third place finish in the shot put (11.51m).
Tasha Willing, as usual, was a multi event medalist in the senior women’s throwing events. Willing, who represented Chilliwack Secondary at this meet, was first in the shot put (11.98m), second in discus (11.98m) and third in hammer (47.76m).
Rowan Hamilton made up for a disappointing finish in the junior boys’ hammer event where he fouled three times by returning to win the gold medal in the discus throw with a toss of 45.65m.
Three middle distance runners won multiple medals and established personal bests during the three-day meet. Daniel James won gold medals in the junior boys 800m (2:05.48) and 1500m (4:19.18) and placed third in the 400 meters (53.05), an event in which the first three runners were separated by less then 4/10ths of a second. In the 800m James negative split by running his first lap in 64 seconds and the final lap in 61 seconds.
Tanner Geary, who was forced to miss last year’s Fraser Valley meet due to injury, made up for that occurrence by turning in personal bests in both the 1500 and 800 meter events. Geary had an easy time winning the 1500 meters by running a blistering final 300 meters to finish with a time of 4:03.66. In the 800m run, Geary was matched against Langley’s Dean Ellenwood who last year represented Canada internationally. Geary led for most of the distance but was unable to hold Ellenwood off in the final few meters. The event was won by Ellenwood (1:54.69) with Geary a step behind in a personal best 1:55.06.
Rachel Mortimer, a 15-year old grade nine runner, was finally of age to take part in a Fraser Valley Championship. Mortimer made the best of her opportunity by taking part and winning three silver medals in the junior girl’s division. She established personal best performances of 10:19 in the 3,000m and 4:49.42 in the 1500m. Mortimer finished out her busy three days of competition with a second place clocking of 2:20.28 in the 800m.
Other medal performances by club athletes included Abresia Foote with a silver medal in the 1500m RW (9:09), Shaunika Suriya who placed second in the grade 8 girls’ high jump (1.45m), Devon Kular, second in the senior boys’ pole vault (3.00m), Tiger Wu 3rd in Senior Hammer and Amrin Bhangu with a 3rd in Senior Pole Vault. Carson Setter claimed 1st place in the 4×100 m Sr. relay.
Hannah Konrad was under-par health wise during the meet but still managed to place fourth in the senior girls’ 400m (62.23) and gain automatic entry to the provincial championship. Konrad will apply through the open zone to take part in the 800m in Nanaimo.
Two local schools won team titles: Abby Christian 1st in the junior division and WJ Mouat first in the senior division.
Other qualifiers from the club for the BC High School Championships include the following:
Angela Gourley: 6th 100m hurdles Sr.: 7th 200m.
Cassidy Hutchinson: 4th 800m Jr.
Erica Johnson: 7th 1500m SC (pb 5:45.92).
Gurleen Gill: 7th 1500m
Kat Heppell, Kelly Harder, Kelsey Friesen: 6th 4 X 100m Relay Sr
Kelly Harder, Kelsey Friesen: 7th 4 X 400m Relay Sr
Devon Kular: 5th 4 X 100m Relay Sr
Devon Kular: 2nd 4 X 400m Relay Sr
Devon Kular: 2nd Pole Vault Sr
Marley Hutchison: 6th 80mH, 4th 300mH, Jr
Kelly Harder: 8th 400mH, Sr
Carson Setter: 5th 100m Sr
Parmvir Waring: 7th 2000m Steeple Chase, 7th 3000m Sr
Kate Sokolowski: 8th 800m Sr
Amrin Bhangu: 4th 1500m Race Walk Sr
Hannah Lambert: 6th Javelin, Jr
Abresia Foote: 7th Discus, 7th Hammer, Sr
Parker Schlachter: 7th Discus, 4th Shot Put, 5th Hammer, Sr
Tiger Wu: 8th Discus Sr
Udesh Narang: 6th Hammer, Jr