JESSICA SMITH PLACES SECOND AT TORONTO INTERNATIONAL

Friday July 13, 2012
Fully recovered from the illness that affected her 10-days ago at the Canadian Championships, Jessica Smith took part in the 800-meters Wednesday evening at the Toronto International.
Although she got off to a poor start in the field of 12 runners and found herself in last place at the cut-in point after the first 100 meters, Smith made an excellent recovery. She charged down the final straight and picked off a number of runners and when she crossed the finish line Smith was in second place.
The race was won by fellow Olympian Melissa Bishop of Toronto in 2:01.68 with Smith just an eyelash behind with a clocking of 2:01.83. Third place went to Canadian Champion Lemlen Bereket (2:02.25) who now trains out of the Victoria High Performance Centre.
Smith has one more race when she runs the 1500-meters this Saturday at the BC Athletics Jamboree that takes place at the Towne Centre track in Coquitlam. Following that she will travel to Germany for a training camp where she will be joined by high jumper and fellow Valley Royal Olympian Mike Mason.