Late in the North Island track & field championships at Alberni District Secondary School last week, a group of senior boys runners charged through the grandstand shadow and into the chaos of the 4×400-metre relay exchange zone.
When a new pack of runners emerged out of the zone to continue the race, it suddenly became a co-ed event.
Erica Friesen of Ballenas Secondary School, a Grade 11 athlete, stepped into the breech and tackled the third relay leg after one of the Whalers’ boys relay runners was forced to withdraw.
“I was taking one for the team,” Friesen said with a laugh. “I didn’t know I was going to run until two minutes before the race. Our coaches wanted the rest of the team to do it for practice.”
The meet was the only competition of the season before the Vancouver Island Championships in Victoria May 18-19, and served as the Island qualifier for Grade 9 and junior competitors.
While seniors in last week’s meet did not need marks to qualify, athletes from both Ballenas and Kwalikum Secondary School enjoyed strong showings against a large field of rivals.
Thrower Jason Ross of KSS won both the shot put and the senior boys hammer toss, and teammate Kara Blyt won the senior girls discus and laced up her sprinting shoes for a runner-up effort in the 100-metre dash.
A small Ballenas senior squad racked up four wins and a second place in jumps and sprints, with exchange student Mortiz Hummer sweeping the long jump and high jump, Steven Schan winning the 200 metres, Noah Elliott claiming the discus throw and Simon Morrison racing to a close second in the 100-metre final.
Simon Morrison of Ballenas Secondary, centre, lunges to place second in the senior boys 100-metre dash final during the North Island track and field championships Wednesday in Port Alberni. — Image credit: J.R. Rardon/PQB NEWS
Morrison, Schan, Elliott and Anthony Rodway also teamed to win the 4×100 relay.
“Ballenas had a banner meet,” said Laurie Ritchie, the team’s sprint coach. “In the 100 metres we had seven kids make it into six finals, which was impressive. But it wasn’t just the sprints; everyone did a great job.”
On the girls side, the Whalers’ Katie Stagg added a win in the high jump.
Junior winners included Ballenas teammates Libby Elliott (girls discus), Taiya McLellan (shot put) and Shane Stewart (boys 110 hurdles).
In the Grade 9 meet, the Whalers’ Olivia Bau won both the 100 and 200 metres.
Friesen had thought she was finished for the day after a successful effort in the girls portion of the meet. She placed second in the senior girls 100 hurdles, fifth in the shot put and fourth on the Ballenas 4×100 relay team.
Until being conscripted onto the boys relay team for the longer race, she had never before run in a 4×400 race — and doesn’t plan to do it again.
“No, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought,” she said after teaming with Schan, Hummer and Elliot for a fourth-place finish.
NORTH ISLAND TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 4 at Alberni District
Secondary School
Local place-winners
GRADE 9 GIRLS
Long jump — 5. Nicole Hague, Kwalikum, 3.95 metres.
Shot put — 4. Alena Woolnough, KSS, 7.16 metres; 5. Olivia Bau, Ballenas, 6.68; 6. Jillian Kroemer, KSS, 6.65.
Discus — 2. Joanna Waite, BSS, 19.49; 3. Elise Elston, BSS, 18.96; 4. Woolnough, KSS, 18.55.
Javelin — 5. Mackenzie Hudson, BSS, 19.38.
100 metres — 1. Bau, BSS, 13.563 seconds; 7. Hague, KSS, 14.64.
200 — 1. Bau, BSS, 28.17; 4. Hague, KSS, 30.47.
1,500 — 3. Taz Oidaker, KSS, 6:00.31; 5. Joanna Waite, BSS, 6:25.40.
80 hurdles — 2. Hudson, BSS, 16.20.
GRADE 9 BOYS
Shot put — 7. Maxwell Davis, BSS, 6.86.
100 metres — 6. Sebastian Atkinson, BSS, 13.45 seconds.
200 — 5. Atkinson, BSS, 28.55.
JUNIOR GIRLS
Shot put — 1. Taiya McLellan, BSS, 8.74 metres; 3. Serena Woolnough, KSS, 8.65.
Discus — 1. Libby Elliott, BSS, 30.02.
Hammer — 2. S. Woolnough, KSS, 38.89; 4. Alena Woolnough, KSS, 26.24; 6. Elise Elston, BSS, 23.63; 7. Taiya McLellan, BSS, 22.37; 8. Joanna Waite, BSS, 22.28.
400 — 5. Rebecca Marshall, BSS, 1:11.82.
800 — 2. Rhiannon Terpstra, KSS, 2:31.85; 6. Marshall, BSS, 2:46.49.
80 hurdles — 2. Kassandra Davies, BSS, 15.85.
4×100 relay — 4. Ballenas (Hudson, Elliott, Marshall, Davies), 59.09.
JUNIOR BOYS
Long jump — 2. Conner Knutson, BSS, 5.28m.
Discus — 7. Nicolas Lozier-Tilkin, KSS, 22.86m.
100 — 6. Shane Stewart, BSS, 12.44; 8. Knutson, BSS, 12.75.
200 — 5. Knutson, BSS, 25.84.
110 high hurdles — 1. Stewart, BSS, 15.44.
4×100 relay — 4. Ballenas (Stewart, Maxwell Davis, Shane Atkinson, Knutson), 53.15.
1,500 steeplechase — 4. Nicholas Lozier-Tilkin, KSS, 5:56:30.
SENIOR GIRLS
Long jump — 7. Katie Stagg, BSS, 3.89 metres.
High jump — 1. Stagg, BSS, 150 cm; 6. Bethany Scholfield, BSS, 130; 7. Ginny Lefeaux, BSS, 120.
Shot put — 5. Erica Friesen, BSS, 6.54m.
Discus — 1. Kara Blyt, KSS, 21.93m.
100 — 2. Kyra Blyt, KSS, 13.55.
200 — 7. Blyt, KSS, 28.65.
800 — 3. Nana Tanaka, BSS, 2:48.21.
100 hurdles — 2. Erica Friesen, BSS, 20.90.
4×100 relay — 4. Ballenas (Friesen, Lefeaux, Scholfield, Stagg), 1:01.17.
SENIOR BOYS
Long jump — 1. Moritz Hummer, BSS, 5.66m; 4. Anthony Rodway, BSS, 5.24.
High jump — 1. Hummer, BSS, 175cm; 5. Noah Elliott, BSS, 165.
Shot put — 1. Jason Ross, KSS, 11.24m.
Discus — 1. Noah Elliott, BSS, 34.07m.
Hammer — 1. Ross, KSS, 28.70m.
100 — 2. Simon Morrison, BSS, 11.85.
200 — 1. Steven Schan, BSS, 23.52; 2. Anthony Rodway, BSS, 24.91.
400 — 4. Elliott, BSS, 57.65.
3,000 — 2. Santiago Vilchis, KSS, 10:56.76.
110 high hurdles — 1. Schan, BSS, 16.17; 2. Hummer, BSS, 16.32.
400 intermediate hurdles — 1. Schan, BSS, 58.20.
4×100 relay — 1. Ballenas (Morrison, Schan, Elliot, Rodway), 48.11.
