The Charles Hays Rainmakers track team won the Senior Zone Meet March 20 and 21 in Smithers. “It was a close battle between Smithers Secondary and us. It came down to the last race of the day, the 4X400 relay. With injuries during the meet, Juniors Kohen Chan and Eric Lees were called in as replacements to finish the relay. We finished second in the race, and those second place points gave the senior team a 115-113 victory over Smithers,” said Rainmaker coach Dighton Haynes. The senior team was led by Cody Schaeffer with 29 points from his eight events, including a first place finish in the 400 metre hurdles and second place in triple jump, 100 and 200 metre dash and the 110 metre hurdles. Arden Stewart scored 25 points with firsts in the 100 meter dash, long jump and javelin events, and scored a second in discus. Jason Rioux scored 22 points for the Charles Hays team with firsts in long and triple jump, a second in high jump, and finished third place in the 100 and 200 metre dash. Also scoring points were Dominic Irvine, Avery Taylor and Luis Martin. “Dominic, Arden, Jason and Avery will travel to Nanaimo June 2-4 for the provincials where 32 athletes in each event will compete for B.C. gold,” coach Haynes said. Arden Stewart was awarded the top senior female athlete with her results. On the junior side of the event: Eric Lees was the top male athlete at the track meet, with firsts in the 100 metre dash, high jump and long jump. Eric’s high jump of 1.60 metres won the outstanding male performance award. Strong performances were also made by Ezekiel Appollos, Kohen Chan, Andrew Lowther, Sher Angad Sahai and Jessica Nguyen. The junior’s placed third overall behind Smithers and Skeena. Coach Haynes elaborated on what the junior team’s positive result means for the athletes. “Most, it not all of the junior team, will represent the Northwest at the BC Summer Games in Abbotsford July 22-24.”

The Northern View