A decision to skip one event paid dividends for Langley Secondary’s Dean Ellenwood.
“Last year, I did the 400 and the 800 and having the 400 on the Thursday and Friday, I was kind of tired going into the 800. So I think that had an affect on that,” explained the 18-year-old.
Competing in just the 800m at the B.C. high school track and field championships in Nanaimo last week, Ellenwood edged Rutland’s David Hughes-Beekie for the gold medal.
Ellenwood crossed the finish line in 1:55.90.
At the 2015 championships, he won silver in the 800m and bronze in the 400m.
The time was not a personal best for Ellenwood, but that was not his focus over the weekend.
“It was actually quite slow for me (but) I wasn’t going for a time. I was trying to go for the win mostly,” he said.
Ellenwood, who is off to the University of Idaho in September, now shifts his focus to representing Canada for a second straight summer.
He went to Colombia in 2015, helping Canada win bronze in the 4×400 mixed relay at the IAAF world youth track and field championships.
Ellenwood, who competes with the Langley Mustangs Track and Field Club, is hoping to attend the IAAF world junior championships this summer in Poland. But the first step will be to achieve his qualifying times.
He has two shots to do so, either at the Harry Jerome Classic in Burnaby or in Langley at the Pacific Invitational Meet at McLeod Athletic Park.
Both are being held later this month.
