Kelowna’s Aaron Stroda and Keely Watts-Watling both reached the podium at the 2012 National Legion Track and Field Championships last week in Prince Edward Island.
Stroda, 16, won silver medals in the discus and shot put events, while Watts-Watling earned a silver in the U18 heptathlon competition.
Stroda’s best throw in the discus of 48.20 m was three metres short of his personal best, while his toss of 15.82 m in shot put was a new PB.
“I wasn’t able to outperform on Friday in my favorite discus discipline,” Stroda said. “I guess my last competition was five weeks ago and I didn’t know where I was standing amongst the best throwers in the country. My best throw wasn’t quite what I was looking for, but fortunately I got myself into the right frame of mind for my shot put competition the next day.I threw a new PB and was very happy with my year-end competition.”
Stroda is ranked No. 1 in the country in the U18 discus throw and No. 2 in U18 shot put.
“Aaron’s first year as youth was good and very consistent in all throws,” said coach Verena Stroda. “Next year will be his second year in the youth category and I believe that he will not settle for second places that easily,” explains Verena Stroda and Aarons coach.
Watts-Watling, Stroda’s training partner, took second in the heptathlon with 4,809 points and three personal bests.
Watts-Wattling won the 100 metres in a new best time of 14.48 seconds, improved her long jump by 50 cm and topped her previous shot put mark by almost a metre.
“Keely is such a great competitor and a work horse in training,” said Verena Stroda. “Endless hours on the track paid off with big times this year.”
Both Keely and Aaron are independent athletes representing Team B.C. and are coached by Verena Stroda.
