Cowichan Secondary’s senior girls and Grade 9 girls and boys teams had stellar results at the Island Track and Field championships at the University of Victoria last week, all finishing among the top four in the final team standings while collecting an impressive haul of individual medals and point-earning top-eight finishes.
The Cowichan senior girls finished tied with Dover Bay for third overall thanks to strong performances by Desirae Ridenour, who won gold in both the 1500m and 3000m, and Emma Dewit who finished second in the 100m, fourth in the 200m and fifth in discus.
Cowichan Secondary also placed second in the Grade 9 boys standings and fourth overall among Grade 9 girls teams. The Grade 9 boys were led by triple-gold-medallists Daniel Larson (100m, long jump and triple jump) and Gavin Pringle (discus, shot put and javelin). Dredyn Fontana finished second in the 3000m, third in the 1500m and fourth in the 800m, while other points were earned by Will Nelson (sixth in the 200m and seventh in the 100m), Clayton Bergstrom (sixth in the 800m), Gus Boehme (seventh in shot put) and Dawson Jory (eighth in discus and shot put).
Jessica Castle also had three gold medals (400m, 800m and 1500m steeplechase) to lead the Cowichan Secondary Grade 9 girls, while Mackenzie Hall placed first in high jump and Kaitlyn Crichton finished third in the 100m. Maxine O’Leary finished seventh in shot put and McKinley Thomas-Perry was eighth in high jump.
In the junior girls ranks, Cowichan got a pair of silver medals from Madelyn Pollock in the 100m and 200m, while in the junior boys competition, Matt Day won gold in high jump, Oliver Castle finished third in the 1500m steeplechase, seventh in the 1500m and eighth in the 3000m, and Nick Young placed fourth in shot put.
Brentwood College School also had an impressive Island meet, placing fifth in the senior boys standings. Keiran Marrett-Hitch led the way with gold in high jump, Tyler David earned silver in the 400m, Siôn Griffiths was eighth in javelin, and the 4x100m relay team tied for fourth.
In the junior boys meet, Tony Else earned bronze in high jump and placed seventh in long jump, Torren Kaiser was fourth in the 100m, seventh in the 200m and eighth in long jump, Ope Adelasoye was fifth in the 400m, and Keaton Heisterman finished sixth in discus.
Brentwood also did well in the Grade 9 girls competition as Reece Fougner-Rukus won gold in shot put and bronze in the 80m hurdles.
Kaz Bannister earned two gold medals for Chemainus Secondary, winning the Grade 9 girls 100m and 200m races. Daniel Cheng placed sixth in the senior boys triple jump and seventh in long jump, and Hannah Tuplin finished eighth in the senior girls discus.
Albert Achoba won a gold for Brookes Shawnigan Lake in the senior boys long jump, and added a bronze in discus. Constance Louie also took bronze in the Grade 9 girls long jump, and Jill Dolan placed sixth in the Grade 9 girls discus.
Frances Kelsey Secondary got a silver medal in the senior girls shot put from Mackenna Posey, who also placed seventh in discus, while Kennedy Newman finished seventh in javelin. Robin de Valk Zaiss finished sixth in the junior girls 400m and helped the 4x100m relay team to fourth. Daniel Devries finished fifth in the senior boys discus.
Duncan Christian School had a host of sixth-place results: Danielle Groenendijk in the senior girls 100m, Morgan Nederlof in the Grade 9 girls shot put, Kristine Williams in the Grade 9 girls javelin, Ryan Baines in the Grade 9 boys long jump, and Connor Matthews in the Grade 9 boys triple jump. Nederlof also placed seventh in long jump, followed by Williams in eighth, and Morgan Cook was eighth in the senior boys triple jump.
Shawnigan Lake’s Angus Brown placed fourth in the senior boys 3000m.
The top five junior and senior athletes in each event qualify for the provincial championships.
