It was a magical May for J. L. Crowe Secondary School athletics.
The J. L. Crowe Hawks sports teams and its athletes competed in a number of events and meets this past month with outstanding results and provincial berths.
The Hawks Field Hockey team, led by coach Donna Hebert, traveled to Calgary to play in the 23-team Calgary Ladies Field Hockey Association Tournament. The Crowe team rolled through the competition going 6-0 and defeated St. Mary’s from Calgary 3-2 in a thrilling shootout to capture gold.
Meanwhile, the J. L. Crowe Hawks senior girls soccer team won the Kootenay Championship in Creston earlier this month. The Hawks, coached by Jaala DeRochie, Deb Dovgala, and Rick McKinnon, upset perennial regional champions from Nelson, L.V. Rogers Secondary, in a nail-biting 5-4 overtime victory. With the win, the Hawks advance to the BC Secondary School Provincial Championship in Kamloops that kicks off May 31.
Not to be outdone, the J. L. Crowe Hawks Track and Field team qualified eight members for the provincials following top finishes at the Kootenay Track and Field Championship in Cranbrook.
“This is the first year in a long time that J.L. Crowe has a track and field team and they did incredible,” said coach Kylie Lakevold in an email.
Five Junior and Senior team members automatically qualified by winning their events and eight qualified by cracking the top-24 in the province.
Coached by Vic Bobbitt, Lakevold, and teacher Colin Adamson, the resurgent Hawks track team also competed in the Royal Canadian Legion Track and Field Meet at Haley Park earlier this month but hit its stride in Cranbrook.
Crowe’s Zoe Giles won the 80-m hurdles by nearly two seconds, and also won 300-m hurdles despite battling a knee injury.
Madison Lakevold won the triple jump with a new personal best of 9.74-m and also came first in the long jump, while Sadie Joyce placed first in high jump and 100-m sprint, and third in long jump.
Annika Ford won the hammer throw with a toss of 28.19-m, and Grace Bobbitt came second in high jump and 100-m and placed fifth in discus.
Among the young men, Jaxson Kuchar was the class of the middle-distance runners winning the 400-m, 800-m and 1,500-m events.
Wyatt Smith captured first in the gruelling 3,000-m run with a time of 10:44:44 for a berth into provincials and finished second in the 1,500 and 800-m runs.
Connor Nagle blazed to first in the 100-m with a time of 12.88 seconds, leapt to first in long jump, and came second in high jump.
Ashton Carr hurled the javelin 37-m to win the event and earn a pass to the provincials, while Darin Dejager came second in the same event, and fourth in the 100-m.
Taedon Lucht came first in shot put, and second in long jump and discus, while Caleb George placed third in long jump against 25 other competitors.
The Hawks track and field team will compete at the BC Track and Field Provincials in Vancouver starting on May 31.
