A pair of female athletes from Surrey established themselves as medal contenders at next month’s B.C. High School Track and Field Championships in Langley.
Dolly Gabri of Sullivan Heights Secondary and Jasneet Nijjar of Queen Elizabeth Secondary each won two gold medals and one silver medal at the Fraser Valley championships last week in Coquitlam.
Gabri won her medals in three field events, where she has dominated the competition. After winning the gold medal in both the discus and shotput in the Junior category at last year’s provincial championships, Gabri placed first in both events at the Senior women’s level at the Fraser Valley meet.
She was three metres better than the runner-up in the shotput, with a best throw of 12.50m. Gabri won gold at last year’s provincial championship with a throw of 14.33m, and set a B.C. Summer Games record in Abbotsford last July at 13.93m.
In the discus event, she won gold with a throw of 42.55m. The silver medal came in the the hammer throw with a distance of 41.82m.
Nia Cayenne of Holy Cross High School won three bronze medals in field events – the shotput (9.09m), discus (30.92) and hammer throw (39.10m).
Nijjar, a triple gold medalist at both the BC Games and the Youth National championships in Montreal last August, won the women’s 100m and 200m sprints. She won the 100m in a time of 12.50 seconds, and completed the 200m in 24.81 seconds. She just missed a third gold medal in the 400m. After posting the best qualifying time of 58.48 seconds, she was quicker in the final at 58.38 seconds, but was second to Semiahmoo’s Jessica Williams (56.47).
Two other athletes from Surrey schools also won gold medals at the three-day Fraser Valley championships, which were May 15 to 18. Kenny Blackman Jr. of Surrey Christian won the men’s 100m dash in 11.23 seconds, a tenth of a second quicker than his qualifying time. Katrina Vlahovic of Fraser Heights Secondary won the women’s 100m hurdles in 14.19 seconds. Vlahovic placed third at the provincial championships last year in 14.28 seconds.
Other medalists from Surrey were Alyssa Terry of Sullivan Heights (silver medal in the women’s 800m), Emilie Peelo of Fleetwood Park Secondary (bronze in the women’s 1,500m race walk) and Riley Miller of Holy Cross (bronze in the men’s 2,000m steeplechase).
