With a wet practice field, it was a short lead up to the High School Zone Track and Field Championships but that did not seem to hold the Smithers Secondary Gryphons back as they dominated all parts of the meet with many personal best performances as well as numerous Zone Championship and school records.
The school sent 26 athletes to the Zone Championships and according to head coach Neal Currie, everyone did extremely well.
“We had many personal bests, records, ribbons, and awards. The coaches were proud of how well our team supported everyone and gave their best effort. We are now preparing to take a group down to Langley for the BC High School Championships May 31 to June 2,” he said.
Other coaches for the squad included Cindy Thummerer, Alan Baxter, Jody Barber, and Cathy Doyle.
Eliyah Brawdy broke the Senior Girls Zone Championship record in 3,000m with a time of 10:21.93, and also broke the former SSS record by 20 seconds. She was she was awarded Best Performance for that race, and was also the Senior Girls Outstanding Performer based on the overall quality of her performances.
Logan Unruh broke the Junior Girls Zone Championship Records in 500g javelin with a distance of 35.30m, and 3kg shotput at 10.44m. She was named the Junior Girls Outstanding Performer.
Shay Toner’s 400m time of 1:06.69 was awarded the Grade 8 Girls Best Performance in addition to her being named the Grade 8 Girls Outstanding Performer.
Aggregate Points Award Winners were garnered by Soren Brawdy in Grade 8 Boys, Amber Andersen in Grade 8 Girls, Daniel Lecourt in Junior Boys, Sage Murphy in Junior Girls, and Abby Andersen in Senior Girls.
The following Zone Championship records were broken by SSS athletes: Eliyah Brawdy in the Senior Girls 3,000m (10:21.93); Logan Unruh in the Junior Girls 500g javelin (35.30m) and 3kg shotput (10.44m) and Evan Doyle in the Senior Boys 1.75kg discus (29.93m).
New Zone Championship marks were established by Amber Andersen in the Grade 8 Girls 200m hurdles (36.25), Brady Lachance in the Grade 8 Boys 200m hurdles (33.45), and Daniel Lecourt in the Junior Boys 5kg shotput (7.93m).
Additional school records were set in the following events: MacKinley Unruh in the Senior Girls 1,500m racewalk (10:42.51); Evan Doyle in the Senior Boys 1.75kg discus (29.93m); Amber Andersen in Grade 8 Girls long jump (4.20m) and the Grade 8 Boys 4x400m relay of Gabe Barker, Malcolm McAulay, Brady Lachance, and Soren Brawdy (4:55.77).
