A pair of Saanich sprinters dominated the Vancouver Island Track and Field Championships on Wednesday and Thursday as Reynolds’ Chase Haagensen and St. Michaels University School’s Angelina Shandro each won gold in their respective 400-metre, 200-metre and 100-metre dash sprints.
Shandro broke two records, running 55.69 seconds in the 400m to broke Kristen Lundgren of Esquimalt’s 31-year-old record from 1988 of 55.8s, and 24.96 in the 200m, a shave of .02 seconds off the 2010 record by Veronica Luedke of Dover Bay.
Shandro and Haagensen, both Grade 11 athletes, were named the respective female and male athletes of the meet and are medal favourtes at the May 30 to June 1 in Kelowna, where the competition will reach another level.
Saanich with two triple-gold medal winners at Island track & field championships: Chase Haagensen & Angelina Shandro won the respective senior 100m, 200m & 400m sprints. pic.twitter.com/wt0jL4Rc3Q
— Oak Bay News (@OakBayNews) May 16, 2019
“Tired, very tired,” said Haagensen after the 200m, the last of six heats and races in a little over 24 hours at the University of Victoria’s Centennial Stadium.
The goal was three golds from the start for Haagensen, who won double-gold as a Grade 10 junior in the B.C. provincials 100m and 200m last year.
In real time: Reynolds’ Chase Haagensen finishes first in the boys 200m for his third gold medal at Islands. pic.twitter.com/lFMRgf3rAs
— Saanich News (@saanichnews) May 17, 2019
READ MORE: Reynolds sprinter golden at 2018 provincials
This year he added the 400m, which adds a qualifying heat and final to an already-busy Islands competition.
“It’s hard to recover so fast, you only get an hour in between each race,” Haagensen said. “You just drink water and keep moving.”
For Shandro it was a similar path. She’s also in Grade 11 and is coming off a double-gold win at last year’s provincials as a junior in the 200m and 400m sprints. She added the 100-metre this year and on Thursday won the Island 100-metre in a time of 12.41 seconds, ahead of second-place Olivia Fenton of Oak Bay in 12.95 and third-place Juliette Desvaux of Ballenas in 13.05.
Shandro ran a 24.96s to win gold in the 200m, able to edge Oak Bay’s Makayla Dickinson (26.34) and Claremont’s Rebecca Dutchak (26.94).
And the lead senior girls in the steeple final. pic.twitter.com/OQv70Nu0i2
— Saanich News (@saanichnews) May 16, 2019
READ ALSO: Oak Bay run ahead at track and field Lower Island championships
“Three races is a lot to focus on, it was a good challenge,” said Shandro, who’s been training with a goal of peaking at provincials. “I like the excitement of running, but it’s also a relief now to have the races over.”
Oak Bay High topped the girls overall team standings (the boys were second to Mount Douglas).
Oak Bay’s Alisa Lyesina was a double-gold winner in senior girls 1,500m and 800m races. Lyesina’s time of 4:41.86 edged Colette Reimer (4:49.37) of St. Margaret’s School in the 1,500m. Lyesina won the 800m in a time of 2:10.7 ahead of St. Michaels runner Izzy Champion (2:21.02) in second and Oak Bay’s Katharina Schonn in third (2:23.76).
Reimer, a noted teen triathlete, won a gold of her own in the 3,000m run in a time of 10:28.09. Oak Bay’s Delaney Chan took second.
Ella Mickelberry and Olivia Noone lead the way for Oak Bay with gold and silver in the high jump. Mickelberry had a jump of 1.5m and Noone a jump of 1.35m. Comox’s Peter Heyd won the senior boys high jump with a 1.8m leap ahead of second place Anthony Morris of Oak Bay (1.75m) and Adam Benn of Oak Bay (1.75m).
Some notable results incluced a pair of Vic High sprinters at the front of the junior girls 400m, Gabi Kinnis and Charlotte Blecha finishing first and second, respectively, with times of 1:01.9 and 1:02.82s. Vic High also had a double-podium in the junior women’s 800m as Kinnis won silver (2:25.35) and Lucia Palma took bronze (2:26.7).
Mount Douglas thrower Gwynth Frederiksen won three senior girls medals, two golds, in discus and shot put, and a bronze in the hammer. Frederiksen threw the discus 33.71m, the shot put 9.23m, and the hammer 37.09m. St. Andrew’s senior Alyssa Blair won gold in the hammer with a throw of 43.12m ahead of Oak Bay’s Kiki Shafonsky (37.23m) and Frederiksen.
Oak Bay’s Isaac Clements won the boys pole vault with a leap of 4.25m and Oak Bay’s 4x400m senior boys relay team managed to win gold and fend off second-place Mount Douglas in the process.
