Surrey athletes from all corners of the city – and at all age levels – were dominant at the BC High School Track and Field Championships last week in Langley, scoring plenty of medals, and even setting the odd record in the process.
While the majority of events were held over three days last week at McLeod Park – Thursday through Saturday afternoon – the Semiahmoo Peninsula’s official medal count began to rise the previous week, during the ‘combined events’ portion of the provincial competition, which includes heptathlon and pentathlon.
In the senior girls hepthalon – which includes hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-m dash, long jump, javelin and 800-m – Earl Marriott’s Jorden Hall captured the gold medal, defeating the second-place competitor, Maple Ridge’s Emily Morley, by nearly 200 points.
Hall placed first in the hurdles, high jump, 200-m and long jump, and was second in the 800-m and shotput. In only one event did she place outside the top-two – the javelin, in which she placed fourth.
Hall’s medal set the table for last week’s run to the podium, which was led by strong performances from the city’s senior girls.
Semiahmoo’s Alexa Porpaczy – the top-ranked high-jumper in Canada for under-18 girls – added to her medal collection with a golden performance in the senior girls high jump, with a final score of 1.80m. The mark was just two centimetres shy of the provincial record of 1.82m, set by D.P. Todd Secondary’s Alyx Treasure in 2008.
Porpaczy is now a four-time high jump gold medallist at provincials.
A number of her Totems’ teammates also put forth strong showings, led by Jessica Williams, who won silver in the senior girls 200-m, just behind Queen Elizabeth’s Grade 10 runner Jasneet Nijjar.
Nijjar, in fact, was one of the weekend’s most decorated runners. In addition to her win in the 200, she also added a gold in the 400-m and a bronze in the 100-m. Making matters even more impressive was the fact that the 100- and 400-m races were held only a half-hour apart.
Two other Semiahmoo athletes had podium finishes at the senior level, as Gabrielle Hack won silver in the girls triple jump and Connor Sinclair nabbed silver in the boys shotput.
Continuing the success of Hall the week before, Earl Marriott also tallied a few more medals last week, led by Rori Denness, who won gold in the senior girls javelin with a toss of 43.41m; and Sajjan Sarai, who won bronze in the boys 800-m. Dawson Ribeiro finished just shy of the podium in the 1,500-m, in fourth.
Sullivan Heights’ thrower Dolly Gabri – who scored a handful of gold medals at Fraser Valley Championships last month – continued her successful spring with a gold medal in the discus and silver in shotput. Holy Cross thrower Nia Cayenne was fourth in the discus, while Semiahmoo’s Dasha Peter placed seventh in the shotput finals.
Southridge senior Landon Gill also returned home with a medal, out-leaping the field in the senior boys long jump with a top score of 6.68m – two centimetres further than second-place jumper Bryce MacKenzie of Mission. Gill’s teammate, Elijah De Hoog, was fourth in the same event, seven centimetres back of bronze-medal position.
Other Surrey medal winners included: Fraser Heights’ Katarina Vlahovic, who won gold in the senior girls 400-m and silver in the 100-m hurdles; Clayton Heights’ Lauren Chandra, who was first in the senior girls long jump with a leap of 4.66m – two centimetres beyond the silver medallist; and Aiden Miller of Holy Cross, who was second in the senior boys 2,000-m steeplechase.
There were medals – and one provincal record – set in the Grade 8 and junior portion of the meet, as well.
Holy Cross high-jumper Emma de Boer – a member of the South Surrey-based Ocean Athletics track-and-field club – won gold in the Grade 8 girls high jump with a top jump of 1.67m. That mark set a new Grade 8 girls B.C. meet record, and would have been enough to win silver at the senior level, had she been old enough to compete there.
Other highlights from the Grade 8 and junior competiton included: Semiahmoo’s Tara Wallack, who won a medal in each colour – gold in long jump, silver in 200-m and bronze in 100-m; Semi’s Isabelle Forsyth, who won gold in shotput and silver in javelin; Clayton Heights’ Olivia Chandra, who was third in shotput; Elgin Park’s Emma Cobban, who won bronze in Grade 8 girls 3,000-m; Tamanawis Wildcats’ Tyson Baker, who won gold in junior boys 3,000-m and 1,500-m steeplechase and silver in the 1,500; Pacific Academy’s Layshi Tunti, gold medallist in 80-m hurdles; Jaziel Tunti, second in junior girls high jump; Holy Cross runner Owen Pinto, who snagged gold in the Grade 8 boys 800-m; Lord Tweedsmuir’s Samantha Ogbeiwi, who won silver in the junior girls 100- and 200-m races; Tweedsmuir’s Eniko Sara, who was first in both junior girls high jump and javelin; Southridge’s Calla Smith, second in junior girls 400-m; Maya Kobylanski, who won gold in junior girls 1,500-m steeplechase and bronze in 3,000-m; and Grade 8 Roy Jiang, who won silver in both 100- and 200-m races.
For full results, visit www.bctfa.ca
