Crofts PB, Smith Season Best at FISU Games, Russia.

Kazan, Russia—July 9—In the 800m semi final of the FISU Games, Valley Royal athletes Jessica Smith placed 3rd in her semi final heat (2:01.61) while teammate Helen Crofts came fifth in her section with an all time best of 2:01.35.   Those performances qualified both runners for yesterday’s final that saw Smith place 6th with a seasonal best 2:00.43 and Crofts was 7th (2:03.30).  The race was won by Maranta Mukasheva (KAZ) in 1:58.96.

Both Smith and Crofts will now embark on a European tour during which they will participate in a number of competitions.

Jorgensen and Ross Achieve Personal Bests at White Rock

White Rock—July 10–Oliver Jorgensen and Sarya Ross both recorded personal best  performances last evening at the Ocean Athletics All Comers meet held in White Rock.  Jorgensen sliced more then three seconds off his former best over the 800m distance finishing with a time of 1:58.25.  In the women’s 3,000 meters, Ross placed third in a time of 10:40.80:  a performance that met the standard for entry into the Canadian Legion Championships taking place next month in Langley.

In the women’s 100 meters Hailey Gibson placed third in her section of the 100 meters (12.98) while Katherine Crivello won her section with a 13.17 clocking.

Solid Performances Recorded at Lafarge Abbotsford High Performance Meet

Abbotsford, BC—Wednesday, July 3:  An outstanding performance by Jernail Hayes in the women’s 400-meter hurdles highlighted performances Wednesday evening at the Lafarge International Track Classic held at the Swan track in Abbotsford.

Hayes, who represents the United States, simply ran away from the field and turned in the excellent time of 56.67 to easily outpace Wendy Fawn of the US who placed second (59.71).

Kyle Clemons (USA) turned in a solid performance to win the men’s 400 meters in 46.51 with Quentin Summers (USA) second in 47.36. The tightest race of the evening was the men’s 800 meters that saw less then a half second separate the first three runners.  Luke Pawlacezyk (Brooks) had a good finishing kick to win the race in 1:48.43 with fellow American Duncan Phillips second (1:48.65) and Kenya’s Silas Kisorio third (1:48.86).

In the men’s 100 meters the runners had to battle a stiff head wind but the first three finishers all managed to run under 11 seconds.  The race was won by Reginald Dixon (USA) in a good 10.65 with countrymen Jerome Avery second (10.78) and Trice Lawrence third (10.97).  

Other solid performance saw Allison Beckford (USA) win the women’s 400-meters (54.25), Sirena Williams (USA) first in the women’s 100 meter hurdles (13.97) and
Amanda Mergaert (USA) won the women’s 800-meters (2:08.91).