Month: April 2016

Lovett Gains Top Canadian Ranking at Mt. Sac Relays

Django Lovett claims top canadian ranking in Mt. Sac…

Django Lovett recorded a season best high jump performance of 2.23 meters Saturday at the Mt. Sac Relays in Los Angeles.   The event was won by American Jesse Williams who cleared an identical height to Lovett but accomplished his clearance on a second attempt to Lovett’s third.   But all in all it was a pleasing performance by the Valley Royal athlete who recorded his best height in several years and at present it ranks him first in Canada.

Other Valley Royal performances of note at Mt. Sac included Lindsay Butterworth’s   big break through and personal best 4:17.99 in placing 6th in the women’s 1500 meters.  Butterworth’s clocking gives her seventh place in the Canadian rankings for that event.    Jessica Smith was sixth in the women’s 800 meters (2:03.89) and Helen Crofts ran 2:07.21 in her section of the same event.

At the Oregon Relays in Eugene, OR four Valley Royal athletes took part in the high school division of the meet.  Tanner Geary ran 1:57.18 to place fifth in the field of more then 40 athletes.  Daniel James competed in the second section of the 800m and turned in a time of 2:03.94.  Kristin Biela ran a personal best 4:08.73 in the boys 1500 meters and proved to himself that even faster times are now very possible.

BC Summer Games Torch Lighting Ceremony

The torch lighting ceremony for the BC Summer Games takes place on April 13, marking 100 days till the beginning of the Games……

The torch lighting ceremony for the BC Summer Games takes place on April 13, marking 100 days till the beginning of the Games.

The ceremony kicks off at 7 p.m. at the Matsqui Auditorium, with the torch lighting taking place at 8:30 p.m. at Thunderbird Plaza.

The public is invited to attend both events.  BUT there is limited seating the Auditorium.

Geary & Gondara Lead Royals at Emilie Mondor Meet…

Tanner Geary’s four-second personal best in the 800-meters and Vikramjit Gondara’s win in the hammer……

Tanner Geary’s four-second personal best in the 800-meters and Vikramjit Gondara’s win in the hammer led Valley Royal performances Saturday at the Emilie Mondor Memorial held on the Simon Fraser University track.

Due to a mix up in the receipt of club entries, Geary was relegated to a weak section of the men’s 800-meters.  But instead of mopping about his status, Geary just took the lead, ran an aggressive race and finished first in his section with a time of 1:56.32 and four seconds in front of the second place finisher.  In addition, Geary’s time was a four second personal best and preps him for his race next week at the prestigious Oregon Relays in Eugene.

Vikramjit Gondara was not particularly happy with his performance but he still managed very creditable efforts for a 17-year old grade 11 athlete.  Throwing the 6kg hammer, Gondara recorded a distance of 54.64 meters in the hammer and followed that with in a toss of 39.60 meters in the discus for a second place finish. 

Jayden Driver, who will enter Simon Fraser University next September, had third place finishes in both the hammer (48.94m) and discus (37.20m).  Both performances demonstrated that Driver is well positioned to do well at both the upcoming high school provincial meet and then, hopefully, at the BC Athletic Association meets that include the BC Championship Jamboree.

Other medal performances by Valley Royal athletes saw Tasha Willing place second in the shot put (11.94m) and SFU graduate Lindsay Butterworth with a second place (56.35) in the women’s 400 meters, an event won by former Valley Royal athlete Chantel Desch (56.32).

Some good performances by the club’s younger athletes included 15-year old Rachel Mortimer with a second in her section of the 1500m (4:54.92), grade 10 runner Daniel James with a 2:04.64 clocking in the 800m, Kate Sokolowski who placed first in her section of the 800m (2:26.87) and Kristen Biela with a 4:11.75 in the 1500m.

OTHER VALLEY ROYAL PERFORMANCES AT THE MEET:

Hannah Konrad—4th in 400m section 2 (62.42)
Marley Hutchinson—4th in 400m section 1 (64.04)
Josephine Calverly—6th in 400m section 1 (66.38)
Cassidy Hutchinson—2nd in 800m section 1 (2:30.93); 3rd in 400m section 1 (2:30.93)

Throws Clinic hosted by the Royals in Abbotsford on April 9 – 5 spaces left!

The Valley Royals Track & Field Club will be holding a Throws Clinic on April 9th at Clearbrook Park and Rotary Stadium from 10a.m. – 1p.m…….

The Valley Royals Track & Field Club will be holding a Throws Clinic on April 9th at Clearbrook Park and Rotary Stadium from 10a.m. – 1p.m.

Valley Royals coach Harold Willers and former SFU coach Zenon Smiechowski will work with beginning, intermediate, or advanced throwers in the areas of discus, hammer, shot put, and javelin. Coaches are invited to attend as well.

The cost per athlete or coach is $25 and space is limited.

If you know of an athlete from your track team who is interested, please have him/her contact the Club Administrator, Christa McAuley, at [email protected]

Geary Leads Royals in Yakima

Geary leads Royals in Yakima as both a choir leader and winner of the mile……

When Coach Sue Northey announced to her athletes that the Holder Relays Meet Director had asked that her athletes and coaches form a group and sing “Oh Canada”  as part of the Opening Ceremonies.  Tanner Geary stepped forward and volunteered as the choir leader and armed with a microphone and backed by the other nine athletes and three coaches that had made the trip, he led the Abbotsford group in belting out a boisterous rendition of our national anthem that did our group proud.

Then a couple of hours later Geary turned his attention to performing well on the track and he came through in great style by winning the mile run in a time of 4:26.30.  Geary followed his coach’s direction by biding his time through the first 400-meters and then putting on a finishing burst that provided him with a
comfortable win.

A pair of club steeplechasers won medals at the meet.  Kris Biela ran his first ever 2000m steeple chase event and put forth an excellent effort to finish third (6:22) crossing the finish line just three seconds back of the winner.  Not to be outdone, Erica Johnson donning a cape so she could fly over the water jump, placed second in the girls’ 2000-meter steeplechase.      

Rachel Mortimer ran the first lap of her mile run a bit fast and it took a toll on her during the later stages of the race.   Mortimer made up some lost ground in the latter part of the race and finished in third place (5:21.88).   Teammates Kate Sokolowski and Gurleen Gill also took part in the mile finishing 11th and 23rd positions respectively.

Daniel James was relegated to the second line in the very crowded mile run (won by Geary) and did not recover from the early jostling for position.  James did run strongly over the last lap putting forth a good finishing kick to finish in a time of 4:43.00.

The club also took part in both distance medley relays.  The boys team had a solid performance led by James who ran his 800-meter leg in 2:01 and at the finish the team was second just three seconds behind the winner.   The Royals girls’ distance
medley team came fourth in their event.

All in all it was a great experience for the Valley Royal contingent that got to compete in a huge American meet (1500 athletes took part) on a very warm and pleasant spring day.