Royals Deliver Champion Performances at Provincial Championships

Valley Royals power/speed athletes delivered numerous personal bests at the BC Athletics Jamboree from July 7-9 in Nanaimo.   For a good number of our athletes, this meet marked the end of an intense, long season already highlighted by the BC High Schools one month ago.  This meet was also the first provincial club championships for many of our new athletes, who have joined over the recent months.   We wish those athletes whose seasons have now concluded all the best for their summer.  And we wish the best for our athletes continuing on to Nationals in Langley at the end of July.  

I am extremely proud of this crew, for their hard-work, team-spirit, dedication, and sportsmanship. – Coach Trevor

Here are more specific results.   

U16s 

Neven McNeil – Relatively new to the Royals, Neven stepped up to run PBs in the 100 and 200.  He further added a PB in the 100 hurdles to claim 4^th.   Neven also ran a great lead-off leg in the 4 x 100 relay. 

Gurpartap Sandhu – Resident workhorse Gurpartap started her meet with a PB in the triple jump to claim 4^th.    The next day, she took on the gruelling Pentathlon, placing fourth with a personal best score.   In the process, she had another PB in the hurdles and a massive 6 cm PB in the high jump.   If that wasn’t enough, Gurpartap scored another PB in the 300 hurdles the following day and then finished off the meet with solid performances in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays.    

Evan Booth– On the track, Evan had strong showings in both the 100 (placing 8^th) and in the 200.   In the jumps, Evan captured 5^th in the triple jump and 8^th in long jump.   Evan also ran a great lead-off leg in the 4 x 100 relay.   

U18s 

Sanaa Musonge –   With the Nationals later this month as her season’s biggest goal, Sanaa’s form is coming along.  She placed 8^th in the both the 100 and 200.  After running a great leg in the 4 x 100 relay, Sanaa stepped in at the last moment and anchored our 4 x 400 team to a 4^th place finish.  Sanaa, who rarely ever runs the 400, improved her 400 time by an astonishing 10 seconds.   

Luke Wight – Luke scored a long-awaited and huge PB in the triple jump to take 5^th.  He followed that up with an 8^th in the long jump and excellent legs in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays.    

Tristan Steiger – Tristan had strong showings in both the 200 and 400, running a PB in the latter.   Tristan also had excellent legs in both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays. 

Nimritha Dhesi – Newcomer and aspiring heptathlete, Nimritha’s fearlessness to try new events helped her to capture five PBs the following events:   100 hurdles (8^th), 400 hurdles (4^th), long jump (9^th), shot put (11^th) and javelin (7^th).   Nimritha followed this up with solid performances in both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays.    

U20s 

Theo Manuel – After only one season with the Royals, Theo has quickly become a leader on our team with his strong work-ethic and commitment.   Primarily a javelin thrower, Theo has been recovering from an arm-injury since March.  Having switched his focus to the track, Theo ran huge PBs in both the flat 400 to claim 8^th and 400 hurdles to claim silver.     

Simran Dhesi – Also a newcomer, Simran’s work ethic led to PBs in the 200, 400 hurdles (5^th) , and a strong showing in the 800 later that same day.   Simran ran an excellent anchor leg in the 4 x 100 to finish off a tiring day.