Our Royals Distance Crew has been looking good in the early season. This past weekend our athletes competed at the Emilie Mondor Invitational at Simon Fraser University. Running against primarily university competitors our athletes held their own and represented us proudly.
In the men’s steeplechase event Sam May, Arata Nakanishi, and Miles Graham ran strongly finishing 3rd, 4th,and 5th behind Olympian John Gay, and Senior Team member Cole Dinsdale. Sam May’s 6:15.08 was National qualifying standard for Team BC in his first race over 36” barriers.
In the women’s 1500m event Adrianna Buitelaar, Maggie Epp, Zoe Unger, Syra Dhaliwal, and Kamora Piper also ran strongly against top level senior competition. Adrianna ran an impressive 4:34.42 to finish 3rd out of 20 competitors.
In the men’s 1500m event Riley Simmonds, Jonah Dyk, and Samuel Rasquinha represented us proudly and Riley Simmonds blazing personal best of 4:00.47 was faster than the BC High School Junior Record. Other great performances included Will Van Schagen’s Personal Best Performance of 51.32 in the 400m and second place finish in the 400m hurdles as well as Santos Svelander’s personal best in the 200m of 26.00.
Many of our athletes rounded out the day by competing in the 800m event and Riley Simmonds personal best performance of 1:57.47 was truly remarkable as it was only about an hour and a half after the 1500m. – Look for us next in two weeks time at the Oregon Relays on Historic Heyward Field University of Oregon.
Well done all of our Royals athletes and families who participated. – Coach Scott