Valley Royals Track & Field Club
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Three Valley Royal athletes led W.J. Mouat Secondary School to a third place finish in the senior girls’ division of the Gran Forza Relay held last Saturday at the Richmond Olympic Indoor Facility. The third place finish earned Mouat a prize of $500 that can be used for the track and field program at that school.
Sixteen teams took part in the senior girls division that was won by Pitt Meadows (3,757 pts.) with Oak Bay second (3753 pts) and Mouat third (3729 pts.). The scores were calculated by utilizing international scoring tables.
Mouat’s points came from Hailey Gibson with a third in the 60 meters (7.00), Jory Smallenburg with fifth in the standing long jump (2.15m) Alex Siemens who was second in the 800-meters (2:22.43) and middle distance runner Callum Pilgrim who placed 14th in shot put (6.07 meters). The above four girls combined to place fifth in the 4×200 meter relay (1:56.57).
Katie Crivello and Hannah Konrad were members of the Yale Secondary team that also took part in the senior girls’ competition. Crivello recorded a very respectable time of 7.10 in the 60 meters and grade 9 runner Konrad ran 2:27.97 in the 800 meters.
Peter Mitchell ran the 800-meter leg (2:10.55) for the Mouat Senior Boys’ team.
This coming Saturday a number of Valley Royal athletes will take part in the Emilie Mondor meet hosted by Simon Fraser University.
A group of Valley Royal athletes got the 2013 outdoor track and field season off to a start last Saturday by traveling to Yakima, Washington to take part in that city’s Holder Relays.
Club performances were led by a couple of medal performances as Hailey Gibson placed third in the women’s 100 meters and Alex Siemens’ captured the same position in women’s 1600 meters.
Other notable performances by Royal athletes included Aidan Bingert who took part in the Sophomore 800 meters whose finishing spurt propelled him to fourth place. Erika Johnson put on a determined effort to win her section of the freshman girls’ 800 meters.
Ashley Heisler showed nice improvement by running her 400-meter leg of the distance medley relay in the low 62-second range. Ashley, who will be attending university in New York next year on a lacrosse scholarship, is deciding whether to concentrate on the 400-meter hurdles or the 800-meter event during this track and field season.
Meanwhile at the UBC Invitational Mike Mason of the Royals got his season off to a good start by winning the men’s high jump with a leap of 2.25 meters. In two week’s time Mason will travel to Los Angeles where he will compete in the Mt. Sac Relays.
This coming Saturday Hailey Gibson, Alex Siemens and Callum Pilgrim will be part of the Mouat team that will compete in the Gran Forza team pentathlon that will take place at the Richmond Indoor Oval.
Birmingham, Alabama—March 7-9—Valley Royal athletes Helen Crofts and Chantel Desch were instrumental in guiding the Simon Fraser University Clan to a 12 th place finish in that school’s first appearance at the Division 2 NCAA Championships.
Crofts was the big point scorer for the Clan as the fifth year student won the 800 meters and teamed up with Desch, Sarah Sawatzky and Michaela Kane to place third in the distance medley relay. The two Valley Royal athletes were also members of the Clan team that placed eighth in the 4x400m relay.
Crofts won the 800-meters in the excellent time of 2:05.96 just missing the meet record of 2:05.75 but her time did break the facility record of 2:06.41. Desch recorded a personal best 55.48 for her 400-meter leg of the distance medley relay while Crofts ran the 1600-meter anchor leg of that event in 4:47.53.
Crofts made the following comments concerning her 800-meter victory, “I had an inside lane placement and didn’t want to get boxed in. I was a bit concerned because I was a little sore from the previous night’s relay but once we got going I felt great.”
The clan scored 22 pts in the competition to place 12th in the field of 50 schools that scored that took part in the championship. The placing meant that only one other school in their conference outscored SFU with Alaska Anchorage garnering 23 points.
Cameron Smith’s team will be lead by Alexandra Siemens in the 800m and Hailey Gibson in the 50m. They will be joined by Callum Pilgrim in the shot put and Jory Smallenberg in the standing long jump. Alicia Unruh may join them in the 4x200m relay.
NAMPA, IDAHO—Sat., February 9
Valley Royal members Helen Crofts and Chantel Desch were leaders for the Simon Fraser Women’s team that placed fifth out of nine teams at the Great Northwest Conference Championships.
Crofts, the Canadian international, won the women’s 800 meters in a time of 2:12.29 and Desch ran a personal best 57.23 seconds to place second in the 400 meters. Later in the meet Crofts and Desch teamed up with Sarah Sawatzky and Michaela Kane to win the 4×400 meter relay in a conference record clocking of 3:48.36.
Other Valley Royals that took part in the meet included Kayla Lennea with 12th in the 800 meters and Travis Vugteveen who ran the men’s 800 meters.
Both Crofts and Desch will now represent SFU at the Division 2 NCAA Championships that take place in two week’s time in Birmingham, Alabama. This will mark the first appearance for SFU at the Division 2 NCAA Indoor National Championships.