Stellar Performances and Valley Royals/Spartans Home Meet

Its been a busy time for the Valley Royals Distance group. In our home meet last weekend, we represented our club well with some outstanding performances at the Spartans Invitational.
 
Of particular note was Mack Lascelle finishing under a second behind last years BC High School Cross Country  Champion Max Holmes to grab second in the senior boys.  Really another huge step up for this relative newcomer.
 
Adrianna Buitelaar, Zoe Unger and Maggie Epp ran outstanding races in the open high school girls division, and Mark Molina, Tristian Steiger, and Arie Wassenar ran strongly in the High School Boys.
 
In today’s Frank Reynolds memorial run, Damian Sutton and Riley Simmonds took the gold and bronze respectively in their divisions.
 
Well done to all our athletes and we are looking forward to next weeks BC Club Championship as well as the fast approaching East Valley and BC High School Championships. – Coach Scott
Spartan Invite Results
 
High School Girls Race:
 
  • Adrianna Buitelaar 3rd
  • Zoe Unger 4th
  • Maggie Epp 5th
 
High School Boys:
 
  • Mack Lascelle 2nd
  • Mark Molina 4th
  • Tristian Steiger 5th
  • Arie Wassenar 8th
  • Riley Simmonds 10th
  • Sam Rasquinha 15th

Excellent Performance at Festival of Cross Country

Our Valley Royals Distance Group had a great showing at this weekends Festival of Cross Country in South Surrey. Running against many of the top runners in the province, our group opened strongly in their first top level meet of the season. Runners like Tristian and Will Steiger, Damian Sutton, and Mack Lascelle made great leaps in performance  while right across the board our seasoned provincial level athletes are getting stronger and stronger. See below for results.

  • Abby Westergaard 2nd Track Rascals
  • Marie-Rose de Fleuriot 3rd Track Rascals
  • Jackson Camozzi U11-9th
  • Owen Westergaard U12-13th
  • Hannah Booth U12-25th
  • Damian Sutton 1st U14
  • William Steiger 2nd U14
  • Adrianna Buitelaar 2nd U16
  • Will Van Schagen 2nd U16
  • Maggie Epp 4th U16
  • Miles Graham 5th U16
  • Tristian Steiger 6th U16
  • Jasmine Halwas 8th U16
  • Ollie Teer 15th U16
  • Freddie Teer 20th U16
  • Samuel Rasquinha 21st U16
  • Arie Wassenaar 18th U18
  • Zoe Unger 6th U18
  • Mack Lascelle 7th U18
  • Mark Molina 5th U18
  • William Burke 3rd Open Men’s

Well done Royals. – Coach Scott

Check out the full results here: Ocean Athletics Festival XC Results 2022

Valley Royals’ Stellar Provincial Championship

Distance Group
This past weekend was a moment in life when I was reminded of just how fortunate I am as a coach to have the privilege of working daily with the finest of young people in pursuit of their dreams. These young athletes come to practice day in day out, in sun, flood, rain or snow and display the kind of work ethic that leaves me completely in awe.  Without complaint and most often with a smile on their face, they take on the most rigorous and demanding of training in almost any sport.
This past weekend at our BC High School Provincial Championship, it became clear just what kind of dedication and commitment to their sport our athletes have. I think every Royals athlete rose to the occasion with not only a personal best but a massive personal best. Against the toughest competition in the Province of British Columbia, our athletes completely and totally stepped up. For this, I am truly honoured and proud.
 
I truly believe that every one of our athletes who competed this weekend is a champion.  -Coach Scott
 
Valley Royals’ Distance Group Results for BC High School Provincial Championships 2022                                                                                            
 
  • Mark Molina: Provincial Champion – 800m Event
  • Maggie Epp: Provincial Champion 800m and 1500m Events
  • Sam May: Provincial Silver Medalist 1500m S/C – National Funding Standard
  • Riley Simmonds: Provincial Silver Medalist 1500m Event
  • Adrianna Buitelaar: Provincial Bronze Medalist 800m Event
  • Zoe Unger: 4th 1500m Event; 7th 800m Event.
  • Will Van Schagen: 5th 1500m S/C 
  • Halle May: 8th 1500m Event; 8th 3000m Event
  • Luke Gibbons: 9th 1500m R/W
  • Arata Nakanishi: strong 1500m Event
Power and Speed Group

Valley Royals power/speed athletes brought their A-game to the BC High School Track and Field Championships this past weekend, in Langley.   In all, six Royals athletes competed in the sprints, hurdles, jumps and relays.  I am very proud of the hard work they’ve put in this past year.  Ry Trustham placed 25th in the senior boys 400.   

In the grade 8 division, Emily Tinsley place 17th in the long jump and 8th in the high jump.   Emily also ran two strong legs in both relays with her 4 x 100 team placing 13th and her 4x 400 team capturing 5th.   Also in the grade 8 division, Gurpartap Sandhu placed 16th in the 400 and 7th in the long jump.  Gurpartap’s 4 x 400 team captured provincial bronze medal in the girls 4 x 400 relay.   Luke Wight had massive personal best of 45.16 in the junior boys 300meter hurdles claiming 9th.    Luke and teammate Arie Wassenaar placed 24th in the junior boys 4 x 100 relay.  Though both only in grade 9, Luke and Arie moved up to the senior boys division in the 4 x 400 relay and claimed 13th with their team.   

Sanaa Musonge was the performer of the meet with two huge personal bests.   She joined the 26-point club in the 200 to capture 6th in the junior girls division with a time of 26.97. In the junior girls 100, Sanaa joined the 12 second club running 12.82 in the finals to claim the provincial bronze medal.  As far as we know, Sanaa’s bronze is the first medal by a female athlete from her school (Robert Bateman Secondary) in at least 10 years (if not in her school’s history) as well as the first medal by a Royals athlete in the sprints in quite some time.   

Well done team. – Coach Trevor  

Power/Speed Group & Distance Group Success at Ice Breaker Meet

Valley Royals Ice Breaker Meet March 2022
Power/Speed Group
Congrats to members of the Valley Royals Power/Speed group for their excellent performances at the 2022 “Ice Breaker” meet, held in Langley on Saturday, March 5th.  Although the meet offered only a limited number of events, athletes took the opportunity to show off all the hard work they’ve done over the fall and winter.   
Evan Booth, Carter Thiessen, Luke Wight, Sanaa Musonge, Tristan Steiger and Charlie Franson all opened their seasons with personal bests in the 200m.  Vanessa Piranni also performed well in both the 300meter hurdles and 100 meter hurdles.   The power speed athletes joined forces with the athletes from the distance crew to run some strong 4 x 400meter relays. 
Well done, team. 
-Coach Trevor
 
Distance Group
Our Valley Royals distance group took advantage of the bright sunshine and great conditions this past Saturday to record some outstanding season opening performances. In particular Mark Molina ran an amazing 4:14.11 in his first ever 1500m, a time that in years past would put him in the medals at BC high schools in the junior division. Halle May ran a huge personal best in the 1500m with a 5:05.76 which was just under 10 seconds faster that her peak season performance from last season, and virtually all our distance group athletes put strong opening marks on the board.
A big congratulations goes out to all our athletes who represented us proudly.
-Coach Scott
 
Results from the meet are available for download: Ice Breaker Meet 2022 Results