The fastest race at B.C. High School Track and Field Championship was over in the blink of an eye.
Michael Aono won the men’s final in the 100m in 10.95 seconds, one of two medals earned by the Seaquam Secondary athlete at the two-day competition in Nanaimo.
“I just tried to take it out hard in the first 30 (metres) and then I was pretty confident I could hold the lead after that,” said Aono. “It was a pretty tough field, I’d say, but I just tried to focus on myself and do what I could do.”
It wasn’t his best time of the season, and he said it’s been a rough year recovering from injuries. But he battled through and became B.C. champion in a race he didn’t even run at last year’s provincials.
“It’s always fun. I just love running this race,” he said.
Amarveer Sandhu of Panorama Ridge Secondary won a bronze medal, finishing behind Aono and runner-up Anastasse Eliopoulos of Vancouver College.
Almost immediately after the 100m event, Aono raced the 400m and led until he was passed at the finish line by Quinn Litherland of St. George’s School. Litherland finished in 47.57 second, six one-hundredths of a second ahead of Aono, who settled for a silver medal.
Jasneet Nijjar of Queen Elizabeth Secondary won the gold medal in the women’s 200m race, finishing in 25.28 seconds, .67 quicker than runner-up.
Clayton Heights Secondary long distance runner Christina Sevsek won a pair of silver medals. She was second in the women’s 1,500m with a time of 4:43.17, 6.75 seconds behind winner. Sevsek also took the runner-up placing in the 3,000m race in 10:19.39, 10 seconds behind the first-place runner.
Two other athletes from Surrey schools won bronze medals. Katarina Vlahovic of Fraser Heights Secondary was third in the women’s 100m hurdles in 14.28 seconds, while Tiger Wu of Pacific Academy high school was third in the men’s hammer throw. His toss of 48.32m was 5.18m behind the second place throw.
- with files from Greg Sakaki