Three Junior high school athletes from Surrey won three medals each at last week’s Fraser Valley Track and Field championships in Coquitlam, topping a long list of local competitors to reach the medal podium in the Grade 9-10 category.
Timothy Delcourt dominated the long distance events, winning three gold medals at the three-day meet. The Kwantlen Park student won the 1,500m race in 4:16.72 seconds, then added a second victory in the 3,000m, his time of 9:32.61 five seconds faster than the runner-up.
Delcourt edged Kwantlen Park teammate Dustin Johnson in the 1,500m steeplechase, winning in 4:47.88. Johnson finished in 4:50.46.
Also winning three medals, including one goal, was sprinter Jasmine Grant of Lord Tweedsmuir. She won the 400m in 58.78 seconds, almost three seconds ahead of the runner-up. Taylor Woodward of Seaquam was third in 1:03.10.
Grant also won a pair of silver medals. She was second in the girls 100m sprint, her time of 12.94 seconds just .12 seconds behind the winner. She also won silver in the 200m, finishing in 26.91 seconds.
Umer Ali of Johnston Heights round out the list of triple-medalists. He won gold in the boys 200m sprint, with a time of 23.93, added a silver in the 100m (just .02 seconds behind the winner), and took the bronze in the long jump, leaping just three centimetres short of the winner.
Other medal-winning efforts in the Junior category:
- Surrey athletes swept the medals in the girls racewalk event, with Colleen Butler of Holy Cross winning in 8:45.48 seconds.
Reagan Smith of Fleetwood Park was the runner-up with a time of 8:53.06, with Stephanie Song of Fraser Heights taking the bronze in 9:29.33.
- Lord Tweedsmuir students finished one-two in the girls javelin. Vanessa Jakubowski won the gold with a throw of 25.93m, with Jenna Elidoros taking second with a toss of 25.05m.
- Matthew Piaseczny of Holy Cross had the fastest time in qualifying, then ran .19 seconds faster in the final of the boys 100m event to win gold.
Piaseczny won his heat race in 11.77 seconds, then won the final in 11.58 seconds.
- Sarah Buckingham of Lord Tweedsmuir won the gold medal in the girls triple jump, her effort of 9.73m almost 40cm further than the runner-up.
- Jessica Tan of Fraser Heights beat the Fraser Valley meet record in the girls pole vault event, but so did gold medalist Kathryn Van Ryswyk of Earl Marriott.
Tan jumped 2.6m to place second, while Van Ryswyk took top spot at 2.7m. The old record was 2.1m set in 2005.
- A pair of students from Lord Tweedsmuir reached the podium in the girls high jump. Rachael Brew and Maddie Freedman both jumped 1.5m, to finished in a three-way tie for second place with Reta Dobie of Elgin Park.
- Nick Smith of Lord Tweedsmuir placed second in the boys high jump with a leap of 1.70m.
- Anbeet Nijjar of Queen Elizabeth was the runner-up in the girls shot put, taking the silver medal with a throw of 9.93m.
- Steven Saito of Fleetwood Park took the silver medal in the boys 300m hurdles in a time of 44.75 seconds.
- Ephraim Tadesse of North Surrey fell short of a gold medal by one-tenth of a second. His time of 2:01.98 seconds in the boys 800m earned him a second place finish. Tadesse won a second silver medal in the 1,500m, his time of 4:16.92 just two-tenths behind the winner.
- A throw of 2.48m lifted Sara Van der Ende of Surrey Christian to a bronze medal in the girls discus.
- Scott Hargrove of Surrey Christian jumped 5.74m in the boys long jump event to win the silver medal.
- Sullivan Heights student Jasmine Gill raced to third place in the girls 800m event with a time of 2:26.50.
- Lord Tweedsmuir placed first in the girls 4x100m with a time of 52.6 seconds. Surrey Christian was third in 53.5 seconds.
- Kwantlen Park took the bronze medal in the boys 4X400m race, crossing the line in 3:48.20.