Dan Olson
[email protected]
A couple of key strides proved to be the separation between first and second among the boys teams at the Burnaby-New West-Richmond track and field zone meet last week.
By a margin of nine points over R.A. McMath, the Burnaby Central Wildcats retained their title and will head to next week’s provincials with a large team.
“Richmond comes with tonnes of kids,” remarked Wildcats coach Randy Kamiya. “We’ve been first in our district fo a long time, and we’re pleased that we’ve done so well at the districts.”
In the girls aggregate, Burnaby Central finished third, just 2.50 points back of second-place New West.
In third place was Burnaby South.
Leading the way for the Wildcats was Grade 12 sprinter Nathan Mah, who strode his way to gold in both the 100- and 200-metre senior dashes. Mah beat out New Westminster’s Ben Tjernagel in both, finishing the 100m in 10.70 seconds to the New West runner’s 10.80, and topping the 200m with a time of 21.60, compared to 22.10.
“When we saw (Mah’s time) in the 100 we were feeling pretty excited,” said Kamiya. “He’s been consistently under 11 (seconds) for most of the year.”
Mah, who has committed to Simon Fraser University’s track program for the fall, also contributed to first-place results in the 4x100 and 4x400m relays. The first relay was won by two seconds ahead of Richmond’s Matthew McNair Secondary; the 4x400 relay victory was nearly seven seconds quicker than H.B. Cambie.
“(Mah’s) usually the anchor but we put Nathan first in the 4x400m just to send a message to other teams.”
That message apparently was ‘Can’t catch me.’
It applied in the jumps, too, as Marco Sherwood won the senior triple jump, clearing 12.49m, then finished second in the long jump. Teammate Dmitri Williamson emerged with the long jump title with a height of 6.16m. He also scooped bronze, placing third in the 100m dash.
Taking the other senior boys gold for the district was Burnaby Mountain’s Andrew Woinoski, with a high jump of 1.75m.
In the girls section, Burnaby South’s Jennifer Shannon went the distance to pick up three medals, winning both the senior girls 1500- and 3000m races.
Shannon dominated the 1500, posting a stellar time of 5:06.10, 20 seconds ahead of Central’s Natasha Louis. In the 3000m race, she beat McMath’s Hannah Pieritz with a finish time of 11:35.60, nearly 12 seconds quicker than her nearest rival.
Shannon also placed second in the 800m race, finishing behind New West’s Emily Chilton.
In junior girls, Logan Bovell doubled up on her winnings, topping the 100m with a time of 12.10 -- edging out Burnaby Central teammate Sylvia Ly, then took the 200m title in a time of 24.90.
On the boys side, Charles Yu proved too fleet for his rivals, collecting both the junior 1500- and 3000m races. In the 1500 event, he finished in 4:36.00, nearly five seconds ahead of teammate Daniel Yu. Charles Yu’s win in the 3000 event came in 10:02.80, six seconds faster than his nearest competitor.
Also netting a well-deserved gold was Byrne Creek’s Andreas Kobryn in the junior shot put, hitting a distance of 10.70m, just ahead of brother Aleksander’s 9.58m.
At the Grade 8 level, Burnaby South’s Katelyn Malmquist put her name on the map with a triple crown of gold -- winning the girls 100-, 200- and 400m dashes. Topping the girls long jump was Burnaby Mountain’s Sophia Vivero.
Alex Shen set the pace in the Grade 8 boys 800m race for Burnaby North, striding off with the gold. In the 3000m run, Burnaby Mountain’s Kosta Adzic finished first.
Here are more Burnaby district results: GIRLS, Gr. 8 - Quinn Bovell, BC, 4th 100m; Awek Deng, BS, 2nd 200m; Annie Fadel, BM, 4th discus; Laini Glover, BS, 4th jav; Christina Heslop, BC, 3rd 1500m, 4th 3000m; Zuzanna Liniewski, BN, 2nd s/p, discus; Katelyn Malmquist, BS, 1st 100m, 200m, 400m; Kate O’Shea, BC, 3rd 200m; Lauren Sidhu, AL, 2nd 400m, 4th 200m; Sophia Vivero, BM, 1st l/j; Kylie Wong, AL, 4th 800m. Junior - Bailey Booth, Byrne 3rd 100m; Logan Bovell, BC, 1st 100m, 200m; Yiota Gialleli, BM, 4th t/j; Sylvia Ly, BC, 2nd 100m; Ashlynne Stairs, BC, 2nd 1500m; Stephanie Zaborniak, BS, 2nd 3000m, 4th 1500m. Senior - Laura Choo, BC, 4th 400m; Lauren Gaffney, BM, 2nd jav, 3rd l/j; Peggie Hsu, BN, 3rd jav; Natasha Louie, BC, 2nd 1500m; Emily Makihara, BM, 4th discus; Jennifer Shannon, BS, 1st 1500m, 3000m, 2nd 800m; Irene Vergeychik, BS 4th 100m, 200m; Rachel Wong, MO, 3rd t/j.
BOYS, Gr. 8 - Kosta Adzic, BM, 1st 3000m, 2nd 1500m; Kristofer Fadi, BM, 3rd 200m; Giovanni Ferraresso, BCr, 3rd jav; Nikhil Hirani, BM, 4th jav; Alex Shen, BN, 1st 800m, 3rd 1500m; Jerry Sun, BM, 2nd 800m, 3rd 400m; Oza Tarigan, BM, 4th 100m; Sidharth Thakur, BCr, 4th discus. Junior - Michael Arias, BC, 3rd jav, 4th s/p; Aiden Guld, AL, 3rd 3000m; Shea Janke, BS, 4th 3000m; Aleksander Kobryn, BCr, 2nd s/p; Andreas Kobryn, BCr, 1st s/p, 4th discus; Kurtis Li, BS, 2nd discus, 3rd 100m; David Ligocki, BC, 3rd 400m, 4th 200m; Kaito McKelvie, BN, 2nd l/j, 3rd t/j, 4th h/j; Diego Medrano, BS, 2nd 100m; Gavin Theys, BC, 4th 1500m; Michael Xie, BN, 2nd h/j; Alastair Yeung, BM, 2nd t/j; Charles Yu, BC, 1st, 1500m, 3000m; Daniel Yu, BC, 2nd 1500m; Eric Zhang, BC, 2nd 800m. Senior - Victor Dinamarca, BN, 3rd discus, 4th jav; Nick Lim, BM, 3rd s/p, 4th discus; Matthew Mah, BC, 3rd 400m; Nathan Mah, BC, 1st 100m, 200m; Alex Manak, MO, 2nd 3000m, 4th jav; Marko Sherwood, BC, 1st t/j, 2nd l/j; Dmitri Williamson, BC, 1st l/j, 3rd 100m; Andrew Woinoski, BM, 1st h/j, 4th 800m.
