As a final foray in high school, St. Thomas More track star Zion Corrales Nelson didn’t delay in going out in style.
The Grade 12 speedster sprinted to three gold medals at the B.C. High School track and field championships, duplicating a feat last accomplished in 1983.
By capturing the senior girls 100-, 200- and 400-metre events, the Cal-Berkeley recruit can say “Mission: Accomplished” in regards to leaving high school athletics on a championship note.
“It definitely was satisfying to cross the finish line, that’s for sure,” Corrales Nelson told the NOW. “I came in wanting the three (gold) and although not every race went the way I had hoped, to win them all in my senior year is something special.”
The 17-year-old spun a pair of firsts on Friday, taking the 100m in a time of 11.85 seconds, ahead of West Point’s Katherine Lucas at 12.13. The St. Thomas More senior’s time was a new personal best, erasing a year-old 11.94 mark.
“That’s what I wanted. Coming off the preliminary (heat) I just wanted to have fun with it, and to get the PB was something I was very happy with.”
With barely time to catch her breath, Corrales Nelson strode to the front of the pack in the 400m in a time of 54.90, ahead of Reynolds’ Lauren D’Agnolo at 56.22.
That it came quickly after she had won the 100m race Friday made it all the more eye-popping.
“It definitely makes it tough having them so close, (because) they are different races to prepare for mentally,” she noted. “I have to run basically from the blocks (in the 100m), then between races it was about mentally preparing, getting a quick massage and then run again.”
Her result the next day in the 200m fell short of expectations but was enough to cap a tremendous high school career and earn her co-Top Female Athlete of the meet award, shared with R.A. McMath’s Camryn Rogers.
Corrales Nelson is the first female sprinter, and only second-ever, to claim the three distances at the provincial meet in 33 years.
The Burnaby native now turns her focus to qualifying for the World junior championships as part of a busy summer.
Burnaby Central’s Nathan Mah collected a silver in senior boys 200m, finishing in 22.97 to St. George’s Quinn Lithersland’s 22.51. The senior boys 4x100m relay scooped up bronze. Read more results in Friday’s NOW.
