They brought the youth. They also went home with the medals.
The Burnaby Striders sent a small group of teenage track athletes to last week’s Harry Jerome Indoor Track and Field Invitational in Richmond, resulting in three gold medals and a couple of personal bests.
Twelve-year-olds Jaeland Cummings and Darius Louis-Charles topped their respective 60-metre dashes, one a debut performance.
Cummings topped the girls event with a time of 8.54 seconds, while Louis-Charles won the boys race in 9.19 seconds.
“(Cummings) did phenomenal to come in first and it was a personal best (by 0.08 seconds),” said Striders junior development coach Barbara Vogt. “This is her third year running with us.
“In her first year she was always making the final but didn’t get any medals... She came to me last year and said ‘I want to get the medals.’ I told her okay, but you have to work really, really hard. And she did.”
Louis-Charles, meanwhile, is relatively new to the club and has made enormous strides developing as a runner.
“I told him to focus past the finish line,” said Vogt, noting the teen had a tendency, like many his age, of easing up just before the tape. “He was just flying, he didn’t slow down.
“It was a personal best and it was the first track meet he’s ever ran.”
Katelyn Malmquist, 14, also scored a first-place result for the club in the 14-15 girls 300m race.
Malmquist’s finishing time of 44.94 seconds wasn’t a personal best but continued in a forward progress as a runner.
“Last year she began to really take off and everyone was asking ‘Where did she come from?’ Her personal best is 43.54, but this race was her first from the blocks and she tripped out of the blocks...
“She went ‘Oh oh, I have to hoof it,’ and finished in a flourish.”
The club’s other runner, Nathan Mah, placed sixth in the men’s 18-34 60m dash in 7.35 seconds, not far off of winner Stephen Abosi of UBC’s 6.93 time.
