He ran a couple of strong races, but Jerome Blake’s goals of sub-10s and sub-20s will have to wait for another day.
The Burnaby sprinter exited last Thursday’s Harry Jerome Track Classic with a gold (in the 200-metre dash) and silver (100m), shy of posting personal bests at Swangard Stadium.
Blake captured the 200m title and cash prize by finishing in 20.89 seconds, just ahead of Coquitlam’s James Linde. He took second in the 100m open race, a time of 10.42 just behind rival Aaron Brown’s 10.30.
The Kelowna-raised runner moved to Burnaby to train with the Coquitlam Cheetahs. Blake’s personal best stands at 10.20.
Olympian Phylicia George, meanwhile, came away with the same, having won the 100m hurdles and finished second in the 100m dash. The Scarborough, Ont. native topped the 100m hurdles open race with a 13.23 time, and posted a time of 11.58 for silver, just behind Toronto’s Khamica Bingham, who took first at 11.54.
George, who has accomplished the rare feat of competing at both the Summer and Winter Olympics, capturing bronze in the two-woman bobsleigh last year, did well Thursday despite having little time to catch her breath.
“I liked my performances,” George told Brian Pound of the Jerome Classic, “but I’m still trying to find my rhythm. “I was a little more tired than I thought having just 23 minutes between events.”
Posting the eighth-best time in the men’s open 200m dash, New West Secondary alumnus Ben Tjernagel finished in 22.71 seconds.
New West-born Mike Mason delivered a repeat gold, reaching 2.21m in the high jump as he put some distance between himself and a strained hamstring suffered three weeks ago.
His best jump Thursday fell well short of his season-high and world-leading 2.31m, set in April.
“Clearly, there was a little bit of rust on there even if it wasn’t much time off,” Mason told Jerome Classic reporter Gary Kingston. “There were a few jumps that I really hit it and hit it well, like my 2.21. I made that nice and clean.”
The Jerome fits in nicely as a lead-in for a string of meets – the provincials, nationals and Pan Am Games, setting the stage for the world championships, hosted by Qatar in late September.
For Regan Yee, a thrilling final lap saw come up just a tick shy of ‘Mission: Accomplished.’
Despite overcoming an illness, exasperated by an allergic reaction to the prescribed medicine, Yee came just six one-hundredths of a second short of meeting the IAAF world championship qualifying time in the women’s 3000-metre steeplechase event.
She had to chase down Australian Rosie Donegan over the final lap, with the biggest margin 10-metres entering the last stretch, before winning with a time of 9:40.06.
The Hazelton, B.C. native did set a meet mark, however, to earn $3,000 for her troubles.
“I’m so glad (Donegan) was there because she really pushed the pace that last 800,” Yee told Kingston. Getting the IAAF qualifying time remains on her to-do list.
“I know it’s there, but it is just so frustrating to run seven and a half laps, three kilometres, and it comes to like inches.”
Burnaby’s April Armstrong delivered a gold-worthy run before a home crowd.
The Special Olympic-BC Burnaby athlete completed the women’s 100-metre dash in 14.69 seconds, topping Olivia Neuman’s 14.90.
Armstrong, a member of Special Olympics Team Canada, earlier this year competed at the Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi.
Daniel Batson, also of Special Olympics Burnaby, finished fourth in the men’s 100m race.
On the men’s side, Surrey’s Jesse Thibeault edged out brother Zack in the Special Olympics men’s 100m race. Daniel Batson, of Burnaby, finished fourth.
Other notable results for local athletes included Surrey’s Christabel Nettey winning the women’s long jump with a leap of 6.56m, UBC alumna Liz Gleadle placing second in the women’s javelin with a throw of 58.13m, Burnaby’s Lindsey Butterworth’s silver medal in the women’s 800m international race with a time of 2:02.46, just behind American Hannah Green’s time of 2:01.76, and SFU athlete Valda Kabia placing second in the 200m dash with a time of 24.49, behind Khamica Bingham’s 24.06.
Surrey’s Luc Bruchet picked up bronze in the men’s 3000m open event (7:58.54), trailing Americans Reid Buchanan (7:55.09) and Fred Huxham (7:58.14). Burnaby’s Justin Kent, who in the spring celebrated a win in the Sun Run, finished fourth with a time of 8:04.10.
In the women’s high jump, Burnaby-born Emma Kimoto finished third overall, clearing 1.76m, trailing the U.S.’s Amina Smith, who reached 1.88m.
Having recently established a new Canadian women’s marathon record, Vancouver’s Rachel Cliff posted the fourth-quickest time in the 1500m of 4:21.64, trailing fellow Canadian Aurelie Dube-Lavoie’s pace of 4:17.17.
Langley’s Dean Ellenwood captured the national open men’s 800m title with a time of 1:52.85, while Burnaby’s Carlos Vargas finished third (1:53.27). Regina’s Adrea Propp edged out Vancouver’s Devan Wiebe in the national women’s open 800m, while SFU’s Alana Mussatto finished fifth
In the women’s national 1500m race, Ontario’s Lindsey Carson enjoyed nearly a metre-length margin by finishing in 4:23.71, ahead of Vancouver Olympic Club’s Kendra Lewis, who posted a time of 4:27.59.
Tim Longley came first in the men’s national 1500m event with a time of 3:51.63.
New West native and UBC runner Bogdan Pavel finished fifth in the men’s open 110m hurdles. His time of 15.46 seconds trailed American Max Hairston, who won the event with a time of 13.97.
Royal City track and field’s javelin throwers Jarret Chong and J.V. Patry-Smith also competed, with Chong placing fourth in the men’s open division with a distance of 59.28m, while Patry-Smith came seventh in the open women’s with a throw of 41.67m. Burnaby’s Giovanna Janes, a St. Thomas More alumna, placed eighth with a distance of 39.09m.
Burnaby’s Cameron Proceviat crossed the finish line of the international men’s 800m race in eighth place, just a little more than two seconds behind champion Mick Stanovsek of the U.S.
New West Spartans’ Caleigh O’Flaherty, meanwhile, posted a seventh-best time in the women’s open 100m hurdles.
