Thunderbirds excel at BCA Jamboree

Thunderbird athletes had a great weekend at the recent BC Athletics Jamboree in Coquitlam, BC, July 13 – 15, winning a total of 28 medals and had 39 personal best performances.

In the Midget Girls, Hayley Madden, competing in her first Jamboree, had 4 personal bests and finished 5^th in the M14 girls 200m in 28.24.  She also took part in Long Jump, Triple Jump, 100m and 300m races. Michelle Yee qualified for both the 100 and 200m finals finishing with a personal best of 26.41 in the 200m, and won Silver in the M15 Triple Jump. Sophie Pauls picked up two medals in the Shot Put (Bronze - 9.30m) and the Long Jump (Silver – 5.23m), and also jumped 1.50m in High Jump for a 4^th place finish.

For the Midget Boys, Matthew Chan had a fantastic meet picking up medals in each of the four events her contested: Long Jump (Gold – 5.53m), 100m (Silver – 11.93),  200m (Bronze – 23.93), 300m (Bronze – 38.04). Haiminh Nguyen, in his first ever Jamboree, competed admirably in the Shot Put (Bronze 11.73m) and the Discus (5^th – 31.29m).

In the Youth Girls, Sajeda Win had a breakthrough meet with personal bests in the 100m and 200m events.  Her 100m time of 12.48 won her the Silver; her first ever Jamboree medal, and her 200m best of 26.05 was good enough for 5^th in a hotly contested 200m final. Emily Lim, Natalie Cryderman and Cherry Lam also had personal best performances in the events in which they took part.

In the Youth Boys, Andrew De Visser hurdled his way onto the BC Team for the Canadian Legion Championships with two personal bests in the 100m Hurdles; running 14.76 in the heats and a blazing 14.51 in winning gold in the final.  He also picked up silver medals in the Long Jump (6.41m) and 300m Hurdles (39.76). Matthew So also qualified for Team BC winning Silver in the 800m in a time of 1:55.99.  Thomas Yang, Christian Favreau, and Matthew Taylor also had personal best performances in their events.

In the Junior Women, Katrina Allison lopped a whopping 8 seconds off her time in the 3000m to not only win the Gold medal but also qualified for Team BC at the Canadian Junior Championships.  Her time of 9:55.88 was her first time under 10 minutes. Emily Huser picked up three Silver medals in the jumping events: Triple Jump (10.84m), High Jump (1.55m PB), and Pole Vault (2.20m). Carmalita Robertson picked up a Silver and Bronze in the Long Jump (5.19m) and Triple Jump (10.52m).

The Junior Men picked up 7 medals.  Christian Gravel won Gold in the Junior Men’s 1500m in a tactical race in a time of 4:02; the win qualifying Christian for the BC Team going the National Juniors in Winnipeg.  Decathletes Jacob Powrie and Ben Daly-Grafstein also made Team BC and took part in individual events to prepare for the Decathlon in Winnipeg. Jacob picked up a Silver in the Shot Put (13.26m) and a Bronze in the Pole Vault (3.80m), while Ben picked up a Gold in the 110m Hurdles (15.21) and two Silvers in the Long Jump (6.39m) and Pole Vault (3.80m).  Bashir Khan and Youle Chen made it a Gold, Silver finish in the Junior Men’s High Jump.  Bashir cleared 2.00m for the third time this season while Youle cleared 1.95m for a new personal best.

In the Senior Men, Justin Marpole-Bird ran a spirited 1500m; staying with the pack for 3 laps, Justin turned it on in the final 300m clocking a time of 3:47.99 for the Gold.

For more result from the 2012 BCA Jamboree click HERE