Eight student athletes from Port Hardy Secondary School have qualified for the 2024 Vancouver Island Championships.
This year’s championships will take place in Port Alberni from May 21-22. This marks the second year that The Whalers will be sending athletes to represent the North Island and PHSS at Islands.
This year’s North Island Championships took place at the Rotary Bowl in Nanaimo, and was hosted by Nanaimo District Secondary School (NDSS). It was a long, hot day in the Rotary Bowls as the North Island athletes arrived early to compete in Race Walk with PHSS having two athletes in the Race. Robert Renehan and Grattan Fossum both gave performances that placed them second and third in their respective divisions, and both avoided disqualification by preforming the proper technique in the event. Robert and Grattan gave gutsy performances in the 1500m steeplechase and 1500m run, finishing 12th and 11th, respectively.
Later on day one, Rianna Sandy, Ciara Talio, Adrian Benede, and Omar Bravo Carranza showed their speed in the 100m dash. Talio had a clean start, but Sandy managed to reach top speed by the 50m point and finished with a personal best time of 15.2 seconds. The senior boy’s heats followed with Benede finishing with a 14.65 but was just edged by his teammate, Carranza, who ran a 14.64. Other performances of the day included an all-out sprint from Alistair Pratt in the 400m as he held on to capture 11th in the 400m dash with a time of 1:03 minutes, and two javelin throwers, Talio and Renehan, who used this track and field meet to continue to develop their throwing technique.
On the second day of events Sandy and Mecca Humphrey both jumped their way into the top three. With both girls setting personal record jumps, 7.81m from Humphrey and 7.78m from Sandy. On the field, PHSS athletes competed in the senior boys Shot Put with Benede throwing a personal record of 6.54m and a long jump from Fossum. The final sprint of day two was the 200m dash with Humphrey and Sandy both representing the school in the event. Sandy ran a tough race finishing with a time of 32.5 seconds. While Humphrey ran through the line at a time of 31.8 seconds.
It was a successful event with all student athletes representing well, but there will be little rest as the team continues to train hard this week in preparation for the Island Championships later in the month.
A big thank you goes out to all those who helped get the team to the event and all the parents who supported their teen’s success at the event. A big thank you goes out to Beckie Book for helping to chaperone the team, and head coach Rocky Chysyk for volunteering his time in helping to prepare the runners and jumpers for the event.