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Kelowna-area athletes among the best at provincial T & F championships

The barriers may have been lowered but Kelowna’s Sean Bergman held his head high after defending his provincial 2,000-metre steeplechase title at the B.C. high school track and field championships in Nanaimo.

“A bit embarrassed” by Thomas Nobbs in a 3,000-metre race earlier this season in Kamloops, Bergman finished seven seconds ahead of the Point Grey runner on the weekend to capture gold in a time of 5:51.45.

<who>Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>Sean Bergman ran to a pair of provincial track medals.“Tom crushed me in that race in Kamloops by something like 20 seconds, so I guess it was a bit of redemption for me,” said the Grade 12 Kelowna Secondary School student athlete, who established a provincial record in a 28-man race that for the first time featured 33-inch barriers instead of 36 inches.

“After a slow start to the race (82 seconds for the first lap), I was a little surprised he didn’t stay with me when I made my move midway through the race. But I felt really good and was running comfortably and efficiently,” added Bergman. “I’ll take running alone opposed to having someone over my shoulder any day.”

Bergman, who would go on to add a bronze medal in the provincial 3,000-metre race on Saturday, said the lowered barriers were a welcome sight, although it was the last time he would be able to take advantage of the change.

“It makes quite a difference, especially for a smaller guy (5-foot-9) like me,” conceded the 17-year-old, who will revert to the 36-inch barriers and the longer 3,000-metre version of the steeple as he sets his sights on qualifying for the Canadian junior championships in Edmonton and IAAF World junior championships (Kazan, Russia) later this summer.

Bergman will begin his bid for national and international competition this weekend at the Jesse Bent Memorial Cheetah meet in Coquitlam. It will be his first crack at the longer event, while he’ll get a second chance at the Harry Jerome International Track Classic on June 17.

<who>Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>KSS's Chet Goerzen claimed bronze in 2,000-metre steeplechase.To qualify for the Worlds, Bergman would have to reach the standard of 9:10 and be among the top two finishers in the country.

“I understand that most of the top juniors in Canada will be at the Harry Jerome, so who qualifies for the Worlds will likely be decided there.”

Looking beyond the summer, Bergman will be in Vancouver for his first year at the University of B.C., where he’ll run (and jump) for the Thunderbirds and begin his studies in engineering.

While Bergman was a runaway winner in the steeplechase, the 3,000-metres on Saturday was a tight tactical race that saw him take the lead after three laps and hold it until the final 200 metres when Brendan Hoff of Reynolds Secondary in Victoria broke away from the pack and sprinted to the finish line in a meet record time of 8:39.33. Bergman was also passed by Nobbs (8:42.75) and finished third in a time of 8:44.66.

Because of a pedestrian start, Bergman, whose PB is 8:36, set two years ago, said he felt the need to step up the pace and did just that at about 1,000 metres. But although running solidly, he couldn’t shake Nobbs and Hoff, who stayed with him stride for stride.

<who>Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>Surprise silver for Rutland Voodoos' Davis Hughes-Geekie.“Ideally, I like to sit behind the leader and see what happens from there,” noted Bergman. “But because of the slow start, I thought I had to make things happen.”

In hindsight, he said he would have done things differently.

“Obviously, my strategy didn’t work that well.”

Meanwhile, KSS and OAC teammate, Chet Goerzen, wouldn’t have changed anything about his performance on the weekend, running to a bronze medal in the steeplechase in a personal-best time of 6:03.16. He finished fourth in the 3,000 metres with a clocking of 8:50.31, two seconds short of his PB.

Running in fourth place most of the steeplechase event, Goerzen overtook Matthew Thomson of Royal Bay (Victoria) about 800 metres from the finish line. Knowing what Bergman and Nobbs were capable of helped in his bid for a medal.

“I knew those two would be hard to catch, so I just wanted to stay close to the rest of the pack. I concentrated on running as well as I possibly could. I was very happy with the way things turned out.”

A breakthrough club and high school season has paid off for the 17-year-old, who has been running at KSS since his Grade 10 year. He’s slated to join the University of Victoria Vikes track team this fall.

<who>Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>George Elliot's Taryn O'Neill earned a gold and bronze at B.C. junior track and field championships in Nanaimo. In the meantime, he’ll be preparing to compete at his first Canadian junior championships in Edmonton. He’ll also join Bergman, his future CIS opponent, at the Jesse Bent Memorial this weekend and the annual Jack Brow Memorial at the Apple Bowl July 1-3.

Davis Hughes-Geekie of Rutland Secondary is also considering joining Goerzen and Bergman at the CIS level this fall after finishing his high school career in spectacular fashion in Nanaimo.

<who>Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>Jesse Benneke of Mt. Boucherie ran to silver and bronze.The final qualifier for the eight-man 800-metre final with a time of 1:58 in the preliminary race, Hughes-Geekie wasn’t expected to be a contender for a medal in the championship event. And even coming down the stretch, it looked as though he wouldn’t make it to the podium.

But with about 10 metres to go, he stunned the field by dashing through a small hole in the leading pack to claim the silver medal with a time of 1:56.14. Although the clocking was short of this personal-best of 1:55.03, the Grade 12 Voodoo conceded the finish was definitely a highlight of his high school running.

“It was really all a blur,” said the 18-year-old. “Thinking back, I guess there was a bit of a gap there at the end, but at the time, all I saw was the finish line and I gave it a final kick at the end. It was a great race for me and an incredible race overall.”

Hughes-Geekie, a member of the OAC since his Grade 7 year, has yet to decide on attending UBC Okanagan or the University of Victoria.

The only other senior from the Central Okanagan to medal was Mt. Boucherie’s Austin Sandrin, who claimed a bronze medal in the javelin, despite being hampered by a recurring back injury. His third-place throw was 51.83 metres.

<who>Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>Bryn Walsh of KSS won a bronze in the junior pole vault and <br>finished fourth in the 100 metres.The junior division championships saw Taryn O’Neill of George Elliot Secondary lead the 1,500 metre race from wire to wire, but needed a strong kick at the finish to record a personal-best time of 4:42.61 for the gold medal. Her previous best time was 4:50.

O’Neill also claimed a bronze medal in the 800 metres with a clocking of 2:19.86, two seconds off her PB. The Grade 10 student, who missed a month of training with a “mystery injury”, will focus this summer on the steeplechase and 3,000 metres with a goal of running at the national Canadian Legion championships (15-16-year-olds) in August in Quebec.

Overall it was an outstanding performance from the group of middle distance runners coached by Canadian Olympian Malindi Elmore and Teegan Scotch of the OAC.

“I have to say this is an awesome group that works really hard and the runners are really good at racing their best on the day,” said Elmore, a former B.C. high school champion in the 1,500 while at KSS. “I saw really gutsy races from all of them. It was very inspiring seeing them all go out and work hard and compete to the best of their ability. That’s all anyone can ask for. When it results in breakthrough performances, as it did for many of them, then it’s even better.”

<who>Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>Grade 8 Madelyn Hettinga of Kelowna Christian School finished first in the provincial 80-metre hurdlesThe Kelowna-area sprinters were led by Mt. Boucherie’s Jesse Benneke, who ran to a silver medal in the junior 200-metre dash with a time of 23.17 seconds. Kevin Hughes of Langley Secondary won the race in 23.11.

Benneke also earned a bronze medal in the 100 metres with a clocking of 11.45 seconds, the same time as Hughes. Kenny Blackman of Surrey Christian led the field in the final in 11.27.

Phoebe Price-Roberts of Aberdeen Hall, a triple winner at both the Central Okanagan and Valley championships, earned a provincial junior silver in the hammer throw with a distance of 47.19 metres. Mateya Haintz of Maple Ridge took the gold (47.92). Price-Roberts also placed fifth among 26 throws in the javelin (34.28) and sixth among 29 competitors in the junior discus event.

<who>Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>KCS Knights' Kristen Naude finished second in the 80-metre hurdles and third in the 200 hurdles. Kelowna Secondary’s Bryn Walsh reached 2.60 metres to win bronze medal in the junior girls pole vault while she finished fourth in the 100-metre final with a time of 12.83 metres.

George Elliot's Kyle Barker contributed a bronze medak to the Central Okanagan medal haul by winning bronze in the junior javelin event with a heave of 46.94 metres.

Rounding out the junior medal winners from the Central Okanagan was the Dr. Knox 4x100 relay team with a time of 51.22 seconds.

The Grade 8 provincial championships had Lindsay Maier of Dr. Knox Middle School run to gold in the 400 metres. She was the only runner among 25 to break the one-minute plateau, taking first place with a time of 59.02 seconds in the final. Maier also placed sixth in the 200 meters with a clocking of 28.16 seconds.

Kelowna Christian School finished one-two in the provincial Grade 8 girls 80-metre hurdles. Madelyn Hettinga led the field with a time 12.90 seconds while schoolmate Kristin Naude claimed the silver in 13.09.

Naude went on to earn a bronze medal in the 200-metre hurdles (31.22).



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