The Elphinstone Secondary School track and field team is on a roll.
Elphi put in a strong showing, placing third at last Tuesday's North Shore zone finals and provincial qualifying meet at Burnaby's Swangard Stadium.
West Vancouver and St. Thomas Aquinas, always powerhouse teams, finished just ahead of Elphi in the overall team standings.
Elphi finished only eight points back from capturing the overall girls' title and second overall - a result that could have been different with a couple more athletes.
"As track and field is not broken down into tiers, we had to go against schools almost three times our size," said coach Tom Daniels "Both West Van and St. Thomas Aquinas had between 45 and 50 athletes there; we had 25 athletes competing. To be one win away from the overall girls title in an event and only 50 points out of first is quite an accomplishment for this young team. "Next year, as everyone moves up a category and we have a more complete team, we are going to make a run at the overall title."
The team overall had 39 top three finishes, capped by the results of Kendra Pomfret, Grade 8, who finished well ahead of the competition in all three of her events, the 800, 1,500 and 3,000 metres.
As a result of her efforts, Kendra was awarded the Grade 8 girls' aggregate award.
Elphi will be sending 12 athletes to the provincials June 3 to 4 in Burnaby.
Brianna Kane will be competing in the 200 and 400 m, Kyla Richey will be in the 200 m, Rachel van Wersch in the 100 m and shot put, Katrina Jones in the 3,000 m, Sam Lyons in the javelin and Tyrell Dempster in the hammer throw.
In addition to the individual athletes, both the boys and girls 4 by 100 and 4 by 400 relay teams qualified. Joining Kyla, Brianna and Rachel on the 4 by 100 team will be Grade 8 Candice Veale, while Kendra will be joining Candice, Brianna and Kyla on the 4 by 400 team. Both these teams are made up of athletes in Grades 8 and 10, and both are already capable of finishing in the top eight in the province, added Daniels.
Joining the girls in the relays will be Patrick Swadden, Jesse Morrissey, Spencer Williams and Brett Jensen, who will all run both the 4 by 100 and the 4 by 400.
"The boys are also in Grade 10, and although they are not expected to make it to the finals this year, they have shown great improvement throughout the season in all their events and show great promise for the future," Daniels said.
Chatelech will also be sending a couple of athletes to the provincial championships. Aaron deJong, winner of the discus competition at the zone finals, will compete in the discus and the shot put, and Michael Fryer will compete in the 2,000 m steeplechase.
