Thursday May 21, Swangard Stadium was the setting for this year’s North Shore/Howe Sound High School Championships. More than 20 secondary schools from North and West Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler and the Sunshine Coast competed for a mere three spots to advance to the Provincial Championships June 4 to 6 in Langley.
Larry Nightingale, who now coaches both the Chatelech and Elphinstone Secondary teams as divisions of Sunshine Coast Athletics, said he had a good idea of which athletes were going to advance to provincials based on performances leading up to last week’s zone final, “but it’s amazing to watch everything work out better than expected.”
Here are some of the highlights of last Thursday’s zone final that qualified athletes for the provincials:
•Lily Riggs of Elphinstone won three gold medals for junior girls javelin, hammer throw and discus, all in personal record performances.
•Alex Nightingale of Chatelech won gold in senior boys 400 metre dash and bronze in the 800 metre run, both in new personal best times.
•Theo Kontekakis of Chatelech, fighting a bad cold, also won gold in senior boys shot put.
•Lucy Schick of Elphinstone tripled with silver in junior girls 1500 metre steeple chase, bronze in 400 metre dash and qualified in the 800 metre run.
•Noah Woodin of Elphinstone won silver in Grade 8 boys 1500 metre and 3000 metre.
•Nick Davis of Elphinstone took silver in Grade 8 boys 100 metre dash.
•Jacob Chabot of Chatelech won bronze in junior boys 400 metre dash.
•Sage Randle of Chatelech also qualified for provincials with her performance in the 3000 metre run.
