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Regina 2005: Canada Summer Games Team BC Athletics Journals
August 16, 2005
From Ryan Sullivan, on location in Regina
Day One Summary
Team BC started off the competition in the best possible way with Sean LaForest winning gold on his first throw of the Hammer competition. Gene Way wheeled himself to a solid Bronze Medal placing in the 5000m following the winner who lapped the entire field and finished a full 2 minutes faster than his nearest competitor.
Kristen Kolstad and Shannon Elmer were locked in a battle for 3rd with a pack of five other runners, chasing a comfortable 2nd place and an untouchable front runner. In the excitement of the final two laps, Kolstad and Elmer focused so much on the battle for position, they did not notice passing the fading competitor who had held onto 2nd for the entire race. In the end, Kolstad ended up 3rd and Elmer 4th.
Making their respective finals despite being beaten in their heats were Kevin Lim and Geoff Martinson. Both athletes now have a second chance at the medal podium. Triple Jumper Chad Connatty's "6m first hop" (in Ron Parker's words) did not stop him from making the final. Throwers Rob Negrin, Kelsey DeCammillis, Makeala Patterson and many others listed below as qualified for event finals.
Those not included today will be mentioned in the Day Two update.
Overall, the team is adjusting well to the trip. With many finals scheduled, today will prove to be big for all athletes, coached and mission staff.
Results - Men
Decathlon - Aaron Dixon - 6th Overall (After Day One) - 3187
100m - 11.66
LJ - 6.25m
SP - 10.09m
HJ - 1.81m
400m - 52.58
100m - Preliminaries
Justin Kripps - 11.18 - Q for Consolation Final
Blake Strukoff - 10.93 - Q for Consolation Final
100m - Consolation Final
Blake Strukoff - 10.87 - 8th Overall
Justin Cripps - 11.13 - 14th Overall
400m - Preliminaries
Kevin Lim - 49.64 - 4th in heat - Q 8th for Final
Jarid Vaughan - 49.07 - 2nd in heat - Q 5th for Final
5000m - Wheelchair - Final
Gene Wey - 15:27.15 - Bronze Medal
5000m - Final
Ryan Day - 14:47.92 - 6th
800m - Preliminaries
Mark Wilkie - 1:56.98 - Q 11th for Consolation Final
Geoff Martinson - 1:55.38 - Q 8th for Final
Discus - Preliminaries
Rob Negrin - 40.55 - Q 6th for Final
Hammer - Final
Sean LaForest - 56.72m - Gold Medal
High Jump - Preliminaries
Mike Mason - 1.91m - Q Tied 1st for Final
Ralph Botha - 1.88m - Q Tied 4th for Final
Triple Jump - Preliminaries
Chad Connatty - 13.34 - Q 12th for Final
Results - Women
100m - Preliminaries
Liza Whitehead - 12.19 - Q 9th for Consolation Final
Billie White-Gibson - 12.04 - Q 4th for Final
100m Consolation Final
Liza Whitehead - 12.17 - 5th Overall
100m Final
Billie White-Gibson - 12.05 - 4th Overall
400m Preliminaries
Grace Dunnigan - 58.26 - Q 9th for Consolation Final
Lauren Siebel - 56.99 - Q 5th for Final
5000m Final
Kristen Kolstad - 17:23.70 - Bronze Medal
Shannon Elmer - 17:24.51 - 4th Overall
800m
Alexandra Krasovska - 2:15.15 - Q 11th for Consolation Final
Heather Mancell - 2:17.07 - Q 14th for Consolation Final
Long Jump - Preliminaries
Janessa Chin-Aleong - 4.87m - 13th
Shot Put - Preliminaries
Kelsey DeCammillis - 11.74m - Q 5th for Final
Mikaela Patterson - 11.04m - Q 8th for Final
Day Two Summary
Day Two was a more forgiving day for Team BC, both in the race for medals and for Flag Points*. Lauren Siebel, running out of lane 8 in the 400m final, used a late kick over to pass several competitors in the last 100m and win the silver medal. Clearing 2.15m on his third attempt made Mike Mason an easy winner in the men's high jump.
Kelsey Decamillis got the throwers started with a bronze medal in the women's shot put. Chelsea Payne and Rochelle Kokayko battled in a close women's hammer throw holding onto 2nd and 3rd place until a big throw in the closing rounds by Regina's Megan Ried (55.38m) bumped Payne to the bronze medal and Kokayko to 4th. Curtis Moss finished off the throw qualifying 1st overall in the men's javelin with a performance in excess of 61 metres.
Joel Primus ran a beautiful tactical race to qualify for the men's 1500m final, while Richard Mosely was not quite so patient, leading his heat from wire to wire to effortlessly qualify for the final as well. While the team did not win as many medals as they would have liked (with many 4th place finishes) everyone supported one another, being around to cheer all team mates when they were not competing. The team presence was impossible to ignore. Mike Mason had this to say after his gold medal performance, "It was your cheers that got me over 2.15m on my third attempt." Wednesday is a rest day for athletics, and the team will be supporting Team BC Volleyball in their make-or-break game against Quebec. The team has prepared cheers and coordinated movements, and in doing so has really come together as a great group...Until tomorrow.
*Flag Points is a scoring system that is unique to the Summer Games. The top 25 finishers score points for their province. First place scores 100 points and each proceeding place scores 2 points less (100, 98, and 96 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, down to 56, 54, and 52, for 23rd, 24th, and 25th). Strangely, if a province finishes 24th and 25th place, they score more Flag Points (106) than the athlete who wins the gold medal. As a result, after day one Team BC stood 6th overall in the Flag Points ranking.
Results - Men
Decathlon - Aaron Dixon - 4th Overall - Final Day
110mH - 16.27
Discus - 32.07m
PV - 3.90m
Javelin - 46.09m
1500m - 5:00.33
110mH - Preliminaries
Chad Connatty - 15.10 - Q for Final
110mH - Final
Chad Connatty - 15.11 - 4th Overall
1500m - Preliminaries
Joel Primus - 3:58.44 - Q 10th for Final
Richard Mosely - 3:56.89 - Q 1st for Final
1500m Wheelchair - Preliminaries
Karsten Renaerts - DSQ
Jospeh Sippel - 1:24.11 - Q for Final
400m - Final
Jarid Vaughan - 48.92 - 4th Overall
Kevin Lim - 50.06 - 8th Overall
High Jump - Final
Mike Mason - 2.15m - Gold Medal
Ralph Botha - 1.91m - Tied for 9th Overall
Javelin - Preliminaries
Curtis Moss - 61.40m - Q 1st for Final
Andrew Spiro - DNF
Triple Jump - Final
Chad Connatty - 12.11 - 10th Overall
4x100m - Preliminaries
Blake Strukoff, Justin Kripps, Joel Halcro, Leo Murray - 41.84 - Q
for Final
Results - Women
1500m - Preliminaries
Kristen Kolstad - 4:37.19 - Q for Final
Meredith MacGregor - 4:44.85 - 13th Overall
100mH - Preliminaries
Corri Fell - 14.73 - Q for Final
100mH - Final
Corri Fell - 14.41 - 4th Overall
4x100m - Preliminaries
TEAM BC - Liza Whitehead, Whitney Wellington, Corri Fell, Billie
Whitegibson - 47.86 - Q for Final
400m - Final
Lauren Siebel - 55.13 - Silver Medal
Hammer - Final
Chelsea Payne - 54.01 - Bronze Medal
Rochelle Kokayko - 53.69 - 4th Overall
HJ - Preliminaries
Gabrielle Payne - Q 8th for Final
Karly Neveu - 13th Overall
Pole Vault - Final
Heather Zavaduk - 3.50m - Tied for 4th Overall
Kim Rawkins - 3.30m - Tied for 7th Overall
Shot Put - Final
Kelsey Decamillis - 12.55m - Bronze Medal
August 19, 2005
From Ryan Sullivan, on location in Regina
Note: Please excuse the missing results. It has been a very busy day at the track and I did not have time to make a note of everything. For complete day 3 results check the Canada Games site. Included here is a written summary and the results I was able to collect so far.
Day Three Summary
Day 3 at Canada Games Track (formerly Douglas Park) marked the beginning of the women's heptathlon for Team BC Cloe Hewiit and Adelle Johns. Their first event was the 100mh hurdles where Adelle ran 15.05 (805pts) and Cloe ran 15.84 (734pts). After the end of the final day (100mh, high jump, shot put, 200m) Adelle sits in 7th place (2711pts) and Cloe in 9th place (2589).
Lauren Seibel and Whitney Wellington advanced to the 200m final. Lauren again finished strongly to grab the bronze medal while Whitney closed her individual competition with and 8th place overall finish. Alexandra Krasovska and Heather Mancell both came back with good performances in the 800m consolation final. Krasovksa finished 2nd (10th overall) in 2:12.99 and Mancell finished 5th (13th overall) in 2:14.42.
In the men's 800m preliminaries Mark Wilkie opened with a 54 second lap and held on to finish in 1:54.47 to finish 10th overall. Geoff Martinson unknowingly benefited from a disqualification and moved into the bronze medal position. While he was not pleased with being awarded the medal in this fashion, he was pleased with his personal best time of 1:51.28. As a fan watching the effort from the stands, his responses to moves and tactics during the race amongst runners with far superior personal best make him worthy of the prize.
In the field events Gabrielle Payne claimed 8th place jumping 1.60m, although Coach Parker claims it would have been much higher without her "thick socks". Despite this, both coach and Athlete were pleased with the result. Rob Negrin continued the Team BC trend by finishing 4th place in the discus with a throw of 43.12. He and team-mate Jeff Wallis later in the day qualified in the men's shot put for the final, as did the men's and women's 4x100m and 4x400m teams.
Leo Murray helped close the day qualifying 5th for the men's long jump final, alongside Janessa Chin Aleong in the women's triple jump and Mikaela Patterson in the women's discus. Piper Hayes won everyone's heart with her wide grin en route to 4th place in the women's 10000m. Steeplechasers Shannon Elmer and Meredith MacGregor valiantly finished 7th and 10th place overall to end a very long competitive season.
Results - Men
1500m Wheelchair - Final
Wey, Gene - 4:39.03 - 5th Overall
Sippel, Joseph - 5:50.20 - 10th Overall
200m - Preliminaries
Joel Halcro - 22.23 - Q 10th for Consolation Final
Jarid Vaughan - 21.95 - Q 4th for Final
200m - Consolation
Joel Halcro - 22.29 - 9th Overall
200m - Final
Jarid Vaughan - 21.81 - 4th Overall
Steeplechase - Final
Morgan Titus - 9:20.21 - 4th Overall
Nick Walker - 9:41.88 - 6th Overall
4x400m - Preliminaries
British Columbia Team - 3:23.28 Q for Final
400H - Preliminaries
Andrew Cooke - 55.14 - Q for Final
Mike Averill - 57.03 - Q for Consolation Final
800m - Consolation
Mark Wilkie - 1:54.47 - 10th Overall
800m - Final
Martinson, Geoff - 1:51.28 - Bronze Medal
Discus - Final
Rob Negrin - 43.12 - 4th Overall
Long Jump - Preliminaries
Leo Murray - 6.88m - Q for Final
Shot Put - Preliminaries
Jeff Wallis - 14.8m - Q for Final
Rob Negrin - 14.05 - Q for Final
August 20, 2005
From Ryan Sullivan, on location in Regina
Day Four Summary
The final day of competition! It was a breath of fresh air for the coaches and athletes to finally arrive here. Long technical meetings each morning were beginning take their toll on the coaching staff and the athletes were becoming frustrated with the seemingly endless number of 4th place finishes. It did not take long for this latter trend to change.
The day began with the women's 4x100m who seamlessly passed the baton around the track using their superior team speed to take to the gold medal. Their place on the podium foreshadowed things to come. All of those team members not in competition formed a large cheering section that would not disband all day. Team BC would not be overcome, despite the unpredictable weather and the stress of a long season.
Mikaela Patterson launched the discus 43.80m, matching her distance in qualification and tossing a bronze into the Team BC medal haul. On the track, Lauren Welch, the picture of consistency and graceful technique, had a strong finish in the women's 400mh final, earning another bronze medal. Melissa Appelt, who was just short of the final, ran spectacularly in the consolation final leading wire to wire and finishing in 1:02.88—a time that would have placed her 5th in the final. Toughness anyone?
The moment of the day came during one very hectic period of time. Matt Clifford had secured gold in the men's pole vault and was attempting a personal best of 5.00m. Only a few feet away Curtis Moss had a huge personal best in the javelin, winning gold with a throw of 68.37m just off of the Canada Games Record. Likewise, Jeff Wallis battled to win the bronze medal in the men's shot put, while Rob Negrin was 4th place in the same event. Finally, Leo Murray was warming up for the men's long jump final where he would clear 7 metres to take silver (7.14m).
At the same time on the track, Kiran Aujlay wheeled to a gold medal in the 400m and the women's 4x400m claimed the silver medal in a tight race. As the drama unfolded, it was quite funny to watch the Mission Staff run from event to event calling in each spectacular result to headquarters—a very memorable time for everyone involved.
The women's heptathlon concluded with Cloe Hewitt in 5th place and Adelle Johns in 7th place. In the men's 10000m Ryan Day was 4th and Eric Findlay was 5th. The men's 4x400m was narrowly edged from the medals, finishing in 4th place. I encourage you to check out all results at the following link:
www.2005jeuxducanadagames.ca/english/index.html
Although the competition was over, the team had to fill the day as they had a 9:00am check-out time on Saturday with a flight that only left for home at 4:00am on Sunday morning. The team headed to the bronze medal game in women's volleyball to watch BC take on Alberta before taking a team picture with all the BC Athletes who participated in sports during Week 2. After a few relaxing hours at the U of Regina campus (where competition eating habits were neglected for a few extra trips to the dessert coolers) the team jumped on the bus and departed for the closing ceremonies at Taylor Field. The team traded uniforms with many different provinces before leaving for the Athletics team dinner.
When at last we arrived, a weary bunch at our final destination, it was 5:00am in Vancouver. As a result of the hour, there were no long good-byes or much time to reflect on our time away. But from the many earlier conversations we had about the function and performance of the team as a whole, I can confidently say with the support of all other coaching staff that BC was well represented this year. We appreciated the athletes' poise and maturity and recognize the importance of each of your contributions throughout the year, as they help make having such a team possible.
Best of luck to you and your athletes,
2005 Canada Summer Games Team BC Coaches/ Managers