BC Teams Shine at the 2022 Bell Canadian Track & Field Championships

BC Athletes Shine at the 2022 Bell Canadian Track & Field Championships

From June 22nd-26th, the best Canadian Track and Field athletes gathered in the Township of Langley’s McLeod Athletic Park to compete at the 2022 Bell Canadian Track and Field Championships.

As part of the BC Team program, we were excited to name 70 U20, Senior and Para athletes and 8 Team Staff to the BC Team.  This team excelled in their events, taking home 19 GOLD medals, 11 SILVER medals, 5 BRONZE medals, 65 TOP 10 performances, and 17 PERSONAL BEST performances. 
 
Our Combined Events athletes kicked off the Championships, Rostam Turner (Okanagan Athletic Club) took the gold medal after two gruelling days and 10 events with a score of 7075 points. 
 
On the track, Kootenay Chaos athlete, Matti Erickson dominated the U20 Men’s 800m and U20 Men’s 1500m, winning a gold medal in both events, Olivia Lundman (Nanaimo Track & Field Club) set a Meet Record in the U20 Women’s 10km Race walk. Senior men, Evan Dunfee (Race Walk West) and Ben Thorne (Unattached) went 1st and 2nd in the 20km Race Walk.

Para athlete, Liam Stanley (Prairie Inn Harriers) took home gold medals in the Men’s Para Ambulatory 800m and 1500m with a times of 2:01.76 and 4:04.41.  Thomas Normandeau (Unattached) and David Johnson (Unattached) went 1 and 2 in the Para Ambulatory 400m.

Nathan George (Coquitlam Cheetahs) set a new personal best in the Senior Men’s 400m, winning with a time of 45.54.  Coquitlam Cheetahs teammates, Ben Ayesu-Attah and Joshua Adhemar won gold and bronze medals in the Senior Men’s 400m hurdles, with personal best performances!
 
The Senior Men's 100m did not disappoint with Jerome Blake (Okanagan Athletic Club) and Aaron Brown going head to head in the final.  Blake matched his PB of 10.00sec in the semi-final and then clocked a 10.13sec in the final, grabbing the silver medal. 

In the field, Sonya Urbanowicz (Nanaimo Track & Field Club), took home silver in the U20 Women’s pole vault with a personal best jump of 4.10m, bettering her provincial record, and qualifying for the U20 World Championship in Cali, Columbia.  Seventeen-year-old, Aidan Turner (Kajaks Track & Field Club) also took home gold in the U20 men’s pole vault with a jump of 4.75m and bronze in the U20 Men’s Long Jump.
Christabel Nettey (Unattached) took home another National Title in the SR Women Long jump with a jump of 6.63m.

Sweeping the podium in the U20 men’s Triple Jump, Praise Aniamaka (Vancouver Thunderbirds) was the winner and achieved the U20 World Championships standard with a outdoor personal best jump of 15.58m, Lauchlan Irish (Athletics Victoria) was 2nd  with a jump of 14.49m, and Divine Aniamaka (Vancouver Thunderbirds) was 3rd with a jump of 14.15m.

BC throwers dominated in the hammer circle with 4 gold medal performances! Matthew Uliana (Kajaks) won the U20 men’s hammer competition with a throw of 65.81m.  On the U20 women’s side, Isabella Hall (Alberni Valley Track Club) won with a new personal best throw of 55.18m.  On the senior side,  Camryn Rogers (Kajaks Track & Field Club) continued her stellar season with a gold medal throw of 75.33m, and Adam Keenan (Athletics Victoria) coming off a big personal best performance at the Victoria Track Classic, won with a throw of 75.17m. Ethan Katzberg (Kamloops Track & Field Club) was 2nd with a throw of 71.75m.

Congratulations athletes!  For a full recap of all performances, click here. 
 
A huge thank you to our BC Team Staff for supporting our athletes!
 
Head/Para Coach - Bruce Deacon (Prairie Inn Harriers)
Sprints/Hurdles/Relays - Pat Sima-Ledding (Okanagan Athletic Club)
Jumps - Cristina Weir (Royal City Track & Field Club)
Throws - Sheldan Gmitroski (Athletics Victoria)
Endurance - Marilyn Arsenault (UVic Track Club)
Combined Events - Trevor Wight (Valley Royals Track & Field Club)
Team Physio - Tyler Dumont (Ocean Athletics)
Team Manager - Megann VanderVliet (BC Athletics)