Claremont secondary’s Rebecca Dutchak has a spring in her step that earned her double gold at the B.C. High School Track and Field Championships in Langley over the weekend.
The Grade 10 student won gold in the girl’s triple jump and long jump and also competed in the 80-metre hurdles, finishing ninth. Her first-place finishing jumps were personal bests, a total of 11.23 metres in the triple jump and 5.26 meters in the long jump. (Saint Michaels’ Kenzi Farish took silver in the junior women’s triple jump with a total of 10.67m.)
Dutchak is only now coming into her element as a track athlete, as she did not previously train in the jumping disciplines outside of school. It’s been a big spring for Dutchak, who also stars for Claremont and Saanich Fusion on the soccer pitch. Earlier this spring Dutchak came up big when she scored two goals to power the Claremont Spartans junior soccer team past Oak Bay for the city championship.
Despite not pursuing coaching Dutchak has found since elementary school that she does well in jumping.
“I just found that I had the elements for success: sprinting speed and jumping ability,” Dutchak said.
She took cues from watching other jumpers and their coaches to learn techniques, one of which is having a proper launch, said her dad Scott.
“It’s satisfying hearing your toe hit the board well, that really tells me it’s going to be a great jump,” she added.
Saanich results:
Saint Michaels University School sprinter Angelina Shandro, a Saanich resident, won gold in the junior women’s 200m and 400m, and bronze in the 100m dash.
Grade 10 Gwyneth Frederiksen of Mount Doug won bronze in the junior shotput and hammer with throws of 11.65m and 42.17m respectively.
Mount Doug’s Johnathan Eby won silver in the senior boys pole vault, clearing 3.70m (Ethan Foster of DW Poppy cleared 3.8m, while Oak Bay’s David McKay holds the 2010 provincial record of 4.66m).
Grade 12 Lindsey Frederiksen of Mount Douglas, the Island senior girls hammer champion from two weeks ago, was fourth at provincials with a throw of 45.60m, reaching her expected goal of a top-five finish.
Claremont junior boys team won the 4x400 relay, consisting of Blake Furtado, Michael Awor, Michael Huang and anchor Conor Loughnane.
Mount Doug’s Hannah Henry, Grade 12, was once again just seconds from the podium in middle distance races as the world-class youth triathlete did her best despite a training regime that focuses on cycling and swimming as much as running. Henry was fourth in the 3,000m, about eight seconds off the podium, and seventh in the 1,500m, about 10 seconds back of third.
Reynolds Roadrunner Chase Haagensen won gold in the junior boys 100m sprint.
St. Andrew’s Sabres athlete Michael Keane won double silver in the junior boys 400m and 800m
Stuart Jenks of Spectrum threw the hammer 33.06m for fourth in the junior boys.
