Athletes from Abbotsford’s Valley Royals track and field club made a massive medal haul at the B.C. Track and Field Championship Jamboree last weekend at Coquitlam’s Town Centre Stadium.
All told, Royals athletes racked up 25 medals – eight of which were gold.
Ruky Abdulai, who leaves in a month’s time for the World Track and Field Championships in Korea, decided to take part in individual events at this meet rather than contest the heptathlon, an event she won at nationals. Abdulai won both the senior women’s 100-metre hurdles (14.42 seconds) and 200m (24.20).
Chantel Desch was a silver medallist in the youth women’s 400m, which she completed in a personal-best 56.98 in a thrilling race. In a photo finish, Desch finished second to Vancouver’s Cheyanne Tunti by one thousandth of a second.
Alex Siemens ran smartly in the youth women’s 1500m to win the event in 4:40.32. Siemens ran with the leaders through the first 1,000 metres, then bolted into a 35-metre lead which proved too large to overcome for B.C. high school champ Kayla Stone.
Both Desch and Siemens have been picked for the B.C. team which will attend the Canadian Legion Championships, Aug. 3-9 in Ottawa.
Other Royals gold medallists included Brianna Kane (senior women’s 800m), Aisha Klippenstein (junior women’s triple jump), Jeewan Grewal (midget boys hammer), Spencer Prince (junior men’s shot put), and Spencer Spenst (14-year-old men’s high jump).