Colwood’s Royal Bay Secondary School is celebrating its girls track athletes after a solid performance at the provincial championships June 9 to 11 in Langley.
Coach and teacher Andrew Johnson said six athletes qualified for provincials after finishing in the top five in their respective events at the Vancouver Island championships earlier in the year. And while their final results may not have been what they had hoped, Johnson said there is still plenty to celebrate.
”These athletes put in a lot of effort and were really able to show their talent, just to make it this far,” said Johnson. “I have very high expectations for them, and I think the quality of their performances was fantastic.”
Ella Ballard finished the meet in fourth in both the senior 800 and senior 1500 metre races, Maja Music finished 12th out of 32 in the junior 400 metre, and Genevieve Bacon finished 24th of 30 in the junior 1500 metre race, rounding out the individual event results.
The school’s junior 4×100 relay team, consisting of Music, Bacon, Rachel Reid, and Quinn Steer, finished 19th of 28, while the junior 4×400 relay team of Music, Bacon, Reid, and Cassandra McKinty finished ninth of 22.
“We were met with a lot of weather that didn’t cooperate unfortunately, Thursday especially was a challenge, but they braved through it as best as they could and they all did a fantastic job.”
Given none of the athletes representing Royal Bay at the provincials are graduating this year, Johnson said he has high hopes for the next school year, as the girls will be able to use their experiences at this year’s provincials to help both themselves and the school’s other athletes improve and be better prepared.
“I feel great about it overall, and I think moving forward it is an opportunity for Royal Bay Athletics to grow and develop, especially in cooperation with the other West Shore schools, who also had athletes at provincials. The three of us West Shore high schools, I think are well on our way to making a presence in track and field.”