There's a lot on the line this weekend for athletes in the Spruce Capital track and field championships, especially for the 14- and 15-year-old runners, jumpers and throwers.
The two-day meet at Masich Place Stadium today and Sunday is a qualifier for the B.C. Summer Games. All midget-aged athletes (born in either 1999 or 2000) are vying for spots on the Zone 8 team for the Summer Games in Nanaimo, July 17-20.
Sixty athletes from the Prince George Track and Field Club athletes and 16 from Athletics North, are entered in the meet as part of a group of 140 athletes from Prince George, Quesnel, Burns Lake, Houston, Vanderhoof and Bella Coola.
Among the favourites to win their respective categories is Ryan Gaiesky, a Grade 10 student at D.P. Todd secondary school, who won bronze in the junior boys 400-metre hurdles event at the B.C. High School championships in Langley last weekend and was fourth in the 400 m run.
Others to watch this weekend include Gaiesky's older brother Sean, a senior sprint specialist; hurdles/sprinter Lindsay King; senior hurdles/sprint specialist Jeremy Matte; Grade 8 javelin thrower Alana Heinze; pole vaulters Kuort Bishop and Kendal Rogers; junior 200 m runner Shelby Jansen; and distance/steeplechase runner Alexander Nemethy of Vanderhoof.
Of that group, only Heinze, King, Jansen, and Rogers are eligible for the Summer Games.
King, a Grade 8 student at Prince George secondary school, finished eighth competing as a junior age class (Grade 9 and 10 girls) in the 400m final at the provincial high school meet. She knocked four seconds off her best time and is now less than a second away from breaking the one-minute barrier.
"It's pretty exciting, I knew I wouldn't have come close but I ran with a older age group and it pushed my time down four seconds," said King. "I ran a good time in the heats [1:07] but I hurt my calf a bit and when I ran my final I wasn't as good. It was a little bit sore this week but it's feeling better now, so I should be OK."
The 14-year-old King won't run the 400 this weekend. To reduce the risk of injuries, youth runners in club track meets are prohibited from running 400m races until they reach the age of 16. King will run 300m distance instead and her goal is to run the 300 in 44 seconds, one second better than her best time. She'll also compete in the 80m hurdles and 200m hurdles.
"I like distance hurdles, and right now for me that's 200m hurdles,"said King. "When I'm 16 it'll be 300m hurdles and when I'm 18 it'll be 400m hurdles."
Twelve girls and 12 boys will make up the Zone 8 team, with room for additional athletes as wild cards depending on how their times and distances stack up against the rest of the province. Zone 8 co-coach Bill Masich said none of the spots have been filled and all athlete selections will be based on performances at the Spruce Capital meet. Because of the logistics of getting to Nanaimo, all Zone 8 team members are eligible for a travel subsidy that will pay for their flights from Prince George.
