A Nanaimo teen vaulted to heights that no other girl her age in B.C. has ever reached.
Sonya Urbanowicz of the Nanaimo Track and Field Club won a provincial championship this past weekend in the pole vault, setting a new U16 B.C. record of 3.22 metres.
The previous record of 3.15m had stood for 11 years.
Urbanowicz also won a silver medal at provincials in javelin, with a best throw of 30.96m.
Also at the B.C. championships, held in Kamloops from July 5-7, Mike Mason won the men’s high jump with a 2.17m leap and Nate Paris won the pentathlon in his U16 division with 2,986 points.
Also, Ethan Katzberg earned a silver in U18 hammer throw, Gage Zanette was second in the U18 1,500m race and Yang Luo was second in the U16 100m hurdles. Jake Putz was runner-up in the 1,500m steeplechase while Tyza Skuse took silver in the U16 pole vault.
Skuse added bronze in the 80m hurdles and triple jump and other bronze medals went to Julina Benjamin in U18 pole vault, Madison Paugh in U18 triple jump, Autumn Vannini in U16 discus and Serenna Drake in U16 shot put.
Also winning bronze were 17-year-old Keaton Heisterman in the 800m, Jake Putz in the U16 2,000m, Luo in the 300m hurdles and Sam Morrison in the U16 1,500m race walk.
In other Nanaimo Track and Field Club news, race walker Olivia Lundman finished fourth at the North American, Central American, and Caribbean Athletics Championship held in Queretaro, Mexico on July 5.
“[She] was delighted to perform so well while representing Canada in her first international competition,” noted a club press release.
editor@nanaimobulletin.com
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