By Danny Daniels — Contributor
New members of Peninsula Track brought back lots of hardware from the annual Dogwood Meet hosted by the Victoria Track Club at the Centennial Stadium May 17 and 18.
Adriana Hilton, 9, having graduated from the Track Rascals to full membership in the Club and in her first year of official competition, had six first place finishes in the 60m Hurdles, 100m, 600m and 1000m, the Long Jump and Shot Put.
Sean Kirkland, also 9, followed on from his Port Alberni successes with a gold in the Shot and silvers in the 600m and 1000m and the Long Jump.
At the other end of the age scale, newcomers Stefan Moreau (M40) won both the 100m and 200m together with a seoond place in the Shot, while Cecil Bannister (M65) had introductory wins in the Discus and Shot and a silver in the Javelin.
Among other winners, Conan Loughnane, 12, repeated his up-Island victories in the 100m, 200m and 300m, adding a bronze in the 800m.
Liam Kirkland, 11, had firsts in the 1000m and Javelin, as did Kash Soellner-Wilson, 10, in Shot Put, Caelan MacEwan, 18, in High Jump, Alex Van Den Bulk, 11, in Discus and Julia Peterson, 11, in the 800m Race Walk.
Ben Sammons and Anna-Maria Hilton, both 13, had both disappointment and success in their various events. Having to participate in the Summer Games 14/13 combined category, they each finished third in their competitions. Sammons won bronze in the 100m Hurdles, Discus and Javelin, and Hilton in her 800m and 2000m. In the actual 13-year-old class, had it been scored separately, they, in fact, finished first.
Multiple winners in the Masters classes included Les East (M75), taking all six of his events — the High, Long and Triple Jumps together with the Discus, Hammer and Shot, (the latter with a new B.C. M75 record of 8.32m). Peggy Morfitt (W75) competed in Javelin and Hammer; Anne Murfitt in Hammer (21.72m PB); Carl Jensen (M40) in Discus; and Peter Auvinen (M65) in Javelin.
Also coming home with either silver or bronze medallions were Eric Huber, 11, Matteo Hilton, 12, Finn Battersby, 14, Jacqueline Gaby, 17, and Mette Fossberg (W60).
Athletes continued their Island Series track season this past weekend in Nanaimo.