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Peninsula Track wins in the rain

Nearly 250 athletes, officials, parents and volunteers turned out April 20 and 21 for the George Dean track meet in Sidney
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Piper Battersby and Rylee Mitchell stand with Peninsula Track Club President Ravi Gunasinghe after their 1200m run.

By Danny Daniels — Contributor

Nearly 250 athletes, officials, parents and volunteers turned out April 20 and 21 for the George Dean track meet in Sidney.

Leading the way by winning the George Dean Memorial 1200m for girls was Penninsula Track’s own Piper Battersby (15) who, running in atrocious conditions, stopped the watch in four minutes, 13.6 seconds — 10 seconds outside the record for this event.

In the boys’ trophy race, Rylee Mitchell (15) from the Alberni Valley club crossed the finish line in 3:42.37.

Battersby also took second in the 800m event and third in both the High Jump and the Long Jump.

Not to be outdone, younger brother Finn Battersby (13) won the 2000m in his age group, and took second in his 1200m and the 200m Hurdles.

Multiple event winners were led by 13-year-old Connor McCullough who took gold in the 100m, 200m, 200m Hurdles, Long Jump, Hammer Throw and Shot as well as placing second in the High Jump.

Blake Furtado, 12, had four wins in the 80m Hurdles, 200m Hurdles, 200m and LJ.

Triple wins were achieved by Julia Peterson, 10, in the High Jump, Long Jump and Discus and by Ben Sammons, 13, who triumphed in the 80m Hurdles, Discus and Javelin.

Petersen also had two 2nd place finishes (60m and Javelin) plus 3rds in the 100, 60m Hurdles, 600 and Shot, while Ben was second in the 200m and third in the 100m, 200m hurdles and Hammer.

Thea Warren, 17, had three first place finishes (100, 200 and 400) while Kaelan Smith, 16, took two 1sts in the High Jump and Long Jump, as did Michael Johnson, 10, in the 60m Hurdles and 1000m.

Single firsts were recorded by Amelia Casciola in the 3000m, Jacqueline Gaby (5000m Walk), Anna-Maria Hilton (1200m), Eric Huber (Discus), Julia Irwin (80m Hurdles), Carl Jensen (Shot), Athena Pimentel (200m Hurdles) and Yannick Truter (800m). Some of the aforementioned also took home ribbons.

Collecting multiple second and third place ribbons were Connor Loughnane, Caelen MacEwan, Meagan Peterson, Brennan Hopkins, Julia Irwin, Anita Truter, Alexis Van Den Bulk and, in his first official track meet, nine-year-old Kash Soellner-Wilson.

While the younger members of Pen Track were racking up the results, so were the Masters competitors.

Les East (M70) placed first in his five events, the Discus, Hammer, Shot, High Jump and Triple Jump.

Peggy Morfitt (M75) topped her field in the Shot, Discus, Hammer and Javelin while the father and son duo of Don (M60) and Phil (M90) Brodeur, each secured three wins in their respective Discus, Javelin and Shot events.

Anne Murfitt (W55) won her Javelin and Shot events before taking off to run in the Sooke 10km road race.

Full results can be viewed at www.pentrack.org.

Danny Daniels is a regular Peninsula News Review contributor, covering local track and field.