Sheldan Gmitroski’s throwing athletes have enjoyed a great season to date.  They began the year with many personal bests and set some new records during the preliminary high school League Meets early in the season.  The momentum carried on through the Lower Island and Island Championships.  More personal bests were achieved and a special recognition was awarded to Adam Keenan who was named “Outstanding Male Athlete” for his Hammer and Discus performances at the Island Championship. At the B.C. High School Championships held in Burnaby on June 4^th and 5^th,  sixteen year old Adam placed “First” in Open Men’s Discus with a distance of 52.44m.  He claimed the silver medal for Hammer with a new personal best of 60.65m and also managed the bronze medal in Shot put.  Matthew Kereszti threw a solid 48.55m to win the bronze medal in Hammer and claimed the silver medal for Men’s Shot put beating out Adam’s throw by 3 cm!  In the Open Women’s competition for Discus, Brett Hastings threw a personal best of 35.57m to win the silver medal in her first ever provincial field competition.  Other notable performances were by Taryn Gmitroski who just missed the podium by placing 4^th in Javelin and 6^th in Discus. 

Members of the Pacific Athletics Midget/Youth Power/Speed group posted impressive results during the spring 2010 High School Track and Field league, Lower Island Championships, and Island Championships. Four members of this group were recognized at the Lower Island High School Track and Field Championships May 12th at Uvic for leading the high school qualifying league in these categories:

Liam Farrar - Bantam Boys - field events aggregate league leader

Megan Koblun - Bantam Girls - field events aggregate league leader

Sudie Momoh - Junior Girls -  field events aggregate league leader

Lexie Scott -  Bantam Girls - track events aggregate league leader

At the Lower Island Championships, all four athletes posted strong showings, with multiple placings:

Liam Farrar - 1st - Bantam Boys 800m, Long Jump, 2nd - High Jump

Megan Koblun - 2nd - Bantam Girls 100m, 200m, 4th - High Jump

Sudie Momoh - 1st - Junior Girls 100m, Triple Jump, Long Jump

Lexie Scott - 1st - Bantam Girls 200m, Long Jump, 2nd - 80m Hurdles

In addition, clubmate RuthAnne Kavelaars placed a strong 3rd in the Bantam Girls Triple Jump, while combined events athlete Kate Worthy placed 1st in the Bantam Girls 80m Hurdles and High Jump, and 5th in the Long Jump.

Farrar, Kavelaars, Koblun, Momoh and Scott are coached by Midget/Youth Power/Speed coach Duncan Johnson while Worthy is coached by combined events coach Greg Peters.

A busy spring of racing on the roads came to an end recently. The annual Sooke River 10K marked the end of the 2010 Island Race Series. In addition to the race awards they gave out series awards. Pacific Athletics' Craig Odermatt won the prize for top master in the series. In addition to having a strong competitive season Craig showed his skill as a coach as his athlete Melissa Ross captured the overall women's title for the 2010 Island Race Series.

After that were the two major 10K races in BC. At the annual Times Colonist 10K Pacific Athletics veteran Craig Odermatt ran an excellent 32:29 to place 21 out of 10 000. That led into the Sun Run 10K. Due to the Olympics the Sun Run was forced into May instead of it's usual April date. This did open it up to a few more top people than normal. In a very stacked race Craig Odermatt was able to improve on last year's placing and place 26 out of approximately 50 000 in a time of 32:22. In addition Craig made his official Masters debut and captured prize money as 3rd master overall. Now it is time for Craig and the rest of Pacific Athletics to race some fast ones on the track.