The Houston Secondary School track and field team set two records last weekend and earned themselves a spot at provincials following the Northwest Regional Zone track and field championships.
The first record was set by the seniors, who earned HSS the Senior Zone Track and Field Championship, the first time that a track zone championship has been won by HSS.
Since the beginning of March, students in all categories have been practicing up to three times per week, coach Neal Currie said, and this was the third track meet of the year for them, following very strong showings in Prince George and Smithers before.
Lena Brodie took the javelin and discus events, and came in second in the 400 metre dash, shot put and hammer. She also broke a 22-year-old javelin throw record with a 36.61 metre throw.
Jamie Beck, a grade 9 student competing at the senior level, won the senior girls 100 metre and triple jump, and placed second in the 200 metre and long jump.
Nolan Bowes, Taylor Wandler, Kerrin Henrickson, Janet Brodie, Leigh Siemens and Deepak Bhattit were also strong in many events, Currie said.
For the junior's, James Goudreau was second in five different events, Jill Bowes won the discus and javelin events and was second in shot put and hammer.
For the grade 8's, Kamalpreet Parhar won the grade 8 girls discus and hammer and was third in javelin and shot put. Shirvani Sadhir placed third in the 400 metre. An injury sustained prevented her from placing in other events. Taylor Johnson was second in the 80 metre hurdles and was later accidentally tripped in the 100 metre hurdles, preventing her from doing well in other events.
While most qualified for provincials, only three have chosen to go down, Currie noted. Jamie Beck, Janet Brodie and Lena Brodie will be heading to the track and field championships on June 3 and 4 in Burnaby.