Sonya Urbanowicz has made Team BC for the upcoming Canadian Youth Track and Field Champions in August. She recently won a gold medal in pole vault and a silver in javelin at the BC Champioships. (Trevor Urbanowicz)

By Dan Marshall

Four bound for Nationals

Nanaimo Track and Field Athletes make Team BC after strong showing at provincials

Jul 13, 2019 | 10:58 AM

NANAIMO — Four rising stars from the Nanaimo Track and Field Club have been selected to Team BC.

Keaton Heisterman (800m, U18), Ethan Katzberg (Hammer throw, U18), Sonya Urbanowicz (Pole Vault, U16) and Nate Paris (Pentathlon, U16) will compete at the Canadian Youth Track and Field Championships in Cape Breton next month.

They qualified because of their strong results in the BC Athletics Track and Field Championship Jamboree in Kamloops last weekend.

Another one of the club’s standouts Olivia Lundman, 17, didn’t qualify for Team BC because she opted out of the BC Championships for a major international competition.

The race walker finished fourth at the North American, Central American, and Caribbean Athletics Championship in Mexico on July 5.

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It was her first time representing Canada in international competition.

The results from the BC Championships were impressive for the local track and field club. Nanaimo’s contingent brought back three gold medals, six silver, and ten bronze.

Sonya Urbanowicz, 15, won gold in the U16 pole vault with a new BC record of 3.22m. She also won a silver medal in javelin.

Other gold medals went to Mike Mason in the men’s open high jump with a leap of 2.17m, and Nate Paris, 15, who won the U16 pentathlon with 2986 points.

Tyza Skusa brought home three medals with a silver in the U16 pole vault, and bronze medals in the 80m hurdles and triple jump.

Yang Luo and Jake Putz were multiple medal winners as well, each earning a silver and a bronze. Luo captured a silver in the U16 100m hurdles and a bronze medal in 300m hurdles while Putz grabbed silver in the 1500m steeplechase and bronze in the U16 2000m race.

Additional silver medals for the Nanaimo athletes came from Ethan Katzberg in the U18 hammer throw and Gage Zanette in the U18 1500m.

Several athletes also took home bronze medals in competition:

* Juliana Benjamin (U18 Pole Vault)

* Madison Paugh (U18 Triple Jump)

* Autumn Vannini (U16 Discus)

* Serenna Drake (U16 Shot Put)

dan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On twitter: @danmarshall77