The Oceanside Track and Field Club had a successful season.
And on Tuesday, June 27, the club honoured its young athletes who have excelled in either on the track or on the field.
Mark Desvaux, one of the club’s directors, emceed the award presentation. He informed members this will be the last time they will be using the cinder track as he expected the new Oceanside Community Track to be built soon. It will feature a six-lane, all-season track.
This is the first year the club has been able to hold an awards presentation due to COVID-19. They honoured the top athletes in 2022 and in 2023.
The award winners are:
Outstanding Male
2022 Gabriel Willers
2023 Jonah Kolen-Lee
Kolen-Lee set two javelin throw distance that placed him in the B.C. all-time top 10. He first set a mark of 35.82 metres at the Elwood Wylie Meet than bettered it at the Comox Solstice Meet with a throw of 35.78m.
Outstanding Female
2022 Olivia Bewsey
2023 Abigail Atkinson
Sportsmanship
2022 Ethan Bewsey
2023 Thomas Luksay
Most Improved
2022 Hudson Palichuk
2023 Callie Cupples
Junior Development (JD) BC Athletics Performance Standard Award 2022 (Javelin)
Gabriel Willers, (one of 15 athletes across B.C. that won this award)
Willers received the B.C. Junior Development Award in javelin in 2022 when he threw a distance of 30.49m which was ranked 9th in B.C.. This year he threw 30.39m at the Dogwood Meet to place seventh on the B.C. all-time top 10. Then at the Garriok meet, Willers threw 33.61m to move up to number three and was the furthest-ever throw by a Vancouver Island athlete.
Rookie of the Year
Kaleb Binder
Parent Volunteers of the Year
Arthur Lee
Rob Kolen
OTFC Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Track & Field
Kim and Randy Longmuir
JD BC Athletics Crests
These crest standards are derived from the JD Awards Standards set by BC Athletics
Bronze
Matilda Hunter
Memephis Palichuk
Ben Zelizney
Hudson Palichuk
Silver
Olivia Bewsey
Bowen Folk
Conner Scott
Ethan Bewsey
Jonah Kolen-Lee
Kai Aikman-Heir
Thomas Luksay
Gold
Andrew Baetz
Chase Brittain
Gabriel Willers