Ian Miller used a heavier pole, took an aggressive stance and soared to a pole vault personal best 4.27 meters at the Jack Brow meet held at the Sun Bowl in Kelowna. The height, which gave Miller second place in the event, came just in time as it surpassed the standard he needed to be considered for selection to the BC team that will travel to the Canadian Junior Championships in Charlottetown, PEI.

Miller established another personal best of 16.62 in the 110 meter hurdles for a second place finish.

Jared Heldman had to buck head winds but still managed to produce two victories as he won the 100 meters (11.08) and the 200 meters (22.13).

Dyson Barnes had a great battle with an Alberta athlete who will travel with Dyson to the World Youth Championships. The Albertan won the event in a time of 54.44, just 2/100ths in front of Dyson’s second place 54.46.

Stuart Pope won the javelin event with a seasonal best 53.75 meters. Other Valley Royal performances saw Anna Chan come second in the pole vault with a pb 2.80 meters and Emma Beckett had a pb 16.95 in the 100-meter hurdles.

Rebecca Johnstone won the women’s 800-meters and Meredith MacGregor took the gold medal in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Canadian Track and Field Championships that took place this weekend (June 25-28) in Toronto.

Johnstone won her race on Saturday that saw heavy winds make fast times somewhat of a challenge. However, Johnstone was pleased to win her second consecutive Canadian title in a time of 2:06.30 to place almost a second in front of second place finisher Jennifer Kemp (2:07.12)

Meredith MacGregor won her first Canadian title by winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 10:28. MacGregor was far in front of the second place finisher, Dana Buchanan of Ottawa, who finished with a time of 10:44. At last year’s championships MacGregor placed second in this event.

Although she didn’t win the event, Ruky Abdulai was happy with her legal long jump performance of 6.64 meters. Abdulai had plenty to be pleased about as that jump gave her a “B” standard and that along with the ‘A” standard she achieved a month ago in New York, completed the requirements needed to assure her of a spot on the Canadian team that will travel to Berlin in a month’s time for the World Championships.

Although Alice Falaiye won the event with 6.76 meters and Tabia Charles placed second with 6.74 meters, both those performances were wind aided and therefore not able to be used to achieve the required World Championship standard.

Other Valley Royal top eight performances at the Championships saw Make Mason come third in the high jump (2.15-meters), Julia Howard place fourth in the 1500-meters (4:18) and Natasha Miller place fourth in the high jump (1.70-meters).

During a season in which it seems Django Lovett breaks his own Canadian record in the Youth high jump every other week, it happened again on Saturday when the 17-year old Valley Royal athlete soared 2.16-meters at the Jack Brow meet in Kelowna.

During the season Lovett has had a great record breaking duel with Toronto’s Brandon Wilhelm who until this week had shared the record with Django at 2.15-meters. Between them, the two athletes have broken the previous record (2.12-meters by the Royals Mike Mason) twice each. On Saturday Wilhelm jumped 2.15-meters for a fourth place finish at the Canadian Senior Championships in Toronto.

Both athletes will have a chance to meet each other in head-to-head competition in a week’s time when they travel to Italy as teammates at the World Youth Championships. Lovett will be traveling to the Youth Championships with fellow Valley Royal athletes Dyson Barnes (400m hurdles), Spencer Prince (hammer), Jared Heldman (long jump & 100m) and Travis Vugteveen (800-meters).

Double wins by Hailey Gibson and Alexandra Siemens led Valley Royal performances at the Langley Pacific meet held last weekend at the Langley track.

Gibson, competing in the 13-year old division won both the girls 100m (13.67) and 200 meters (27.68) and she appears to be the leading 13-year old sprinter in the province.

Alex Siemens returned to her age division (14-years old) after having competed in older age divisions during the championship portion of the secondary school season. Siemens was in good form on the weekend and won the 3,000 meters with a personal best 10:46 and added to that by winning the 1500 meters with the good time of 4:58.

Double medal performances were turned in by Sarya Ross who placed second in the 13-year old 3,000 (11:57) and came third in the 1500 (5:28) and Takhar Takroop who won bronze medals in both the 10-year old 100 and 60 meter events.

First year member Gabrielle MacGregor won a medal by placing second in the 10-year old 800-meters with the good time of 2:44.

Other medals were won by Morgan Stuyt (200m), Ashton Eagles (2nd 200 meters), Hannah Konrad, (2nd high jump), Gandara Virkramyit (3rd discus), Granpreet Grewal (1st hammer), and Takhar Takroop (3rd 60m).

In the older age divisions, Stuart Pope produced one of his best performances of the season with a second place 51.09 toss in the 18-year old javelin event. Other medals won by secondary school athletes included Manpreet Dhaliwal, second in the 800-meters (1:55.78), Kiya Posthumus (2nd 1500 meters 4:56), Clayton Heathcote (2nd discus 42.88m) and Mikaela Patterson (3rd discus 41.26m).

Full results of the Langley Pacific meet can be found at: www.langleymustangs.com/Archive09/Results%20Langley%20Pacific%202009.htm

Next meet for many Valley Royal athletes will take place in two weeks time at the Trevor Craven meet scheduled for Swangard Stadium. This coming weekend a few secondary school aged members will attend the Jack Brow meet in Kelowna. And, of course, this coming weekend, as stated before, seven athletes will attend the Canadian Senior Championships in Toronto.

Seven Valley Royal athletes will be in Toronto this coming weekend to take part in the Canadian Senior Track and Field Championships scheduled for the brand new facility at the University of Toronto.

Leading the way for the Royals will be defending Canadian champions Ruky Abdulai (long jump), Mike Mason (high jump) and Rebecca Johnstone (800 meters). Other Royals that will attend the championships include Natasha Miller (high jump), Meredith MacGregor (3,000m steeplechase), Julia Howard (1500 meters) and Brianna Kane (800 meters).

Sue Northey will also attend the championships as a BC coach and Brit Townsend will travel to Toronto as a personal coach for a number of the above athletes.

The meet will be a prime testing ground for those athletes wishing to be selected to the Canadian team that will take part in this year’s World Championships scheduled for Berlin.

A number of Royals have been selected to compete in the FISU GAMES (Student Games) scheduled for Belgrade. They include Abdulai, Mason, Johnstone, MacGregor and Howard. It appears that the next few weeks will be very busy for a number of Royals.

Later this week the team selections for the World Youth Championships (Italy) will be released by Athletics Canada. Valley Royal athletes that have obtained both the ranking and performance criteria required for selection to this team include Travis Vugeteveen (800 meters), Dyson Barnes (400 meter hurdles), Jared Heldman (long jump), Spencer Prince (hammer) and Django Lovett (high jump).

Abbotsford, June 16, 2009 - Dyson Barnes improved his leading Canadian ranking in the Youth Division (under 18-years of age) for the 400m hurdles event at the Lafarge International Track Classic that took place Tuesday evening at the Gerry & Jane Swan Track at Rotary Stadium in Abbotsford.

In spite of hitting the first hurdle, Barnes regained his composure and went on to finish the event with a time of 54.71 seconds over the 2’9” hurdles. It was a determined effort for the Valley Royal athlete and secured his position as the top youth athlete in this event in Canada.

Travis Vugteveen, the leader in the Canadian youth rankings for 800m, continued to improve as he finished fourth in the Open Men’s division with a time of 1:53.14. Vugteveen ran through a quick 55.8 second first 400m and then had a strong finish to record his personal best time. This was the fourth consecutive race in which Vugteveen has improved his time over the 800m distance.

Julia Howard, who this year is specializing in the 1500m, stepped down to the 800m in this meet and was rewarded for so doing with a victory and a seasonal best. Howard followed Sherron Rhetta (USA) through a fast 58-second first 400m and then picked up strength down the final stretch to win the event with a 2:04.91 clocking, her best effort of the season for this event.

High jumper Mike Mason was competing in his third meet in less then a week. Last Thursday he jumped in Toronto and on Saturday he competed at the Harry Jerome meet in Burnaby. The wear of all the travel and competitions showed last evening but Mason was still able to post a 2.17m jump to win the event. Second place went to Ontario’s Derek Watkins (2.12m) with the Royals Django Lovett, who established a Canadian Youth record of 2.15m last Sunday at the Harry Jerome, third with 2.07m.

Ruky Abdulai pocketed $150 for her victory in the women’s long jump (6.34m). Ruky was having some problem with her approach to the takeoff board at this meet but she was still happy to win following her victory on Sunday at the Harry Jerome meet.

Full results of the meet can be found at here.

Harry Jerome Meet, Swangard Stadium, June 14—Valley Royal athletes proved Sunday that they can set records, win events and even sing the O’Canada.

Ruky Abdulai was even busier at the Jerome then she usually is at a track and field meet. Abdulai won the long jump (6.60) with her second best performance of the season and in the process beat Canadian record holder Tabia Charles of Toronto who finished second with (6.49). Abdulai, not content with just competing so she took the microphone during the Opening Ceremonies and belted out an excelled rendition of “Oh Canada.”

The record setting was left to high jumper Django Lovett who although he is only in grade 11 took part in the men’s high jump event that featured a field of excellent jumpers. Lovett had to settle for a sixth place finish in the very classy field but his height of 2.15 meters established a new Canadian Youth record for the event.

Travis Vugteveen continued his march to improvement by placing third in the National 800-meters with a personal best 1:53.50. Vugteveen held on through a fast 55-second first lap, made up a gap down the final straight and then was nudged into third position with only a few 10ths of a second separating the first three finishers. Vugteveen’s time consolidated his position as the leading under 18-year old 800-meter runner in the country.

Other good performances saw Rebecca Johnstone take the top prize in the women’s 800-meters as she hit the finishing tape with a solid 2:05.40. Mike Mason, just back from taking part in the big Toronto meet, tied his season’s best by finishing fourth in the high jump (2.25). Julia Howard was fifth in the women’s 1500m invite (4:14.59) and Meredith MacGregor won the Olympic Development 1500m (4:24.26). Manpreet Dhaliwal had his best time of the season in what he considers his secondary event (1500 meters) with a fifth place 4:05.09.

Led by Jared Heldman's four gold medals Valley Royal athletes had a great weekend at the BC High School Championships held at Burnaby's Swangard Stadium.

Heldman established personal bests in winning the 100m (10.93), 200m (22.15 & 21.97 heat times) and long jump (7.05m) and was a member of the Brookswood team that won the 4x100 meter relay. It was a busy day for the grade 11 athlete who is hoping to secure a position on the Canadian team that will take part in the World Youth Games.

Heldman had to come up big when it counted to win his medals. On his fifth attempt in the long jump he was only 1 cm in front of the second place competitor. But after returning to the long jump pit from running his 4x100m final he took his sixth and final jump recording a 7.05-meter performance, which easily secured the victory.

A false start in the final of the 100 probably cost Heldman the opportunity of running much faster. Somewhat tentative after he was charged with the false start he came out of the blocks slowly and was not able take the lead until the 60-meter mark. But after that point Heldman's strength propelled him to a comfortable win.

In his last event of the competition, a by then very tired Heldman, still managed to hang on to win the 200 meters recording a time of 22.15 compared with his heat time of 21.97. But who could blame him for being tired as in eight days (he had taken part in the high school decathlon championship the previous weekend) Heldman had competed in a total of 16 events, a Herculean effort that won him the meet's "Inspirational Athlete Award".

Two other Brookswood athletes who are members of the Royals won a couple of gold medals each. Spencer Prince had no trouble winning the 12-pd hammer event with a toss of 62.46 meters, 9 meters further than the second place finisher. Then Prince devoted his time to his secondary event, the shot put, where he managed a toss of 15.15 meters which was good enough for the silver medal. Add to that his second place finish in last week's decathlon and the leg he ran on Brookswood's winning 400m relay team and in total the grade 11 athletes had two gold and two silver medals.

Although he was not happy with his performance in the high jump, Django Lovett did win the event with a 2.05-meter effort. But trouble with his take-off prevented him from going higher and he was a little frustrated with his day's work. Lovett was also a member of the Brookswood 400-meter relay, which turned in a winning effort of 42.71.

Travis Vugteveen (Unity Christian) followed his coaches' race plan and that was a good strategy as he was able to win the 800-meters in a personal best 1:54.12. Knowing that several of the other top contenders in the event had already run either the 400 or 1500 events, Coach Sue Northey mapped out a plan that would see both Vugteveen and her other athlete, Manpreet Dhaliwal (Rick Hansen), carry a fast pace through the first part of the race.

Vugteveen did just that by leading the pack through the first 400-meters in 55 seconds, kept the lead for the next 300 meters and held off a fast charging Luc Bruchet over the last 70 meters. It was a great win for Vugteveen who last year as a grade 10 athlete was kept out of action because of an injury.

Dhaliwal had a little more difficulty as he got pushed back at the start and trailed in sixth place for a good part of the race. But Rick Hansen athlete put on an excellent charge over the last 150 meters that saw him briefly go into second place. But Bruchet had just a little too much left and Dhaliwal finished in third with a 1:55.18 clocking.

Dyson Barnes (Hatzic) fought hard and that paid dividends as he won the 400 meter hurdles with a personal best 55.54. In the preliminary round, Barnes got off to a tentative start and took an extra step between hurdles. He won the heat (56,53) and in the final he was much smoother and had little trouble in winning the event.

Fourteen-year old Alex Siemens (MEI) had her first taste of high school championship competition by competing in the grade 8, 9 division of the meet. Siemens, who has a slight frame, got pushed around quite a bit in the 3,000 meters but she managed to hold her ground and finished second in the event with a 10:39 effort. Later in the day she ran the 1500 meters and finished with a fourth place time of 4:56.39.

Ian Miller (Mouat) finished his high school track and field career by placing second in the high jump (1.85m) and fourth in the pole vault (3.90m).

May 30th, 2009 - Valley Royal athlete Ruky Abdulai actually jumped for joy in Manhattan on Saturday as she won the Reebok Grand Prix. This 2008 Olympian won the long jump with the 10th best mark in the world this season.

Her winning jump of 6.78m was aided by a 2.5m/sec following wind making it an illegal mark for claiming a World Championship standard. Fortunately she cleared 6.74m with a legal wind of 1.1m/sec to claim her top 10 world ranking and the A standard for Berlin in August. Fellow Canadian Tabia Charles of Toronto took the bronze with her jump of 6.66m. Both these jumpers will meet at the Harry Jerome International Track Classic at Swangard Stadium on June 14th.

Spencer Prince and Jared Heldman, who both attend Brookswood Secondary School and are members of the Valley Royals Track Club, placed second and third respectively last weekend at the BC High School Decathlon Championship that took place at the Swan Track in Abbotsford.

Prince had good performances in the throwing events while Heldman did well in the sprints where he recorded a personal best 100-meter hand time of 10.6 seconds.

Results for each of the 10-events are not available at this time but as soon as they are released to the BC Secondary School web page, we will be able to update this result.

Next week both Prince and Heldman will be in action again when they lead a large contingent of Valley Royal athletes into action at the BC High School Track and Field Championships that take place at Burnaby’s Swangard Stadium. It will be a big two days of action for many club athletes.

Led by Hailey Gibson who placed first in the 13-year old 100 and 200, came third in the shot put and 8th in long jump, Valley Royal JD athletes did well in their first club meet of the year.

Another busy athlete was Ashton Eagles, a 13-year old, who won the long jump, was second in the 80-meter hurdles, third in the high jump and seventh in the shot put.

Ten-year old Mehroop Takhar was another busy young lady as she who won silver medals in both short sprints and took a bronze medal in the hurdles event.

All in all, it was encouraging start to the season for the most talented group of JD athletes that the Royals have had for a few years. Congratulations to the athletes that took part and to their coaches, James Meehan, Larry Neilson and Jeremiah Johnston, for an excellent job of preparing the athletes.

The next meet for the Royal JD athletes will be at the Coquitlam Cheetah meet on June 13, 14. That meet will be followed by the giant Langley Pacific, which takes place a week later. Athletes are reminded to register for each of these meets by signing the sheets located in the equipment shed.

More detailed results for Valley Royal athletes in Maple Ridge are listed below.

Saida Uhrig female 9 60m dash 8th 11.70
Long Jump 8th 2.03m

Mathew Konrad Male 9 60m dash 7th 11.35

Mehroop Takhar Female 10 60m dash 2nd 9.52
100m dash 2nd 15.21
60m hurdles 3rd 14.08

Abresia Foote Female 10 60m dash 7th 10.86
Long Jump 7th 2.44m
Shot put 6th 4.29m
High Jump 4th 0.90m

Hannah Konrad Female 11 800m 7th 3:02.62
High Jump 2nd 1.20m

Levi Spenst Male 11 Long Jump 3rd 3.46m

Gurjot Dhindsa Female 11 Shot Put 11th 4.85m

Delaney Chapman Female 12 100m dash prelims 7th 16.40
800m 9th 3:09.05

Spencer Spenst Male 12 800m 4th 2:41.63
High Jump 3rd 1.30m

Jewan Grewal Male 12 Long Jump 20th 2.07m
Shot Put 5.97m

Manpreet Grewal Female 13 100m dash prelim 5t 17.10
Shot put 8th 6.37

Hailey Gibson Female 13 100m prelim 13.36 final 1st 13.78
200m 1st 28.10
long jump 8th 3.85m
shot put 3rd 7.52m

Jamie Konrad Male 13 800m 7th 2:38.56
Long Jump 8th 3.85m

Sarya Ross Female 13 1 mile run 1st 5:55.04

Ashton Eagles Female 13 80m hurdles 2nd 14.58
High Jump 3rd 1.35m
Long Jump 1st 4.22m
Shot Put 7th 6.60m

Travis Vugeteveen and Sheldon Seymour traveled to Victoria on Saturday where they took part in Pacific Athletics High Performance meet.

Vugeteveen placed second in his section of the 800-meters and crossed the finish line with a personal best time of 1:55.84. It was a creditable performance for the grade 11 athlete who is preparing for next week’s BC High School Championships. Vugeteveen’s coach, Sue Northey, was hoping that Travis might have been in the first heat where experienced 800-meter runners would have pulled him along. As it was, Travis had to lead for a majority of the section that he competed in.

However, a personal best is always encouraging and next weekend Travis may well improve on that performance when he takes part in the BC Championships.

Also competing in the meet was Sheldon Seymour who placed second in his section of the 100-meters with the creditable time of 11.41 seconds.

Mike Mason competed Monday morning (May 25) in Belem, Brazil at an IAAF GP meet against a very strong field. He placed 4th and cleared 2.25m. Mike came close on all three attempts at 2.28m, and in fact cleared his last attempt but just brushed it off with his calf on his way down. He is looking forward to getting back home and preparing for the Jerome and Lafarge meets, and possibly competing at the Festival of Excellence meet in Toronto. Mike was really happy with the trip, and is beginning to see the results of his winter training program.

A group of Valley Royal athletes took part in the Junior Olympics meet at Bear Creek Park in Surrey.

Royals were led by Hailey Gibson who won the 13-year old 100 meters (13.10) and was second in the 200 meters (28.01).

Ashton Eagles took a silver medal in the 13-year old long jump (4.28 meters) and was third in the triple jump (8.69m). For good measure Ashton had a fourth place in the high jump and a sixth place in the shot put—good all-round performances.

Other top eight performances included Sarya Ross with a 4th place in the 13-year old 1500m and Selah Pankratz, 4th in both the 10-year old 60m and 100m events and 5th in the long jump.

Mehroop Takhar was fifth in the 10-year old long jump.

Dyson Barnes had a personal best in winning the 400-meter hurdles at the World Day Athletics meet held last Wednesday in South Surrey.

Barnes completed the 33-inch, 400-meter hurdle event in 55.45, a personal best and close to the standard that would qualify him for participation at the World Youth Championships. It was an excellent performance by Barnes who is a favorite to win the event at the BC High School Championships that take place in two weeks time.

Jared Heldman produced his best 200-meter time of the year as he won that event in 22.12 seconds. Heldman had a first place in the long jump with a leap of 6.69 meters.

Sheldon Seymour was second in both 100 and 200-meter (22.90) events.

Django Lovett won the high jump despite having to jump over the curbing of the track in his approach. Lovett won the event with a 2.05 meter performance. Stuart Pope was second in the javelin (55.68 meters).

Spencer Prince, whose event specialty is the hammer, placed third in the long jump and fourth in the 100-meters.

Next Friday and Saturday a number of Royals will take part in the BC High School Multi Events Championship that takes place at the Swan Track.

St. Louis, MO—Valley Royal’s Natasha Miller, who won two events with personal bests and placed third in another, was awarded the ‘Most Valuable Performer Award’ at the NAIA National Collegiate Championships that concluded Saturday in St. Louis, Mo.

Miller, the BC High School record holder in the triple jump who is completing her second year at Los Angeles based Biola University, won both the heptathlon and high jump, placed third in the 100-meter hurdles and was fifth in the triple jump. Miller scored 30 of the 31 points scored by Biola that placed 12th out of the 62 teams that took part in the championships.

Miller won the seven event heptathlon by scoring 5,204 pts to place well in front of Point Loma’s Rebecca Gustafson who scored 4,874 pts to finish second. Miller added another victory by winning the high jump with a personal best 1.80 meters, the same height she accomplished in the heptathlon high jump.

Miller added another personal best by clocking 14.28 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles to place third in that event.

Miller will now rest for two weeks and then resume training in hopes of competing later in the summer at the FISU Games in Belgrade, Serbia and the Canada Summer Games in PEI.

Ivan Staeheli, another Valley Royal athlete who is a first year student at Eastern Oregon University, scored a personal best 6,266 pts to place eighth in the decathlon and by so doing earned NAIA All American status.

At the Pac 10 Championships held last weekend in Eugene, Oregon former Valley Royal, Anita Campbell, who is in her third year at the University of Washington, won her first conference Pac-10 title by winning the 10,000-meter run by an incredible 61 seconds. Campbell had opened up a sizeable lead after just a few of the 25 required laps. She then maintained a 50-meter lead for most of the race, before the gap widened again towards the end. Campbell came across the line in 34-minutes, 13.27-seconds. Second-place Kate Niehaus of Stanford finished in 35-minutes, 14.24-seconds. The victory assures Campbell of a trip to the NCAA Championship meet.

Fraser Valley High School Track and Field Championships were held last week in Langley where numerous Valley Royal athletes both won medals and qualified for the BC High School Championships.

While the four day meet (3-days at Langley and the pole vault that was held Wednesday in Abbotsford) involved so many events that is impossible to list all club member’s results in this release, there were some notable performances that we will try to summarize.

Jared Heldman battled the blustery winds to win both the senior boys 200-meters and long jump. Although he encountered a head wind of –3.1 meters, Heldman still managed to win the 200m with a good 22.46. Second place in this event went to teammate Sheldon Seymour with 22.83, his best clocking of the yet young season. Although he only took three attempts in the long jump, Heldman’s leap of 6.85 meters gave him a comfortable win in that event.

Alex Siemens swept to victory in the grade 8 girls 1500m (4:55.34) and 3000m (10:59) events. It was a busy three days for Siemens who also took part in the heat and final of the 800m.

Spencer Prince was happy with his 60.84m winning toss in the 12-pound hammer—his margin of victory over second place was 12-meters.

Because of inclement weather conditions, Django Lovett put in a winning high jump effort of 2.00 meters and let it go at that. Lovett, who this season has twice jumped 2.10 meters, hopes the weather will cooperate next week at a meet in White Rock and if it does, he intends to try to exceed his season’s best. Second place in the high jump was taken by teammate Ian Miller (1.90m).

Royal athletes had good success in the pole vault despite the almost torrential rain they had to compete in. Ian Miller went just high enough to win the senior boys’ pole vault (3.10m), Emma Beckett who had a bit better conditions for the senior girls’ event, won with 3.00m and Anna Chan won the girls’ vault with 2.90m.

Travis Vugeteveen ran very quickly over the last 100m to win the senior boys’ 800-meters 1:57.48. Second to Vugeteveen was Manpreet Dhaliwal (1:58.10) who also placed second in the 1500m (4:06.62). Rounding out club medalists in the middle distance events was the second place finish of Kiya Posthumous (4:55.07) in the senior girls’ 1500-meters.

Dyson Barnes produced a personal best 57.15 seconds to easily win the senior boys’ 400-meter hurdle event.

Full results of the Fraser Valley Championships can be found at: www.fraservalleytrack.com

We are still waiting for results of the Junior Olympics that a number of Valley Royal JD athletes took part in last weekend. If the results come available we will publish them in next week’s release.

Mike competed in Guadeloupe in his first outdoor meet of the season. He jumped 2.17m and placed 5th in the competition. Mike passed 2.20m and attempted 2.23m as he was feeling good, but unfortunately he was having trouble on his approach coming in too fast and taking off too close to the bar. Mike just finished exams last week before heading on the long trip, so it has been difficult to get in technical sessions with his coach, but he is happy with where he is at and has qualified for FISU. Mike's focus now will be to work on his technical training with Larry in preparation for two meets in Brazil at the end of May.

Our athletes may be interested in knowing what Mike's training program looks like. With Mike being a full time university student, he trains five days per week, with recovery days on Thursday and Sunday. His training program generally looks like this:

Event Lifting - half squat, step ups, lunges, etc (2x week)
Ancillary Lifting - dumbbell drop squats, leg extensions, bicep curls, etc (2x week)
Plyometrics - hurdle hops, bounding, high hurdles, etc (2x week)
Med Ball Circuit - front/back heaves, etc (1x week)
Speed - sprints, accelerations (2x week)
Speed/Endurance - skip A/C, high A, etc (2x week)
Tempo - varies btw 400m - 1600m (2x week)
Core Strength - circuit of situps, heel walking, back extensions, etc (2x week)
Technical Training - jumps practices: backovers, run thrus, etc (2x week)

The intensity of the training components varies depending upon whether Mike is in general conditioning, strength training, explosive power training or transition phase. Mike tries to have 48-72 hours break between each specific component workout. USA jumper, Jesse Williams, has a really good website with information on high jump that your athletes might be interested in as well, which includes his Jesse's fall training program.

The Valley Royals Annual General meeting will take place on Wednesday, May 27th at 6:30 p.m. at the home of President Mike Inman (31051 Downes Road, Abbotsford). All Valley Royal athletes and parents are invited to attend the meeting. For more information, please contact Mike Inman by phoning 604-850-8929 or emailing him at Mike Inman.