Downing
Atkinson soars to jr
pole vault record
Williamson sets new mark in novice girls long jump at TVRA track and field
while Gould, Begemann, Willick and Downing, each win two events
May 17, 2024
By Rob J. Ross
LONDON, Ont. - St. Joseph's Rams Ethan Atkinson and Parkside Stampeders Amy Williamson set meet records.
East Elgin Eagles Louisa Begemann and Dorchester Beavers Curtis Willick bursted on to the scene winning two novice events each.
Dorchester's Will Downing and East Elgin's Benji Gould have stepped it up a level, both golden twice at the junior level.
Athletes from Elgin County and Dorchester had a memorable meet at the 2025 Thames Valley Regional Athletics (TVRA) track and field championships, May 15-16, at Western University.
Atkinson crushed the junior boys pole vault record of 3.75 metres, soaring over 4.35 metres and winning the event by 1.20 metres.
Entering the competition at 3.45 metres, when all other juniors were out, Atkinson missed his first attempt at tying the record. However, the St. Joseph's Ram made his second attempt, before passing at 3.90 metres and making 4.05 on his first attempt.
"It feels nice to see all the hard work has paid off over the last year," Atkinson said. "I've been working on all the little things, trying to be like a sponge when my coaches are trying to teach me something new. Getting my run down so I'm confident when I jump and improving my position when I take off."
Atkinson is with London-Western club, but travels to Toronto a few times a month to train with the Bolton pole vault club.
"I'm excited to keep improving both on my run and transition in the air," Atkinson adds.
His 3.75 metres would have placed him tied second at the senior level.
Williamson bumped out a 15-year old record in novice girls long jump, landing at 5.10 metres.
The Parkside Stampeder, the only competitor over five metres, beat the mark of 5.03 metres set in 2010 by Nicole Setterington. Her distance would have won the senior event.
Setterington holds the senior record mark at 5.55 metres.
Williamson also placed second in triple jump (10.24m).
Will Downing won both the junior boys 100 and 300-metre hurdles. The Dorchester Beavers' time in the 100 of 14.66 records in range of the meet record time of 14 seconds flat.
Willick finished first in both the novice boys 800 and 1500 metres runs.
Gould took first place in both the junior boys 800 and 3000 metres run and finished second in the 1500.
Begemann who both novice girls discus (29.73m) and javelin (28.18m) and placed third in shot put, is following in the footsteps of her mom, Anna.
"My mom did (throws) when she was in high school at Parkside. She recommended it to me," Begemann said. "She said she did it and made it far, like OFSAA West."
Begemann won javelin on a tie-break over Catholic Central's Sarika Adriananse, having the second best throw of 27.83 metres. Begemann won discus by almost two metres.
"I'm really happy. I've never done this before. For shot put, this is my first meet. I didn't expect to get this far up. I didn't know I would be this strong at throwing," said Begemann, a graduate of Summer's Corners elementary school. "I like this a lot. I am going to do it for the next four years."
Dorchester's Ryan Johnson won the open boys 2000-metre steeplechase and finished third in both the senior boys 1500 and 3000 metres races.
East Elgin's Taylor Kana took senior women's javelin (40.80m).
St. Joseph's Rams Flourish Nmor won the senior girls' 800 metres and finished third in the 400 metre dash and seventh in the 200 metre sprint.
The top 10 in each event advance to the Western Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association (WOSSAA) meet, back at Western May 22-23.
From WOSSAA, the top five move on to the OFSAA West regional, also at Western, May 29-30.
The top four at the regional head to the OFSAA championships, June 5-7, at the Toronto track and field center at York University.
LOCAL WOSSAA QUALIFIERS COMPLETE TVRA RESULTS HURON-PERTH RESULTS
St. Thomas Legion track and field club coach Harry Stantsos saw his athlete, Breanne Sloetjes, with Strathroy District, win senior girls high jump (1.60) and triple jump (11.22m).
TVRA records
Along with Atkinson and Williamson, seven other meet records were broken.
Jenna Tunks edged out her older sister, Julia, in junior girls shot put, by adding nine centimetres to the record, throwing a best effort of 14.98 metres.
Jenna also put up one of the best throws in meet history of 44.65 metres, to win junior girls discus. Julia holds the meet mark of 49.93 metres.
Charlotte Piscione, Woodstock Collegiate, won the girls 2000 metre steeplechase, with a new meet record time of 7:27.12, edging out former record holder from 2019, Elysse Fleming (7:27.42), by less than a second.
Both Emmett Charles of London Banting and Ryan Georgeson of Medway high school, eclipsed the record time of 49.20 seconds, just set a year ago, in the senior boys 400 metre dash.
Charles won gold in 48.46 seconds, followed by Georgeson in 49.28.
The son of Steve Charles, who attended Dorchester secondary school, Emmett was also part of Banting's senior boys 4x100-metre relay team that lowered the meet record time by two seconds, down to 41.20 seconds.
CCH, the former record holders set last year at 43.19, also were faster, finishing in 42.55 seconds.
Georgeson won the senior boys 800 metre run, by seven seconds, in a meet record time of 1:52.50.
Mother Theresa lowered the record time for the novice boys 4x100-metre relay to 46.42 seconds.
Kailer Jenney, Medway, lowered the time in senior boys 400-metre hurdles to 54.07 seconds.
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Local qualifying results (Elgin county schools and Dorchester)
CENTRAL ELGIN DORCHESTER EAST ELGIN PARKSIDE ST. JOE'S WEST ELGIN
CENTRAL ELGIN
Novice men: Adam Dykstra, 7th, triple jump (10.72m)
Junior men: Philipp Ludweg, 9th, triple jump (1 11.08m)
Senior men: Fletcher Taylor, 8th, long jump, (6.04m)
DORCHESTER BEAVERS
Downing, Willick, both two events winners.
Senior men: Andrew Urquhart, 2nd, discus (43.48m), 2nd, shot put (15.26m); Evan Stevens, 2nd, javelin (43.16m), Kirk Hallman, 2nd, 1500m (4:15.81), 2nd, 300m (9:06.00); Ryan Johnson, 3rd, 1500m (4:18.84), 3rd, 3000m (9:18.43); Luke Bradish, 5th, high jump (1.75m), 6th, triple jump (12.03m); Devan Lucas, 7th, 110m hurdles (17.04 sec.), 9th, 400m hurdles (1:05.87);
Junior men: Will Downing, 1st, 100m hurdles (14.66 sec.) 1st, 300m hurdles (41.88 sec.); Aiden Hartman, 1st, long jump, (5.96m), 2nd, triple jump (12.82m); 4x1 relay, 8th (47.10 sec.); Liam Turner, 8th, long jump (5.49m);
Junior women: Aisha Medina, 2nd, pole vault (2.75m); Clara Steller, 4th, javelin (26.05m); Avery Bradish, 6th, javelin (24.31m); Eve Jackson, 7th, shot put (8.67m);
Novice men: Curtis Willick, 1st, 1500m (4:39.58), 1st, 800m (2:15.64);
Novice women: Ava Ridley, 4th, javelin (1.96m), 4th, pole vault (1.95m);
Open men: Ryan Johnson, 1st, 2000m steeplechase (6:40.15);
Open women: Chloe Bozik, 7th, steeplechase (9:21.83);
EAST ELGIN
Scott
Begemann, Gould, both win two events
Senior women: Taylor Kana, 1st, javelin (40.80m); Darah Farrow, 2nd, javelin (32.79m), 10th, shot put (23.45m); Reece Laidlaw, 4th, discus (26.12m0, 7th, javelin (26.22m);
Senior men: Henry Scott, 4th, 200m (22.82 sec.), 9th, 100m (11.40 sec.)
Junior women: Kiersten Kent, 7th, long jump (4.66m).
Junior men: Benji Gould, 1st, 800m (2:09.39), 1st, 3000m (9:56.25), 2nd, 1500m (4:32.32);
Novice women: Louisa Begemann, 1st, javelin (28.18m), first, discus (29.73m), third, shot put (9.76m); Allison Sleegers, 5th, 800m (2:36.95), 9th, 1500m (5:37.74); Bridget Woolley, 7th, high jump (1.30m); Anneka Drader, 8th, long jump (4.33);
Novice men: Weston Underhill, fifth, javelin (25.07m), Ryan Fischer, 5th, long jump (4.86m), Hudson Dyck, 6th, 1500m (4:53.44), 10th, 3000m (2:25.02); Zachary Marques, 8th, javelin (22.02); Keenan Schnarr, 9th, discus, (23.92m)
PARKSIDE
Williamson
Williamson sets meet record for novice girls long jump.
Senior women: Alexis Gray, 8th, 400m (1:03.31)
Junior men: Brendan McCausland, 2nd, javelin (47.25m), 3rd, high jump (1.68m); Riisy Al Faiadhi, 5th, 200m (24.58 sec.), 6th, 400m (54.93 sec.)
Novice men: Jack Rice, 1st, 3000m (10:35.26), 3rd, 1500 (4:46.13); Jack Moore, 2nd, 400m (56.84 sec.), 9th, 200m (25.72 sec.); Mehkai Arnold, 1st, discus (37.10m), 2nd, shot put (11.00m); Nathan Campbell, 4th, 400m (58.02 sec.); 4x1 relay, 7th (49.27 sec.); Brady Congdon, 4th, discus (30.04m), Charlie Halpenny, 6th, 100m hurdles (18.01 sec.), 7th, long jump (4.78m), 7th, 300m hurdles (50.41 sec.); Max Surmacz, 7th, 200m (25.27 sec.), 10th, 100m (13.02 sec.);
Novice women: Amy Williamson, 1st, long jump (5.10m meet record), 2nd, triple jump (10.24m); Cadence Baitz, 5th, long jump (4.45m), 4x1 relay (54.44 sec.); Abby Harrison, 6th, high jump (1.30m); Hannah Kish, 7th, 80m (15.47 sec.), 10th, 300m hurdles (53.52 sec.)
ST. JOE'S
Atkinson crushes junior men's pole vault meet record.
Senior men: Shawn Okorhi, 2nd, high jump (1.80m); Elijah Yi, 4th, high jump (1.75m); Fowler Little, 4th, 800m (2:03.52); Ty Emre, 8th, 3000m (9:53.20);
Nmor
Senior women: Flourish Nmor, 1st, 800m (2:23.27), 3rd, 400m (1:00.25), 7th, 200m (27.85 sec.); Promise Atkinson, 4th, pole vault (3.20m), 5th long jump (4.85m); Brooklyn Hewitt, 5th, 27.20m; Sarah Poley, 5th, high jump (1.45m); Libby McCurdy, 8th, pole vault (2.60m); Nicole Williamson, 10th, 400m (1:04.16).
Junior men: Ethan Atkinson, 1st, pole vault (4.35m - meet record), 6th, long jump (5.64m); Max Gasper, 3rd, javelin (42.45m); Ethan Van Wychen, 4th, high jump (1.68m); Benjamin Santiago, 10th, 800m (2:21.83).
Junior women: Maken Evangelinos, 7th, 800m (2:45.10); Nicole Brailovsky, 7th, high jump (1.40m); Ella Robison, 9th, long jump (4.41m); 4x1 relay, 10th (55.26 sec.), 10th, triple jump (8.86m);
Novice women: Jane Hewitt, 2nd, long jump (4,83m); Ellie Portlock, 10th, javelin (21.21m).
Novice men: Owen Lupson, 3rd, javelin (25.55m), 7th, shot put (9.58m); Martino Vu, 8th, 3000m (11;50.66); 4x1, 9th (56.48 sec.), Landon Richardson, 10th, 3000m (12:05.73).
Open men: Fowler Little, 4th, 2000m steeplechase (6:52.21); women's 4x4 relay, 10th, 4:38.01
WEST ELGIN
Novice men: Alex Lacroix, 5th, javelin (31.26m); Reece Burke, 6th, 300m hurdles (49.05 sec.)
rob@hometownplay.ca