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Alexa Dow is once again the B.C. high school senior girls 1500m champion. The B.C. School Sports 2024 Provincial Track and Field Championships were held at Rotary Bowl Stadium in Nanaimo June 6-8 and the Cowichan Valley sent athletes from eight area schools to compete, including from Dow's school, Frances Kelsey Secondary.
The 11th grader qualified for the 1500m final in first, cruising to a time of 4:54.01, but she pulled off a season best effort in the final with a time of 4:27.64, roughly 18 seconds ahead of the second place finisher and merely 1/100th of a second off the B.C. High School record set back in 2015. Dow owns the U18 girls B.C. record in the 1500m, securing a time of 4:18.64 at the 2023 Harry Jerome Track Classic.
“It was so nice to have the B.C. High School Championships on the Island this year," Dow said following the event. "Racing with the support of a home crowd was awesome, and I was excited to win the 1500m title for the third year in a row.”
Unlike the last two years, Dow skipped out on the 800m race to focus on future events.
Typically Dow doubles the 800m and 1500m at high school meets, but she was invited to race in the Brooks Pr in Seattle on Wednesday, June 12, and so she was saving her legs for racing the mile in what is billed as “the fastest meet of high school track and field”.
"It should be fun," she said of the Brooks Pr.
Following her senior year at Kelsey, Dow will move on to run track at North Carolina State University with the NC State Wolfpack women's track team — one of the top programs for distance running in NCAA Div I.
Joining Dow on the winner's podium is Cowichan Secondary senior Ludovica Avigni, who qualified in first for the100m final and placed first overall by 1/100th of a second. She also qualified in first for the 200m final and finished first in that race as well.
Avigni, an 18-year-old Italian exchange student, went on to place second in the senior girls long jump.
"She did absolutely amazing," said Cow High athletic director Wendy Charles.
To round out the region's medallists, Queen Margaret's School's Cohen Bartfai won the silver in the Grade 8 boys long jump and Kelsey's Nova Wedmann- Kent jumped to bronze in the senior girls high jump event. Wedmann-Kent also ran the senior girls 100m but did not qualify for the final.
A handful of others made the Top 10 in their events with Cowichan Secondary's Annette Blumel was fourth in the senior girls 1500m race walk.
"Annette did very well, taking many seconds off her time with a personal best," Charles said.
Quamichan's Robert Lazenby was fourth in the junior boys 1500m race walk. Lazenby's Quamichan teammate, Joshua Williams placed sixth overall in the junior boys shot put and was slated to participate in the discus event but did not compete.
Brentwood College School's Aidan Heenan was fifth in the senior boys triple jump event while St. John’s Academy's Alexis Chow was sixth in the senior girls 400m hurdles and competed in the 400m dash but did not advance.
QMS's Ethan Chen was sixth in the junior boys high jump.
Kelsey's Charlotte Gough qualified in seventh place in the junior girls 1500m and finished 10th in final. Gough also ran the junior girls 800m but did not qualify for the final.
Top 10 finishes aside, it's a real feat to even make the B.C. Championships. Other Cowichan Valley participants included: from Queen Margaret's School: Layla Walker (400m), Amelia Mense (high jump, 800m), and the Jr. boys 4x100m relay team; from Shawnigan Lake School: Josh Polak (400m), Daniel Hill (100m hurdles), Thabisa Mangena-Jellema (discus); from Frances Kelsey: Mirai Suzuki (100m hurdles, triple jump), Tilly Nielsen (3000m); from Quamichan: Samuel Nickolichuk (hammer throw), James Elliott, (javelin), Fischer Bleackley (javelin, triple jump), Dario De Gagne Rodriguez (shot put), and the Grade 8 boys 4x100 relay team; from Queen of Angles: Jessica Tshibangu (high jump) and from Cowichan Secondary: Lyla De Leeuw (long jump), Jeremy Seymour (200m), and the sr. boys 4x100m relay team.
