2007 in Review

Junior Development

Track & Field
What a spectacular year 2007 was for VOC junior development athletes! Our JDs won 113 medals including 32 gold. The impressive medal haul was led by Stephanie Cho (24 medals), Megan Picken (22 medals) and Katherine Tourigny (17 medals). Our JDs competed in eight track and field meets this year including the Jack Brow in Kelowna and the JD Championships in Kamloops.

Twenty-eight of our athletes received B.C. Athletics Achievement Crests for their 2007 track and field accomplishments. Gold crests go to Stephanie and Samantha Cho, Heather LePard, Sean and Lana Gill, Megan Picken, Katherine Tourigny, Kirstie Merkt-Caprile, Julia Reniers-Smith, and Christina Hofmann. Also achieving gold crest level were Sophie Dodd, Madeleine and Max Gray, Andrew and James Galbraith, and Nicholas Mirikitani. Silver level crests go to Sidney and Maya Rodriguez, Kashtin De Souza, Jamie LePard, Anil Kumar, Bret Morin, Keith Kitagawa, Joey Tang, Denver Dimayuga, Alexander Coote, and Cole Walker. Bronze crests were earned by Patrick Church and Jamie Picken.

Four VOC athletes received additional honours for their All-Time Top Ten B.C. Record. At this year’s B.C. Athletics JD Awards ceremony held in October, Stephanie Cho received four awards (60mH, 800m, 1500m, Pentathlon) and Megan Picken two (60mH, Pentathlon). Andrew Galbraith received an award for his 60mH performance and Katherine Tourigny received an award for Pentathlon. Vancouver Olympic Club was one of the top clubs for 2007 with its eight JD awards.

Cross Country
Our athletes competed in the five cross country races this fall that comprised the B.C. Championship Cross Country Series. An athlete’s top three races are used for scoring. Again, VOC shone! Stephanie Cho won all five races for ten year old girls taking the gold medal for the series. Also winning a series gold medal was Jemal Reta, ten year old boys. Jemal won all four races that he entered. Megan Picken won a silver series medal for nine year old girls and Cassie Cannon took bronze for eleven year old girls.

Congratulations to all our young VOC athletes who competed this year!

The Vancouver Olympic Club Junior Development athletes are coached by Besnik and Tatjana Mece.