Records continued to fall over the weekend at the Pearlgate Track & Field Complex in Mount Pearl.
Seven records were broken by four athletes from Mount Pearl and St. John’s at the NL Canada Games Trials and Open Meet on July 12 and 13.
Thirteen year old Chantal Barnes of St. John’s started the record setting weekend by breaking Provincial and Canadian standout Jillian Forsey’s Midget Girls’ 800m record running a time of 2:19.76 lowering the record from Forsey’s time of 2:20.21 which was set three years ago at the Youth Nationals. Barnes was also one of 5 young athletes selected this week to represent the Province at the Hershey Track & Field North American Championships in Hershey, PA. This marks the third straight year that Barnes has been selected to attend the North American Finals. Amongst other locals selected were Deepal Deshapande and Camryn Bonia of St. Johns, and Levi Moulton of Paradise. They were selected from over 900 children ages 9-14 that competed at the Provincial Hershey Championships held in mid June. Every year this province has one of the top three participation numbers in all of North America. The athletes will run against others from all over the USA and Canada the first weekend of August.
Harshal Deshpande of St. John’s continued his success by breaking his own 100m provincial record of 11.99 seconds running a time of 11.97 seconds. Deshpande finished in the top eight at last year’s Nationals and will be returning to compete again this year in Langley, BC
Jennifer Boland of St. John's continued her record setting season by erasing her own Midget Girls’ 100m record with a time of 12.74 seconds; not only did Boland break her own record with the fastest women's 100m time of the year for all age groups, but she broke Jerrilee Woodford’s 20 year old Juvenile and Junior 100m record. This is the second time this season that Boland has passed Woodford in the provincial record books having broken Woodford’s 200m Midget Girls’ record two weeks ago at the Provincial Age Class Championships, a record that stood for 20 years. This season Boland has broken five records including her own Midget Girl’s 300m record, and is a solid medal contender going into the Canadian Youth Championships hosted by the Royal Canadian Legion and Athletics Canada on the second week of August in Langley, BC.
Daniel Kelloway of Mount Pearl kept his summer rolling becoming the fastest man in Newfoundland and Labrador. A junior athlete who runs for Memorial University and the Pearlgate Club Kelloway broke both the Junior and Senior 100m records in the same race running a blazing 11.03 seconds, shattering the previous marks of 11.31 and 11.21 set by his coach Doug Halliday 15 years ago. This is the second time that Kelloway has broken his coach’s records this season having erased Halliday’s 200m Junior and Senior records of 22.70 and 22.61 seconds by running a time of 22.46 seconds at the Provincial Age Class Championships in Mount Pearl two weeks ago. Kelloway has the opportunity to break every Junior Sprint record this season as he has just missed breaking Mark Stender’s 400m record of 49.16 seconds on three separate occasions. With the Atlantic Championships and Canada Games still on the calendar Kelloway has a very good shot at accomplishing this major feat as his best event is considered to be the 400m where he is ranked 18th overall in the country. He is considered to be a dark horse heading into the Canada Games. Kelloway has run the fastest times ever on Newfoundland soil this season.
Kelloway, Boland and both Deshpande brothers are coached by Halliday. Halliday shares coaching of Barnes with distance coach Mark Miller who also coaches Moulton and Bonia.
Submitted by...
Doug Halliday
Program Coordinator
Pearlgate Track and Field Club
CSEP Certified Personal Trainer
NCCP Level 3 Sprints, Relays, Hurdles Coach