Members of the Thorold Elite Track Club were in fine form this past weekend in Athletics Ontario Indoor Championship Series action.
Competing in the Rising Stars Championships for athletes in the under-8, under-10, under-12 and under-14 age categories, club athletes brought home an impressive 18 medals.
Thorold Elite’s top performer was Raelon Berardi, who earned three gold medals in the under-12 boys 150 metres, 300 metres, and 1000 metres. His brother, Graydon Berardi, and sister, Ambria Berardi, also took home gold medals in the under-10 boys and under-8 girls 60- and 50-metre races respectively.
Thrower Leah Sandel continued her run of gold medals by winning the under-12 girls shot put event. Rounding out the gold medal performances by Thorold Elite athletes was the under-14 boys 4×800-metre relay team, consisting of Brock Piekny, Justin Martens, Neithan Vanegas and Deagen Hallett.
Thorold Elite athletes earning silver medals were: Hallett in the under-14 boys 800 metres, 1200 metres and 2000 metres; Neithan Vanegas in the under-14 boys 150 metres; Ambria Berardi in the under-8 girls 60 metres; and, Graydon Berardi in the under-10 boys 60 metres and 300 metres.
Earning bronze were: Madison Kwofie in the under-12 girls 60 metres, 150 metres and 60-metre hurdles; Dalton Huibers in the under-8 boys 50 metres; and, the under-14 boys 4×200-metre relay team, made up of Neithan Vanegas, Justin Martens, Hunter Collee, and Connor Shaw.
“It has only been about the last year-and-a-half that we’ve been offering this amount of programming for these younger age groups,” Thorold Elite coach Steven Fife said. “Competitions are tougher because all indoor meets are in Toronto so not everybody wants to drive up that far to compete in the winter but once we are outdoor we hold a bunch of meets locally so it’s a great chance for kids to participate outside of their school meets.”
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