Regan Yee ran the fastest time by a Canadian woman of any age to claim the top spot in the 2,000-m steeplechase at the Jesse Bent Memorial track meet in Coquitlam last weekend.
She also beat the B.C. record holder in the event on the way to her first-place finish.
The track meet was a tryout for Canada Games, which saw 17-year-old Yee up against women as old as 22.
Her strategy was to try to stay as close as possible to the university competitors and to kick into high gear for the last 250 metres, Yee said.
“I followed that [strategy] pretty well and was able to maintain contact with the front girls and at 400 metres I was still feeling good and led for the last lap,” she said.
“Somewhere around lap two both my shoelaces on my spikes came undone but apparently it didn’t really matter.”
Yee sould hear this week whether her performace was good enough to land her a spot at the Canada Games in Sherbrooke, Quebec in August.
Yee also raced in the 800-metre at the meet, winning her flight in a personal best time of 2:14.10.
Also last weekend at the Spruce Capital Meet in Prince George, Bulkley Valley athletes found the top of the podium in four events.
Zoe Bizarro, Grade 10, led the way with a pair of first-place finishes, running to personal bests with 5:16.74 in the Youth 1,500-m and 8:12.67 in the Youth 2,000-m steeplechase.
Grade 10 Patty Spicer threw a personal best of 33.83 metres to win the Youth hammer throw and placed second in discus with a personal best of 21.56 metres.
Phoebe Bizarro, a Grade 8 student, won the Midget 200-m hurdles with a personal best time of 39.68 and finished third in the 80-m hurdles with a personal best time of 17.77.