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Regan Yee makes huge strides at Canada West

Regan Yee has helped her team, Trinity Western University Spartans, win the Canada West Championship for the first time in school history.
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Regan Yee took top rookie honours for track and field at the university level beating out all B.C.

Regan Yee has helped her team,  Trinity Western University Spartans, win the Canada West Championship for the first time in school history.

The first year runner is turning more than a few heads with her abilities, earning rookie of the year honours in western Canada and is happy with her performance in Edmonton last weekend.

“The award was a pleasant surprise,” Yee said. “I wasn’t sure I would be chosen. I didn’t expect it so I wouldn’t be disappointed if I didn’t get it.”

She placed second in the 3000-metre on Feb. 21 in 10:14.02 seconds and placed fifth in the 1500-metre at 4:35.52 seconds the following day.

Going into her first race her team had a plan about how to ensure a victory.

“We decided to take the first two kilometres slowly,” Yee said.

“We looked to pick it up in the final third to separate from the field. We had the idea that my teammate and me were going to win and it worked exactly the way we planned it.

“We were also saving our legs for day two.”

Her early success in the university ranks have a lot to do with how she is preparing, which is much differently than her high school days.

“The training load is probably about three times as much as I was doing during the running season back home,” Yee said. “I was actually running as soon as I got home from Edmonton.”

She has run the fastest indoor time in the 1000-metre distance and is ranked in the top 20 in three separate events nationally, including 10th among her 3000-metre peers.

Yee has earned the right to go to CIS nationals for the 4X8 relay and the 3000-metre races, which take place at the University of Edmonton March 6 to 8.

School has also been going well for Yee, who is taking pre-engineering on an academic-sport scholarship.

“I’m halfway through my second semester,” Yee said. “I finished the first semester with a 3.65 [grade point average], but I did get an A in calculus. In high school I would’ve been horrified with a B, but university is a bit different.”

Yee is already looking beyond nationals to a much bigger stage, which she has already competed in last year.

“I’m looking to make Canada’s world junior team,” Yee said. “I’m just three seconds away right now, so I think I should be able to get that down by July.”

The World Junior Track and Field Championships begin July 22 in Eugene, Oregon.