Provincial weightlifting returned to the Comox Valley this past Saturday with the B.C. Junior Championships, hosted by the Lake Trail/Killerwhale Weightlifting Club. Four Killerwhales competed and all came away with medals, three in their first provincial competiton.
Jakob Rockx, 15 years old and in Grade 9 at G.P. Vanier Secondary, set Personal Records (PRs) in the Clean and Jerk with 44kg and in the Total with 76kg. That performance earned Rockx the silver medal in the 56kg and under bodyweight category.
Aiden Shepherd, not yet 13 years old and in Grade 7 at Lake Trail Middle School, tied his PR Clean and Jerk with 50 and Snatched 40 to earn the gold medal in the same category.
Tyler Yeomans, 14 and in Grade 9 at Lake Trail, made all six of his lifts and set PRs in the Snatch with 42 and the Jerk with 55 to make a PR Total of 97 and earn gold in the 62kg category. "Tyler, Jakob and Aiden all had a lot of fun in their first competition," said Killerwhales' coach Ed Lafleur.
Corey McBeath, 20, returned to competition after a two-year hiatus and set PRs of 102 in the Snatch, 120 in the Clean and Jerk and 222 in Total. "Corey had been ill for much of the week, so didn’t have much energy left for the Jerk, but still earned the gold medal in the 94kg category," Lafleur said.
Adrian Cadmus-Dixon, 19, a veteran Killerwhale athlete, took this tournament off from lifting but was nevertheless busy as he was called on to coach for the day.
"Adrian had counted attempts before, but this was his first experience supervising the warm-ups, choosing attempt weights and ensuring that the lifters were properly prepared when they got to the competition platform," Lafleur said. "With three lifters in the first session, this was definitely not a simple task, but Adrian came through with flying colours.
"The Killerwhale lifters and coaches would like to thank those whose awesome contributions helped make this tournament a success: Dr. Lori Carpenter, Geoff Williams, Paul, Neil and Russ from Lake Trail, the Home Depot for their generous donation, Bill and Colleen, Braden and Darren Wiebe, Adam, Ryan, Nancy and Jamie," Lafleur added.
Next up for the club is the B.C. High School Championships in Surrey in May and the always-looked-forward-to Seafest at Semiahmoo Secondary in June.