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Ellenwood has golden touch

Four events, four gold medals, three personal bests and most outstanding athlete award for Langley’s Georgia Ellenwood
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Langley Secondary’s Georgia Ellenwood had a golden time at the B.C. high school track and field championships, winning four gold medals and setting personal bests in all four events. Ellenwood was also named the meet’s outstanding female performer.

The golden touch continues for Georgia Ellenwood.

Last July, at the B.C. Summer Games held in the Township, Ellenwood was presented with the W.R. Bennett Award for Athletic Excellence as the top performer at the Games, where she won four gold medals in her track and field events.

And over the weekend, her incredible run over the past 12 months continued, as Ellenwood captured another four gold medals, and was named the most outstanding female performer at the B.C. high school track and field championships.

“It kind of puts pressure on me for next year; I mean, four firsts, how do you beat that?” she said with a laugh.

The Langley Secondary Grade 10 student — who also trains with the Langley Mustangs Track and Field Club — was a one-person wrecking crew at the provincial championships.

Her rampage began the week before in Abbotsford at the multi-event championships where she won the heptathlon title. And Ellenwood continued to roll this past week at the remainder of the provincial track and field championships, held at Burnaby’s Swangard Stadium.

Ellenwood won gold in the high jump, long jump and 100m hurdles.

She won the heptathlon with 4,847 points. Walnut Grove’s Shelby Smithson took bronze with 3,736.

In the 100m hurdles — a race in which Ellenwood said she could have finished first or third, the competition was so close — she won in a time of 14.68 seconds.

In the long jump, her leap of 5.71m bested Brookswood’s Carolyn Sutherland for the gold. Sutherland took silver at 5.54m.

Ellenwood set new personal bests in those three events and is now ranked first in Canada in the long jump, high jump and hurdles, and second in the heptathlon at the youth level (16-17).

Her fourth gold medal came in the high jump as she cleared 1.70m, just ahead of Smithson.

Ellenwood’s results also helped Langley finish third in the girls’ team standings, despite the fact she accumulated all 40 points on her own.

Walnut Grove was second in that category with 46 points, while Oak Bay ran away with the title thanks to 84.5 points.

 

 

Boaz Joseph/Black Press

Langley Saints' Georgia Ellenwood (above) soared to the gold medal in the long jump, one of four golds she won at the B.C. high school track and field championships at Swangard Stadium.

 

Last year as a Grade 9 athlete competing in the senior division (Grades 10-12), Ellenwood won gold in the heptathlon and long jump, and silver in the 100m hurdles and high jump.

But despite that success, she admitted she didn’t know what to expect this time around.

And the fact she was given the meet’s outstanding female award came as a surprise too.

Ellenwood was already out of uniform when she heard her name called for the presentation.

“I had no idea (about the award),” she said.

“I was really shocked when I got it, but obviously very happy.”

A big reason for Ellenwood’s success is the fact she has long competed against older competition.

With the Mustangs, she has entered several meets against university-aged athletes.

Not winning those events helps keep her humble and hungry.

The busy 12-month period continues for Ellenwood as she prepares for the world youth championships in France next month.

Ellenwood will compete in heptathlon.

“I have never competed in anything like that, so I am pretty nervous,” she said.