Hope Secondary track and field athletes set to leave their mark on provincial stage

Hope Secondary athletes gained top marks in two throwing events at last week’s Fraser Valley High School Track and Field Championships in Abbotsford.

Even more remarkable: the athletes were brother and sister. Easton Duplessis clearly outranked the competition in the grade 8 girls’ 3 kg shot put, tossing four of her six attempts over 10 metres. Her record toss was a 10.71, a personal best — and almost a metre further than the best of any other girl in the competition.

Meanwhile, her brother Brayden maxed out at 29.19 metres in the junior boys’ 5 kg hammer throw. The second place thrower was 64 cm behind.

Hope Secondary’s track and field coach is Aaron Dodd, who is new at the school this year and has taken over the role from Jason Fisher. Dodd grew up in Agassiz, where he competed in track and field and he was the assistant coach at Richmond’s McNair Secondary last year.

“We started out with ten athletes this season,” said Dodd, last Thursday. “For the most part, they were in field events.”

Five of the team qualified for throwing events at the Fraser Valley event, after placing well at the Upper Fraser Valleys, which draw athletes from Abbotsford to Hope.

The Fraser Valleys draw from Hope to Surrey, so it’s a much bigger stage. After four days of competitions (where Dodd was in charge of seven shot put events), all five of Hope’s throwers earned a qualification to the Provincial championships.

For the Duplessis, this was their first year of competing, though they’ve had some high-end coaching from a family friend, Dylan Armstrong, said coach Dodd.

The Duplessis moved from Hope to Kamloops for a few years before moving back here. While they were gone, they worked with Armstrong, a bronze Olympian, World silver and bronze medalist and champion at the Pan Am and Commonwealth Games.

Armstrong’s best events were the hammer and the shot put and he’s now a throwing coach for the Kamloops Track and Field Club. He seems to have given the Duplessis a good grounding.

At last Monday’s Grade 8 girls’ shot put event at Abbotsford’s Rotary Stadium, coach Dodd was grinning after each of Easton’s throws. The only fresh marks anywhere near hers, were ones she had made earlier in the warm-ups.

Can she maintain the lead, when the competition jumps up another notch? Will Brayden, whose 6-foot-8 (206 cm) frame provides shade for other athletes, be able to scare a few more centimetres out of his hammer?

May 31 to June 2, the Duplessis and three other HSS teammates will be up against the best in the province at Langley’s McLeod Stadium.

Grade 11 thrower, Josh Ogren tossed his 1.75 kg discuss 32.33 metres, to place eighth at the Fraser Valleys, earning a path to the provincial finals. He missed the shot put qualifier by 41 cm.

The Provincials have a long history of closing on the same day as Hope Secondary’s commencements. The clash continues — but HSS only has one grad going to the Langley event and coach Dodd said Jordan Gauthier’s hammer throw would be done by Friday.

“Jordan has been training for it all season,” said Dodd. Grade 11 thrower, Creighton Tays also qualified, with a 20.55 metre toss, against Gauthier’s second-place 28.60.

The two young men can dash any dreams of a provincial blue ribbon, if Sardis Secondary’s Rowan Hamilton shows up. The national-level athlete threw a 66.35 at the Fraser Valleys last week.

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