Powell River Track and Field Club now has an athlete competing at the national level.
Rising track star Cale Hernandez has qualified for the 2012 Legion National Track and Field Championships taking place August 15 to 21 in Charlottetown, PEI.
Hernandez will compete in the octathlon, a multi-sport event that combines scores from the 100-metre dash, 110-metre hurdles, 400-metre dash, 1,000-metre race, shot put, javelin throw, long jump and high jump.
The young athlete snagged first place in the event while competing at the annual BC Athletics Track and Field Jamboree mid-June, beating out the other two competitors in the 16- and 17- year-old men’s category and earning himself a spot on the BC team.
“It felt awesome,” said Hernandez. “I got a whole bunch of personal bests and I was really happy with [my results].” He added he’s excited to go to Charlottetown for the competition. “I haven’t been to the east at all before, so it should be fun.”
Silvana, Hernandez’s mother, is proud of how well her son did. “What it says is his training paid off,” she explained. “It’s always an awesome feeling when you can beat your time and just keep getting better and better.”
Hernandez’s win would be impossible, she added, without the support of great coaches. These include Connie Polman-Tuin, a former Olympic heptathlete, Scott Glaspey and Hernandez’s father Alan.
