Andy Pfeiffer's last competition as coach of the Revelstoke Secondary School track team was bittersweet.
Sweet, because he's moving to become principal of Columbia Park Elementary next year. Bitter, because he'll no longer be coaching track.
"I had a lot of fun over the years," he said following last week's provincial championships in Nanaimo, B.C.
Pfeiffer was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the championships for his work as coach and organizing track meets over the past 26 years.
He got his start when he was asked to coach javelin despite not knowing a thing about it. He then moved up to be the team’s head coach, a position he’s had for more than 20 years.
He said he'll miss the relationships he's developed with his student athletes.
“It’s not about results, it’s about teaching kids about resiliency and perseverence and hard work, and trying your best and doing your best,” he said. “They might not remember my lesson on Hamlet, but they will remember a trip to Nanaimo.”
Jeff Colvin will be taking over as the team’s coach next year.
Current CPE principal Ariel McDowell will be the District Principal for Student Support Services
RSS track athletes beat their bests at provincials
Photo: The 24 members of the Revelstoke Secondary School track team, along with their coaches. ~ Photo from the RSS Track Twitter feed
By Andy Pfeiffer, RSS Track
The Revelstoke Secondary School Track & Field team returned home from the BC High School Provincial Championships with two silver medals, a sixth place finish, and a bus-load of athletes with personal best results.
Nanaimo’s Rotary Stadium was the venue for the 49th running of the BC High School Provincial championships and 24 members of the RSS Track Team traveled down for the three day event. The meet started with a flourish of excellent results on Thursday as Spencer Spannier broke a 15-year-old school record in the 1,500 metre steeplechase and triple jumper Zoë Kramer jumped her best ever. Nolan Gale then ran his fastest ever in the 1,500 metre. All three of those results helped set the stage for days two and three.
On day two, the first of three top eight finishes happened in the hammer cage. Cam McKenzie needed to throw a personal best in order to make it into finals and did just that. In the final round McKenzie chucked the hammer 32.93 meters for sixth place.
Photo: Shea Bibby launches the javelin 40.92 metres, good for a silver medal amongst the grade eight boys at the provincial high school track & field championships. ~ Photo from the RSS Track Twitter feed
Later that day, the future of RSS track shone brightly as two grade eight athletes were able to each snag a spot on the podium. First up was Shea Bibby, who battled a fierce wind yet still managed to throw the 600 gram javelin 40.92m, less than a metre from first place. Later that afternoon, Matthew Arnold threw a four kilogram shotput 11.64 meters for a silver medal finish. “Yeah, I was a bit nervous, but it all worked out,” said Matthew afterwards.
To add to their accomplishments, Bibby and Arnold joined Elizabeth Elliott and Spencer Spannier as athletes who set new school records in their events.
Determining who performed at their very best is easily determined in track and field, of course, because the sport has results which are objective in both time and distance. And while there were a few disappointments, they were far outweighed by the number of personal bests achieved by an overwhelming number of RSS athletes who traveled to Nanaimo.
“As a track coach that’s all you can ask for, that athletes perform their very best at the championship event,” said distance coach Rob Brown.
Here are the complete results by RSS athletes at provincials:
Nolan Gale: 19th in 1,500 metres, 4:58.15; 19th in 800 metres, 2:27.39
Matthew Arnold: Silver in shotput, 11.64 metres; 9th in high jump, 1.50 metres; 23rd in 100 metres, 13.30 seconds
Shea Bibby: Silver in javelin, 40.92m; 16th in shotput, 9.41 metres
Aleks Klassen: 27th in 400 metres, 57.91 seconds; 23rd in javelin, 30.58 metres
Rylan Bokis: 30th in 400 metres, 59.24 seconds
Elizabeth Elliott: 15th in 400 metres, 1:02.34; 11th in 800 metres, 2:32.20; 23rd in 200 metres, 28.39
Adam Smith: 29th in 400 metres, 55.54 seconds; 24th in 800 metres, 2:06.09
Alana Brittin: 13th in 1,500 metres, 5:06.28; 18th in 800 metres, 2:35.15; 17th in javelin, 26.77 metres
Kate Granstrom: 17th in 1,500 metres, 5:10.27; 15th in 3,000 metres, 11:36.72
Megan Cottingham: 30th in 100 metre hurdles, 19.87 seconds; 12th in hammer, 28.61 metres; 23rd in 400 metre hurdles, 1:25.44
Daniel Blackie: 21st in 100 metre hurdles, 19.66 seconds; 24th in 400 metre hurdles, 1:07.63
Hayden Mallet: 17th in 3,000 metres, 10:03.54
Zoë Kramer: 28th in triple jump, 8.56 metres
Aiden Smith: 30th in 3,000 metres, 11:03.36
Andreas Suchovs: 26th in javelin, 36.49 metres; 17th in hammer, 26.31 metres
Erin Behncke 11th in discus, 23.38 metre; 11th in hammer, 31.46 metres; 21st in javelin, 22.13 metres
Cam McKenzie: 6th in hammer, 32.93 metres; 23rd in discus, 25.20 metres; 17th in javelin, 34.98 metres
Alexis Allain: 24th in hammer, 17.94 metres
Jacob Ancell: 18th in shotput, 9.54 metres
Tettey Tetteh: 23rd in triple jump, 10.44 metres
Linnea Allain: 11th in hammer, 29.28 metres
Spencer Spannier: 10th in 300 metre hurdles, 43.77 seconds; 10th in 1,500 metre steeplechase, 4:47.02
Relay teams:
Bokis, Klassen, Tetteh, Spannier: 22nd in 4X100m, 49.76 seconds
Ancell, McKenzie, Arnold, Bibby: 25th in 4X100m, 52.03 seconds
Kramer, Elliott, Cottingham, Behncke: 24th in 4X100m, 56.52 seconds
Smith, Smith, Blackie, Mallett: 24th in 4X400m, 4:03.40
Kramer, Brittin, Elliott, Granstrom: 19th in 4X400m, 4:33.06
Bokis, Spannier, Klassen, Mallett: 20th in 4X400m relay. 4:02.06
Ancell, Arnold, Gale, McKenzie: 26th in 4X400m, 4:30.65