Posted: June 11, 2005

Athletics: Halifax runner Heather Hennigar wins tactical 800 metre at Victoria International Track Classic

VICTORIA- Halifax middle distance runner Heather Hennigar emerged victorious in a tactical women's 800-metre race Friday night at the 17th Victoria International Track Classic which saw two runners go down including Katie Vermeulen of Victoria, one of the pre-race favourites.

Hennigar clocked two minutes and 05.67 for the win on a cool evening before more than 3,000 fans at Centennial Stadium. Her time was about five seconds off the world championship A standard. Julia Howard of St. John's, Nfld., was second in 2:05.77 and Aimee Teteris of Victoria third at 2:05.79.

"I think I got a little lucky because I don't think I knew how sharp I was at this point in the season," said Hennigar. "I was hoping for a faster race to see where I stood in terms of potentially getting the standard in this event. But I don't think I'm there yet regardless. I'm still trying to get a gauge on whether my primary focus should be the 800 or 1,500. The middle distance events in Canada for the women are very, very strong right now and that's raising everyone's game."

Vermeulen, who missed making the Olympic team by one second last year, fell for the second straight week when she got tangled with Samantha George of Brampton, Ont., at the halfway mark. Last weekend at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon she was involved in a crash involving five runners.

"I would have never expected this to happen tonight," said Vermeulen.

In the women's 100 hurdles, Angela Whyte of Edmonton, sixth at the Olympics last year, is trying to find her stride after missing some valuable training time due to illnesses. She finished second in Friday's race clocking 13.46 while Antoinette Wilks of Jamaica won in 12.94.

"I'm not happy with how I did whatsoever," said Whyte, who has battled tonsillitis and two bouts with the flu this spring. "I know where I'm at with my training so I kind of expect to be all over the place. But the delay in my training has made it a bit nerve wracking for me because physically I'm not where I should be at this point in the season. I really want to build on my success from last year."

In the men's 800, Gary Reed of Victoria notched another win clocking 1:48.06. Last week at the Prefontaine Classic, Reed beat the world championship A standard in his victory against a field that included Olympic champion Yuri Borzakovskiy of Russia.

"It feels good, I'm happy with the race," said Reed. "I'm off to a great start this year and I plan on keeping it going through the summer."

Danette Doetzel of Macklin, Sask., broke the Canadian junior record in the women's 5,000 finishing second in 15:52.08. The previous mark was 15:56.56 held by Emily Kroshus since 2000.

Other Canadian winners Friday included Hilary Edmonson of Guelph, Ont., in the women's 1,500 (4:10.70), Scott Russell of Windsor, Ont., in the men's javelin (73.66 metres) and Kelsie Hendry of Saskatoon in the women's pole vault (4.25 metres).

Friday's competition opened the five-meet Pacific Canada Track and Field Series. The other stops are the Review Kajaks International Track Classic in Richmond, B.C., on Sunday, the Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome International on Tuesday in Burnaby, B.C., the Abbotsford International Track Classic in Abbotsford, B.C., next Thursday June 16 and the Canadian and B.C., 10,000 metre championships June 17, also in Abbotsford.