Canada calls
Sevanne Ghazarian, Joey Daniels heading to under-20 track and field championships in Peru
Sevanne Ghazarian can add another item to her growing list of achievements.
The Cambridge resident, who won the 3,000-metre race at last month’s Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations track and field championship in Belleville, has been named to the 54-member squad that will represent Canada at the July 21-23 Pan American under-20 track and field championships in Trujillo, Peru.
A first-time national team member, the recent graduate of St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School will be joined on the Canadian squad by Kitchener native Joey Daniels, who qualified to compete in the 110-metre hurdles.
“It’s nice to see all the hard work paying off. … Giving my best in everything I do is definitely worth it,” said the 18-yearold Ghazarian, who in mid-August will start her first year of studies and competition at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.
“I’m excited to be around all those amazing athletes and to represent Canada. It’s such an honour.”
Ghazarian qualified for the Pan Am squad by running a personal-best time of nine minutes, 35.23 seconds at the OFSAA West championship in London on May 27.
The Speed River Track and Field Club member followed that outstanding performance — an OFSAA West Record — by striking gold one week later at the OFSAA championships in Belleville.
Since winning OFSAA, she has competed in a pair of 1,500metre races, finishing third at a June 7 meet in London and fifth at the Speed River Inferno track and field festival in Guelph. Ghazarian received a last-minute invitation to that race and fared well in an elite field that included Canadian Olympian Geneviève Lalonde.
Ghazarian, who has never travelled outside of North America or the Caribbean, said she hopes the trip to Peru will serve as a springboard to future opportunities.
“I’m sure being there, with the rest of the team, will inspire me to try and make other national teams,” she said.
Daniels, who recently wrapped up his first year at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., will be representing Canada for a third time. The former Cameron Heights student made a huge splash in his international debut in 2015, turning in a silver-medal performance in the 110-metre hurdles at the IAAF world youth track and field championship in Cali, Colombia.
He also competed at last year’s IAAF world junior championship in Bydgoszcz, Poland, but crashed out in the semifinal round.
“It’s always an honour wearing the flag on my chest and it’s always cool competing against people from other cultures, other countries,” said the 18-year-old Daniels.
“This year, I don’t want to set any goals, just to have fun representing Canada at an age group for the last time.”
The high point of Daniels’ freshman year at Princeton came in May, when he captured the Ivy League championship in a windassisted time of 13.88 seconds. He earned his spot on the national team by running a time of 13.94 seconds on June 14 at the Speed River Inferno meet.
He has been training with his Supreme Athletics coach, Janusz Tomko, since returning to Kitchener this summer.
Daniels and Ghazarian, in their final competition before leaving for Peru, will both compete at this weekend’s Canadian track and field championships in Ottawa.