Oceanside Elementary School can boast of having the best young free throw shooters in the region.
The school’s young players, ages nine to 13, took half of the top 10 honours in the 2017 Knights of Columbus (KoC) Throw Championships that featured District 2 competitors from Port Alberni, Parksville, Qualicum Beach, Comox, Courtenay, Campbell River and Powell River.
Representatives from the Knights of Columbus Council 7991, District Deputy Peter Horsfield, Deputy Grand Knight Ram Hykaway, and free throw organizer Marcel Gaudreault recently presented the Oceanside winners with their individual plaques and the memorial trophies that stay in the school for a year.
The highlight of the awards presentation that was held during a school assembly on May 18 was the diminutive Jared Abad. This talented young boy not only won the boys nine-year-old District 2 crown but also wound up being top free throw shooter in British Columbia and the Yukon. Abad was surprised to also received a state trophy and a basketball. He converted 15 free throws out of 25 attempts, which was the top score from out of the close to 30 Knights of Columbus districts in the province.
Abad is one of two athletes in the region that emerged the top free throw shooter in the district and in the province. The other player is Olivia Williams of Kwalikum Secondary School, who won both titles for the second year in a row.
The other Oceanside winners were Renata Kamel (13-year-old girls), Ayden Chambers (13-year-old boys), Benjamin Mbobela (10-year-old boys), and Georgia Brown (10-year-old girls).
Horsfield congratulated the winners and indicated that, throughout BC and the Yukon, District 2 has recorded the most free throw competitors with over 600 students taking part in the annual event.