Tinisha Daigle, 12, competes in 800m

Tinisha Daigle wins pair of events at Hershey meet by dwayne tingley times & transcript staff

Tinisha Daigle, 12, competes in the 800m race during the annual Hershey track and field meet at Ecole Anna-Malenfant track yesterday.

The sprightly 12-year-old from Richibucto was among the 63 competitors at Metro Moncton's Hershey track and field meet yesterday at the Anna-Malenfant School in Dieppe. Daigle, a Grade 6 student at Soleil Levant School, is also a right winger with the New Brunswick Peewee Ice hockey team. She also plays soccer and volleyball.

"I like all sports -- I like to win," Daigle said as she watched the action on the sun-baked Anna-Malenfant track.

"When I play one sport, it helps me stay in shape for other sports," she said. "I enjoy them all and I like staying in shape."

Daigle won the 800-metre race and standing long jump in the girls 11-12 year-old division yesterday. She also finished third in the 400.

The top six finishers in yesterday's 36 events qualified for the New Brunswick Hershey meet, scheduled for June 20 in Oromocto.

Top New Brunswickers will then compete at the Atlantic Hershey meet July 5 in Dieppe then Atlantic and New England qualifiers will earn all-expenses paid trip to Hershey, Penn.

"I've been training so I'd like to go as far as I can," said Daigle, who won a silver medal at the Atlantic cross-country championships at the Université de Moncton.

"I have to concentrate on one event at a time. I'm not going to look too far ahead."

Among the top performers yesterday among the girls were: Britney Snowdon in the 9-10 division (first softball throw, 400 metres and second 100), Kamylle Frenette in the 13-14 division (first 100, first 200), Grace Marcoux in the 13-14 division (first 800, first 1,600) and Courtney Sarault in the 9-10 division (first standing long jump, first 50 metre).

Among the top performers among the boys were: Thomas Ashe in the 9-10 year-old division (first standing long jump, 200, 400), Nicholas Basco in the 11-12 division (first standing long jump, 200 and second in 100), Richard Nicolas in the 13-14 division (first 200 and standing long jump) and Clark Wesselius in the 13-14 division (first 1,600 and second 800).