February 3, 2011

VANCOUVER, BC -- On February 24th, the winners of Sport BC's 45th Annual Athlete of the Year Awards will be announced at the River Rock Show Theatre in Richmond, BC.

Among the finalists for the High School Male Athlete of the Year award is T-Bird freshman JUSTIN KENT.

A standout cross country and track runner at Kwantlen Park Secondary (Surrey, BC), Kent was a five-time medallist at the BC High School Championships in track and cross country,

and was named the Youth Male Cross Country Runner of the Year by BC Athletics in 2009.

This past fall, running for UBC, Kent helped the men to an 8th place finish at the NAIA Cross Country Championships, their best result in recent years.

"Justin had a fantastic high school career, and he is off to a great start at university level," says UBC head coach Marek Jedrzejek.

Jedrzejek points to the Canadian Cross Country Championships last November, where Kent improved by his time by almost a minute over the previous year.

"The transition was not that tough on me," says Kent. "The coaches and the team have been great and I could not be any happier that I made the decision to come to UBC."

For Jedrzejek, making athletes happy is certainly easier when you can send them to compete across North America, and even across the Pacific Ocean.

"Being a scorer coming into my first season with the team has afforded me many opportunities," says Kent. "We've been to Seattle, to Portland, to San Diego twice,

to Guelph, and I'm going to Japan in a few days."

In the spring, Kent will be focused on qualifying for the NAIA Championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Last year he bettered the NAIA Championships qualifying standard

of 9:29.00, running 9:17.14. If he qualifies, he'll be flying to Indiana with the rest of the UBC team, for the NAIA Championships in May.

Unlike other Canadian university sports teams that compete in the CIS, which lacks an outdoor track and field championship, the Thunderbirds track team competes outdoors

at the NAIA Championships. This is particularly good for Kent, as the steeplechase is not contested indoors.

"My goals for the upcoming track season are to run sub 9:00 in the 3km steeple and try to medal at NAIAs," he says.