Jessica Frotten began her wheelchair racing season in style last weekend in Victoria.

The 27-year-old Whitehorse native sped to five gold medals at the Dogwood Track and Field Meet, matching her 2013 output at the same event held at the Victoria Track and Field Club.

Competing for the Saskatoon Cyclones, Frotten took part in five races over Saturday and Sunday with rival wheelchair racers in a range of categories.

Frotten was the lone T53 competitor, a category that encompasses wheelchair athletes with normal use of their upper body, but little to no trunk or leg function.

Her weekend results were as follows: 100-metre dash (19.20), 200-m dash (34.66), 400-m dash (1:04.75), 800-m run (2:14.44), and 1,500-m run (4:17.52).

“I was the only T53 race there, but I made all the Pan Ams standards for the 100, 200, 400 and 800,” she told the Star.

“I had to go sub-four minutes to get the standard for the 1,500, and I haven’t really been training for it.”

Additionally, several of her times also made world championships standard, Frotten noted.

“That’s my focus right now – just making those standards,” said Frotten.

“Next weekend, I’m in Arizona for another meet. I’ll be doing another 1,500, so hopefully I can pull that one out.”

That event will be followed by a three-week trip to Switzerland, where Frotten will compete in three separate track meets.

“I’m just going to keep trying to make all these standards. The (Pan Ams) team gets named at nationals at the beginning of July.”

The 2015 Canadian Track and Field Championships will be held in Edmonton July 2 to 5.

The 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games will then take place in Toronto July 10 to 26.

Frotten said she has to place in the top three at nationals to make the Pan Ams roster, and her qualifying times will only help.

“If you don’t make those standards, you won’t be on the team,” she explained. “This is going to be a huge season. If I get the opportunity to represent Canada in Canada, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

Frotten is also aiming to don the Canadian jersey at the International Paralympic Committee Athletics World Championships, set to take place in Qatar this October.

Frotten said she received a welcome boost in Victoria from a troupe of 20 Yukon fans who made the trip south to cheer her on.

“The Yukon crew that was there for me made up 90 per cent of the fans in the stands,” she chuckled. “That was so cool. It was really fun.”

The event was Frotten’s first of the season following a March training camp in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Frotten, whose left arm now portrays a beautiful fireweed tattoo, said her recent results are the culmination of a lot of hard work in Saskatoon, where she trains.

“I’ve been training my ass off,” Frotten said. “I really saw at the training camp that I’m playing with the big girls now. That’s nerve-racking and totally awesome all at the same time.”

Frotten’s 2015 results saw her shave significant amounts of time from her 2013 results, including 1:10 from her 1,500-m time.

The Yukoner has been competing as a wheelchair racer for two years following a 2009 car crash that saw her paralyzed from the waist down.

In December 2014, Frotten was named to the national para-athletics development team.