Byrne Creek Secondary senior Victoria Barusic will be leading a strong contingent from Burnaby to the Karate Canada championships.
The 17-year-old Barusic is the defending gold medalist in kata or forms, while winning a silver medal in kumite or sparring at last year's nationals.
Barusic also won kumite gold and silver in kata at the junior Olympics in Las Vegas. She also captured gold at the Commonwealth championships in Sydney, Australia.
At this year's competition, Barusic will compete in her age class in both kata and kumite, while also entering the 18-to-20 age group as well.
Andrea Maikawa is back again at the nationals in the open women's division. Junya Yamamura will compete in the men's kata.
Also competing in the 16/17 age group are Daniel Zhang, Jag Sandhu, Harpreet Sidhu and Derek Chan from Burnaby.
Four other Burnaby martial artists - Vanessa Vung, Aya Kitaok, Joey di Pietro and Isabel Chan - will take part in their respective 14/15 division.
More than 300 of Canada's top karate athletes will competing at the three-day event hosted in Richmond March 16 through 18. B.C. will be sending a team of 70 athletes - the province's largest contingent ever.
The nationals will take from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at the Richmond Oval.
