Western Mustangs: Season’s Opener Meet
The Western Mustangs showcased their strong rookie class as they hosted the 2011 Season's Opener Meet on Dec. 4 at Thompson Arena.
Four rookies won gold for the Mustangs as rookie Matt Diston won the men's pole vault with a jump of 4.86m. The jump beats the Western record of 4.85m set in 2001 by Brad Turner.
Caroline Ehrhardt won the long jump with a jump of 5.51m. Matthew Morden won gold with a 8.71 in the 60m hurdles.
Drew Welsh won gold with at 14.89m toss in the shot put.
Veteran Emily Coxhead ran 9.00 in the 60m hurdles to defend her meet title from last season.
Waterloo Warriors: Season’s Opener Meet
This weekend the Waterloo Warriors travelled to London, Ontario in what proved to be one of their best season openers in recent memory. With 60m and 200m champion Shlomo Dunyo leading the way, the team came away with a number of podium finishes including 5 gold medals.
The 60m final was nearly an all Waterloo affair, with Shlomo Dunyo (6.95 seconds) Luke Govia (7.05 seconds) and Kofi Kwarko-Fosu (7.34 seconds) taking 1st, 2nd and 4th place respectively. The event was extremely exciting, as, after beginning conservatively in the preliminaries, Dunyo stormed away from his competitors to break Ian Forde’s nine year old varisty record time of 6.97 seconds in the semi finals, stopping the clock at 6.90 seconds.
Although expectations were high after Dunyo’s record in the semi’s, a timing malfunction prevented Dunyo from re-breaking it in the finals. Indeed, the entire final of the 60m had to be re-run after the timing equipment failed to record the times for the final. This race was almost certainly faster than the second final, as all of the competitors were asked to re run the event shortly after the first final with very little warning.
Similar to the 60m, Shlomo showed his range in the sprints, taking the 200m gold in addition to his 60m crown in a time of 23.15 seconds. This time places Shlomo 8th on the all time list for this event. Govia again followed Dunyo closely to the finish line, taking the bronze in 23.46 seconds.
Other medalists in the sprints included returning veteran’s Ben Terejko, Oliver Grant and Eric Noland. Getting out extremely quickly, Terejko finished 3rd in the 300m with a time of 37.10 seconds. This is just 0.2 seconds off of his 300m PB. Grant took home the bronze medal in the 600m race as well, running a tactically sound 600m to finish in a PB of 1:25.04. In the 60m hurdles, Noland claimed the silver medal running to a time of 9.00 seconds. Special mention has to go to rookie Naomi Lance who, in her first race as a Warrior placed a very respectable 4th in the 300m with a time of 43.66 seconds. Making the result even more impressive, Lance was only .03 seconds out of 3rd place and .11 seconds from the OUA championship standard in the event.
Despite running 5 individual races, Govia also led the Warriors into the relay events, starring in the 4 by 200m and 4 by 400m. Govia clocked the fastest 200m split and second fastest 400m split leading his teams to a 2nd place finish in the 4 by 200m (1:34.17) and a first place finish in the 4 by 400m.
In the distance events, Kelly-Lynne Spettigue and Justin Spalvieri both finished 1st in the 1500m and 3000m races respectively. In what is a very strong debut, Spettigue ran by herself throughout the 1500m to finish in a time of 5:01.99. Spalvieri completed his 3000m race to finish in a quick 9:12.77 seconds.
There were some strong results and personal bests in the throws and jumps as well. In the shot put, rookies Marian Agyei-Gyamera and Sarah Krapoez threw Personal Bests of 9.46m and 9.38m to place 9th and 10th in a deep field. In Addition, rookie Brandon Potter qualified for the OUA championships in his first meet in the long jump (6.35m) and triple jump (13.01m) placing 4th and 5th respectively.
Ottawa Gee-Gees: Saints Can Am Classic
The uOttawa Gee-Gees track and field team continued to add to their early season momentum today as six more Gee-Gees qualified for the OUA championship meet in February. The team faced competition from host St. Lawrence University, Plattsburgh State University, and Queen’s University.
In the field events, first-year jumper Krista Dillon, Ottawa, Ont., led the charge for the Gee-Gees placing first in women’s long jump and qualifying for the OUA’s with a first place jump of 11.53m in the women’s triple jump, only 34cm shy of CIS standard.
"Today was really positive for me,” said Dillon, “Today's triple jump was around the same distance I ended last season on so it is nice to have something to build off of.”
The Gee-Gees, who had only brought approximately 20 athletes to compete at St. Lawrence, were much more active in the track events.
First-year sprinter Ashlea Maddex led the way for the women again this weekend placing first in the women’s 60m dash with a time of 7.89s, qualifying for her second event in as many meets. Teammate Nadine Johnsonwould also qualify for the OUAs, winning the women’s 300m dash in a time of 43 seconds flat, six-tenths of a second under the qualifying standard.
First year master’s student Kate MacNaughton, Luskville, Que., would also win the women's mile race with a time of 5:35.69, just failing to qualify.
On the men’s side, fourth-year sprinter Tony Risling, Ottawa, Ont., placed second in the men’s 60m dash with a qualifying time of 7.05s. First-year runner Spencer Bell, Ottawa, Ont., and Cody Boastwould round out the Gee-Gees qualifying for the OUA meet with Bell finishing second in the men’s 300m dash and Boast first in the men’s 1000m.
The Gee-Gees finished 3rd overall on the day.
So far the Gee-Gees will be sending athletes in 37 events for the OUAs this year and will be looking to add more before the season is out. The Gee-Gees last meet before the winter break will be December 18 when they host their first Super Saturday Series meet at the Louis Riel Dome.
Windsor Lancers: Blue & Gold Intersquad Meet
The gold team took home the overall team title after the Lancers annual Blue & Gold Intersquad meet this weekend at the St. Denis Centre fieldhouse.
Andy Ysebaert has already assured himself of making the CIS championships in Sherbrooke after winning the men's shot put Friday with a throw of 15.54 metres, which meets the automatic qualifying standard.
Cole Bloxam was second to Ysebaert with a best throw of 15.16 metres, which was 10cm over the standard.
On the women's side, Celine Freeman-Gibb won with a throw of 12.98metres, which was15cm over the CIS standard.
Jaideene Lowe also qualified for nationals in the triple jump with a standard meeting leap of 11.87m.
On the track, Noelle Montcalm broke her own meet record in the women's 60 metres. She set the mark last year at 7.72, but raced to victory in Friday's final in 7.60.
She also captured first place in the women’s 60m hurdles with a time of 8.62 which sets a new meet record in the event.
Toronto Varsity Blues: Cornell University Relays
The Varsity Blues track and field team travelled to Ithaca, N.Y. on Saturday, December 4 and came up with some impressive results to open their 2010-11 indoor season.
Leading the way for the men was Aurora, Ont., native Alex Denault with a second-place finish in the 3000m with a time of 8:49.24. The Blues dominated the race, with five runners finishing among the top 11. Ethan Davenport was fifth, Jake Woloshyn sixth, while Antun Pavelic and Alex Belluzo were ninth and 11th, respectively.
Laura Maessen also medalled for the Blues, finishing third in the women’s high jump event. The Dartmouth, N.S., native cleared 1.60m in a field of over 30 jumpers.
First-year standout Colleen Hennessy posted an impressive performance with a fifth-place finish in the women’s 3000m (10:29.09). Fellow rookie Teresa Zaszowski was eighth, Paulina Maher and Charlotte Marcotte-Toale were 10th and 11th, while Chantelle Maryuen placed 14th.
Rookie Rachel Jewett of Toronto had a busy day, finishing eighth in the women’s high jump (1.60m), ninth in the 300m dash (42.71), 11th in the 60m hurdles (9.55), while also competing in the women’s long jump and the 4x400m relay.
University of Toronto Track Club member and 2008 Olympian Massimo Bertocchi also made the trip to Ithaca, and finished first in both the men’s 60m hurdles (8.01) and shot put (16.60).