CIS PREVIEW 2011 Mondo championships: Windsor, Guelph looking for repeat performances
OTTAWA (CIS) – The University of Windsor women will be seeking a three-peat while the University of Guelph men hope to make it two in a row later this week when the best university track and field athletes in the country meet in Sherbrooke, Que., for the Mondo CIS indoor championships.
Championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/trackfield
The three-day CIS meet, hosted by the University of Sherbrooke for the first time since 2002, kicks off Thursday at noon with the season awards luncheon.
The first final of the championships, the women’s weight throw, quickly follows at 2 p.m. The meet concludes late afternoon on Saturday with the always exciting 4x400 relays.
The Windsor women crushed the competition a year ago on their home turf winning their second straight CIS banner and the ninth in team history – a record – with a 41-point cushion over Toronto. They are looking to become the first team since Saskatchewan in 2005 to capture a third consecutive national title, which would move them one step closer to their own all-time mark of five banners in a row (1992 to 1996).
The Lancers are as dominant as ever this season. They lead archrival Guelph by 38.5 points in the national rankings going into the CIS meet after almost doubling up the Gryphons at the OUA championships two weeks ago.
Fifth-year sprinter Noelle Montcalm once again led the way for Windsor with gold medals in the 60m, 60m hurdles, 300m and the 4x200 relay en route to claiming the OUA Outstanding Performer Award. The native of Windsor was the CIS female athlete of the year in track events in 2010.
It was a totally different story on the men’s side at last year’s CIS meet as Guelph edged the hometown Lancers by a single point (86-85) to win its second banner in three seasons – and the second in team history.
However, judging by the latest national rankings and results from the OUA meet, it looks like the Gryphons are in tough to repeat as CIS champs. Windsor leads Guelph by 19 points in the Top 10 following a dominating 102.5-point triumph at the OUA championships.
In the other conferences, the 2011 team banners went to Calgary (women) and Regina (men) in Canada West, Sherbrooke (women) and Laval (men) in the RSEQ, and Dalhousie with a sweep of the AUS titles.
While Windsor’s Montcalm will be one of the athletes to keep an eye on this week in the women’s competition, Calgary’s Sam Effah could steal the show in the men’s championship.
Also in his fifth and final year of eligibility, the Calgary native, who was named the Outstanding Male Track Performer following the Canada West championships two weeks ago, is already one of the most decorated athletes in CIS track and field history heading into the Nationals.
Effah was chosen male MVP of the 2008 and 2010 CIS meets, and has been selected as the CIS male athlete of the year in track events each of the past three seasons. He is once again the Canada West nominee for the award this year.
A three-time defending CIS champion in the 60 metres, the 22-year-old is the Canadian senior champ on 100m and ran a 10.06 on the distance last July, the fastest time by a Canadian since 2003.
The hometown Vert & Or will also be well represented.
Pascale Délisle was named female athlete of the year in the Quebec conference after she captured the RSEQ pentathlon title with 3,202 points. The Quebec City native hopes to improve on her silver-medal finish at last year’s CIS championships.
On the men’s side, veteran Ben-Youssef Méité earned the RSEQ top performer award in track events. The native of Ivory Coast is a former CIS champion in both the 60m (2007) and 300m (2009, 2007, 2006).
NOTE: The list of CIS season awards that will be handed out at Thursday’s luncheon includes: athletes of the year in track events (female & male), athletes of the year in field events (female & male), rookies of the year (female & male), student-athlete community service awards (female & male), as well as the Sue Wise Award to the women’s coach of the year and the Bob Boucher Award to the men’s coach of the year... A female and a male championship MVPs will be named at the conclusion of the meet...
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Thursday, March 10
12:00 CIS Season Awards Luncheon (Delta Hotel – King St., Sherbrooke)
14:00 Weight Throw (W) Final
15:15 60m Hurdles (W) Pentathlon
15:45 60m Hurdles (M) Pentathlon
16:00 High Jump (W) Pentathlon
16:30 Long Jump (M) Pentathlon
17:50 Shot Put (M) Pentathlon
18:50 Shot Put (W) Pentathlon
19:30 High Jump (M) Pentathlon
19:30 60m (W) Heats
19:45 60m (M) Heats
20:15 Long Jump (W) Pentathlon
20:30 60m (W) Final
20:40 60m (M) Final
20:50 600m (W) Heats
21:05 600m (M) Heats
21:45 800m (W) Pentathlon
21:55 1000m (M) Pentathlon
Friday, March 11
13:30 60m Hurdles (W) Heats
13:45 60m Hurdles (M) Heats
14:00 4x200m Relay (W) Heats
14:20 4x200m Relay (M) Heats
15:30 Weight Throw (M) Final
17:30 Long Jump (W) Final
18:00 Pole Vault (W) Final
18:05 High Jump (M) Final
18:15 60m Hurdles (M) Final
18:30 60m Hurdles (W) Final
18:40 300m (W) Heats
18:55 300m (M) Heats
19:10 1000m (W) Final
19:20 1000m (M) Final
19:30 3000m (W) Final
19:50 3000m (M) Final
20:00 Shot Put (W) Final
20:30 300m (W) Final
20:35 300m (M) Final
21:00 4x800m Relay (W) Final
21:10 Long Jump (M) Final
21:15 4x800m Relay (M) Final
Saturday, March 12
12:00 Triple Jump (W) Final
12:05 Shot Put (M) Final
13:00 Pole Vault (M) Final
13:30 600m (W) Final
13:45 600m (M) Final
13:55 High Jump (W) Final
14:00 4x200m Relay (W) Final
14:15 4x200m Relay (M) Final
14:45 1500m (W) Final
15:00 1500m (M) Final
15:10 Triple Jump (M) Final
16:10 4x400m Relay (W) Final
16:26 4x400m Relay (M) Final
PAST CIS TEAM CHAMPIONS (last 10 years)
Women
2009-10: Windsor
2008-09: Windsor
2007-08: Guelph
2006-07: Calgary
2005-06: Windsor
2004-05: Saskatchewan
2003-04: Saskatchewan
2002-03: Saskatchewan
2001-02: Western Ontario
2000-01: Saskatchewan
Men
2009-10: Guelph
2008-09: Windsor
2007-08: Guelph
2006-07: Sherbrooke
2005-06: Windsor
2004-05: Saskatchewan
2003-04: Windsor
2002-03: Windsor
2001-02: Saskatchewan
2000-01: Alberta