Gryphons sweep team titles at OUA Track and Field Championships

The University of Guelph Gryphons men's and women's track and field teams swept the team banners at the OUA championships on Saturday evening at the Toronto Track and Field Centre, marking the first time since 2013 that one institution claimed both titles

On the women's side, the Gryphons won their second straight team banner and fourth in the last five seasons with 165.5 points, just 9.5 points ahead of the second place Western Mustangs, who entered Day 2 of the event as the leaders in the team standings after a tremendous showing on the opening day. The Toronto Varsity Blues won bronze.

The Gryphons men claimed their second team title in three seasons with a commanding performance, combining for 201.5 points to finish 58.5 points ahead of the Mustangs. The defending champion Windsor Lancers finished in third place. 

The Gryphons women's team won four gold medals on the second day of competition. Ashley Connell kicked things off first thing in the morning by finishing first in the weight throw with a toss of 17.96m, Shyvonne Roxborough won the gold medal in the 60m with a blazing fast time of 7.44 seconds and Jordan Bates was crowned the triple jump champion with a distance of 12.09m.

Their final gold medal came in the 4x200m, where they were able to avoid a collision between the Varsity Blues and Lancers to cross the finish line in first place in a time of 1:39.42. 

The most anticipated women's race of the day was the 1500m, which came down to a battle between 2016 Rio Olympian Gabriela Stafford and her younger sister Lucia, and it did not disappoint. The two pulled ahead of the field early and battled to the finish, with the older Stafford finishing just nine hundredths of a second ahead of her younger sister. Julie-Anne Staehli of the Queen's Gaels won the bronze medal, 10 seconds back.

The other three women's gold medals were won by t Varsity Blues. Jazz Shukla finished just ahead of teammate Madeleine Kelly in the 600m to put Toronto on the top two spots of the podium, while Danielle Delage won the high jump competition at 1.75m. Rounding out the medal haul was the 4x400m relay team, which came from last place to first in the final legs to climb on top of the podium. 

Unlike the women's competition, which came down to the final event, the men's result was never really in doubt as the Gryphons dominated their opponents all weekend and picked up an additional four gold medals on Saturday.

Thomas Land finally got the best of Sacha Smart, finishing ahead of him in the 600m after twice getting passed in their events on Friday. 

Also on the track, Kyle Thompson just edged out teammate Keysean Powell at the line to win the gold medal in the 60m, while Powell was forced to settle for silver. Mohamed Yassin won the bronze medal in the event.

The Gryphons' other two gold medals came courtesy of Sean Cate, who finished atop the podium in the high jump with a leap of 2.10m, and Mark Emode, who proved he was the best all-around athlete of the meet by winning the heptathlon with 5106 points. 

The most exciting race of the day was the 1500m, which was won by Jack Sheffar of the Mustangs. He led for much of the race but at the start of the last lap, McMaster's Jeff Tweedle sprinted ahead and looked poised to steal the victory. However, coming around the final turn Sheffar started to rein him in and he caught Tweedle right at the finish line, winning the race by only one hundredth of a second.

The host York Lions won three medals in the men's competition, led by Nick Fyffe successfully defending his title in the triple jump. He finished well ahead of the field with a jump of 14.94m, 75cm ahead of the silver medallist.

The men's pole vault was won by Chris Waugh, who electrified the crowd in the final event of the afternoon by clearing 5.11m to finish 40cm ahead of York's Sam Adams and Western's Dan Gleason, who tied for the silver medal. 

The Waterloo Warriors capped off their impressive showing in the sprinting events by winning the gold medal in the 4x200m relay, while the Varsity Blues finished in first place in the 4x400m relay. 

All gold and silver medallists from the OUA championships have now automatically qualified for the U SPORTS championships, which will begin March 9 at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS 

Women
1. Guelph, 165.5 points
2. Western, 156
3. Toronto, 150.5
4. Windsor, 68
5. York, 35
6. Ottawa, 34
7. Waterloo, 20
8. Queen's, 19
9. McMaster, 5
10. Brock, 3

Men
1. Guelph, 201.5 points
2. Western, 143
3. Windsor, 97
4. Toronto, 74.5
5. York, 48
6. Waterloo, 42
7. Ottawa, 23
8. McMaster, 14
9. Brock, 8
10. Queen's, 5

INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS – DAY 2 

Weight Throw (W)
1. Ashley Connell, Guelph, 17.96m
2. Ekua Cudjoe, Toronto, 17.26m
3. Jill Van Damme, Windsor, 17.00m

600m (W)
1. Jazz Shukla, Toronto, 1:30.27
2. Madeleine Kelly, Toronto, 1:30.66
3. Charlotte Gardner, Ottawa, 1:31.69 

600m (M)
1. Thomas Land, Guelph, 1:18.84
2. Sacha Smart, Toronto, 1:19.05
3. Corey Bellemore, 1:19.25

Triple Jump (M)
1. Nick Fyffe, York, 14.94m
2. Jonny Balogun, Western, 14.19m
3. Daniel Gayle, Western, 14.17m 

High Jump (W)
1. Danielle Delage, Toronto, 1.75m
2. Kaleigh Hole, Western, 1.72m
3. Emilia Grala, Western, 1.69m

60m (W)
1. Shyvonne Roxborough, Guelph, 7.44
2. Joy Spear Chief-Morris, Western, 7.50
3. Sian Smart, Waterloo, 7.59 

60m (M)
1. Kyle Thompson, Guelph, 6.80
2. Keysean Powell, Guelph, 6.81
3. Mohamed Yassin, Waterloo, 6.90

4x200m (M)
1. Waterloo, 1:28.55
2. Windsor, 1:28.66
3. Toronto, 1:29.30 

4x200m (W)
1. Guelph, 1:39.42
2. Western, 1:39.71
3. York, 1:40.84

Heptathlon (M)
1. Mark Emode, Guelph, 5106
2. Kayden Johnson, York, 4959
3. Shawn Beaudoin, Guelph, 4901 

1500m (W)
1. Gabriela Stafford, Toronto, 4:16.42
2. Lucia Stafford, Toronto, 4:16.51
3. Julie-Anne Staelhi, Queen's, 4:26.34

1500m (M)
1. Jack Sheffar, Western, 3:51.50
2. Jeffrey Tweedle, McMaster, 3:51.51
3. Mark Patton, Guelph, 3:53.73 

Pole Vault (M)
1. Chris Waugh, Windsor, 5.11m
T2. Daniel Gleason, Western, 4.71m
T2. Sam Adams, York, 4.71m

Triple Jump (W)
1. Jordan Bates, Guelph, 12.09m
2. Laura Amoi, Toronto, 12.02m
3. Vanessa Oliver, Guelph, 11.85m

High Jump (M)
1. Sean Cate, Guelph, 2.10m
2. Steve Nkusi, Ottawa, 2.01m
3. Bleska Kambamba, Western, 1.95m 

4x400m (W)
1. Toronto, 3:48.37
2. Windsor, 3:48.73
3. Western, 3:50.18 

4x400m (M)
1. Toronto, 3:17.61
2. Western, 3:20.48
3. Waterloo, 3:21.27 

INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS – DAY 1

Weight Throw (M)
1. Jarek Skeath, Guelph, 20.23m
2. Eli Pawliw, Windsor, 17.09m
3. Ezana Debalkew, Toronto, 16.29m 

1000m (W)
1. Lucia Stafford, Toronto, 2:44.44
2. Madeleine Kelly, Toronto, 2:46.21
3. Jazz Shukla, Toronto, 2:46.50

1000m (M)
1. Sacha Smart, Toronto, 2:23.13
2. Thomas Land, Guelph, 2:23.76
3. Corey Bellemore, Windsor, 2:23.87

60m Hurdles (M)
1. Gregory MacNeill, Guelph, 8.05
2. Locky Butcher, Western, 8.18
3. Jackson Cheung, Guelph, 8.28 

60m Hurdles (W)
1. Joy Spear Chief-Morris, Western, 8.28
2. Sarah Hammond, Guelph, 8.28
3. Devyani Biswal, Ottawa, 8.35

Indoor Pentathlon (W)
1. Kaleigh Hole, Western, 3834  OUA Meet Record
2. Emily Bowerman, Guelph, 3178
3. Louise Bunce, Western, 3036 

Pole Vault (W)
1. Robin Bone, Western, 4.00m
2. Rachael Wolfs, Windsor, 3.90m
T3. Brittany Salmon, Toronto, 3.60m
T3. Amina Sherif, Toronto, 3.60m

Shot Put (W)
1. Sarah Mitton, Windsor, 15.75m
2. Ashley Connell, Guelph, 15.48m
3. Brooke Hoxar-Moore, Western, 14.43m 

3000m (W)
1. Kristina Popadich, Western, 9:31.07
2. Julie-Anne Staelhi, Queen's, 9:33.73
3. Hannah Woodhouse, Guelph, 9:35.11 

3000m (M)
1. Jack Sheffar, Western, 8:20.58
2. Benjamin Workman, Guelph, 8:24.04
3. Brayden Seneca, Guelph, 8:24.23

Long Jump (M)
1. Riley Bell, Western, 7.35m
2. Keysean Powell, Guelph, 7.26m
3. Scott Hancock, Ottawa, 7.13m 

300m (W)
1. Katrina Innanen, Toronto, 38.98
2. Jenna Smith, Guelph, 39.41
3. Caroline Stricelj, Western, 39.70

300m (M)
1. Ramzi Abdulahi, Western, 33.83
2. Brandon Shirk, Guelph, 33.92
3. Rayshaun Franklin, Toronto, 34.38 

Long Jump (W)
1. Holly Pitters, York, 6.06m
2. Emily Omahen, Windsor, 5.91m
3. Vanessa Oliver, Guelph, 5.57m

Shot Put (M)
1. Eli Pawliw, Windsor, 17.13m
2. Jared Skeath, Guelph, 16.71m
3. Brett Boersma, Windsor, 15.81m 

4x800m (W)
1. Toronto, 8:51.10
2. Guelph, 8:57.55
3. Ottawa, 8:59.79

4x800m (M)
1. Windsor, 7:31.83
2. Toronto, 7:40.27
3. Guelph, 7:40.34