Posted: Feb 27, 2017

CW Track & Field Championships: TWU, Alberta win Canada West track titles

Canada West Communications

REGINA, Sask. – The University of Alberta defended its women's banner and Trinity Western won its first men's title in program history as the Canada West Track & Field Championships wrapped up on Saturday afternoon at the Regina Fieldhouse.

Trinity Western entered Saturday in fourth place in the team standings, but had a massive Day 2 to pull away from the rest of the competition. The Spartans scored a total of 61 points on the second day of the meet, just one fewer than second-place Alberta scored over the entire meet.

Though the Spartans had just one gold medal on Saturday – David Boyd's effort in the pole vault helped him hold off Manitoba's Brayden Posyluzny for first place in the pentathlon – the Spartans were all over the podium with six silver medals on Day 2, including second-place finishes in both the 4x200 and 4x400 relays. Nathaniel George (600-metre run), Stephen Humphrey (high jump), Maxime Leveille (pole vault), and Declan White (1500-metre run) all had silvers for TWU, while Aaron Postma added a bronze in the triple jump for the champions.

Alberta finished in second place with 62 points, while Day 1 leader Victoria ended up in third with 54.

Other Day 2 gold medals were won by Lethbridge's Aaron Hernandez (triple jump), Victoria's Tyler Smith (600-metre run), Alberta's Spencer Allen (pole vault), Regina's Tevaughn Campbell (60-metre dash), Lethbridge's Peter Millman (shot put), Manitoba's Alhaji Mansaray (high jump), and Victoria's Cole Peterson (1500-metre run). Saskatchewan and Alberta won the 4x200 and 4x400 relays, respectively.

Millman's gold medal was his second of the weekend, as he also won the weight throw on Friday. He led all athletes on the men's side with a total of 14 points accrued over the two-day meet.

On the women's side, Alberta had the lead heading into the second day of the meet and held off second-place Calgary to secure its second consecutive Canada West title and fifth in program history. The Pandas put away the win with three strong performances in the final session of the weekend. The 4x200 relay team finished first and the 4x400 team placed second, and in between those two races Nicole Soderberg won gold in the 1500-metre run. Bronze medals on Day 2 by Ashley Whiteman in the 600-metre run, Jessica Shannon in the high jump, and Grace Werner in the 60-metre dash all contributed to the Pandas' point total.

The Pandas finished with 104 team points and were only really challenged by Calgary, which finished with 85½ points. Calgary's Niki Oudenaarden was the top individual athlete at the entire meet, adding a gold medal in the high jump on Saturday to score a total of 27 points for the Dinos. Oudenaarden was also part of Calgary's 4x400 team that won gold, giving her a total of three gold medals and two silvers for the weekend.

Manitoba's Tegan Turner etched her name into the championship record book, running the 60-metre dash preliminaries in 7.43 seconds to break a mark set by Alberta's Leah Walkeden (7.47 s) two years ago. She was even faster in the finals, winning the event in a time of 7.42 seconds.

Other Day 2 women's gold medals were won by Saskatchewan's Jessica Buettner (weight throw), Victoria's Rachel Francois (600-metre run), and Regina's Joy Becker (triple jump).

The 2017 U SPORTS Track & Field Championships is the last event on this season's schedule. It will be hosted by the University of Alberta from March 9 to March 11.

Women's Team Standings
Alberta 104
Calgary 85.5
Saskatchewan 54
Trinity Western 48
Manitoba 47.5
Regina 37
Victoria 22
Lethbridge 11

Men's Team Standings
Trinity Western 80
Alberta 62
Victoria 54
Manitoba 53
Lethbridge 44
Saskatchewan 42
Regina 40
Calgary 34

Full results here.

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.

Full results here.

RSEQ TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS McGill strikes gold as Martlets finish 3rd, Redmen 4th

ARTICLE: Earl Zukerman / PHOTO: Pierre Morin

QUEBEC CITY -- The McGill University track and field team came away with a single gold medal performance at the RSEQ conference championships, a two-day meet hosted by Laval that concluded Saturday at the Centre PEPS. The Redmen finished fourth of seven teams and reached the podium five times. They collected gold in the men's 4x200-metre relay on Friday, to go along with three silvers and a bronze. The Martlets were third overall and posted nine podium finishes, including a pair of silvers and seven bronze medals.

Sherbrooke was crowned as the women's champions by just two points, registering 135 to finish just ahead of Laval, which easily won the men's title.

McGill's winning relay was clocked in one minute, 32.85 seconds and proved to be the school's only qualifiers from this meet for the U SPORTS national championships in Edmonton, March 9-11. Leading off the quartet was Tim Kong, a fifth-year immunology senior from Edmonton. He was followed by Steven Murray, a fifth-year master's student in kinesiology, Ethan Wilkinson, a civil engineering senior from Langley, B.C., and Jeffrey Vautour, a management senior from Whitby, Ont.

That same foursome also produced a silver medal finish in the 4x400 relay, clocking in at 3:28.20 Other silver medal performances by the Redmen were produced by Hao Xu (high jump) and Morley Kert (pole vault).

On the women's side, the top McGill medalists were Lauren Woods of Guelph, Ont., and Neela Todd of Vancouver, B.C., who both finished second on the podium. Woods, a science freshman, leaped a distance of 11.78 metres in the triple jump, a bit shy of the school record (12.16m). Todd, a freshman majoring in international development studies, registered 2,618 points in the pentathlon. The team record is 3,868.

Other McGill athletes who qualified for Nationals earlier in the season include Francois Jarry (3000m) of Lachine, Que., Vanisa Ezukuse(weight throw) of Mississauga, Ont., and the women's 4x400 relay, a group that includes Elliane Croce of Minneapolis, Minn., Jessica Tat of Montreal, Maike Huszarik of Guelph, Ont., and Sneha Desai, from Fredericton.

LINK TO COMPLETE RSEQ CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

Tigers men's track and field team claims 15th AUS championship banner in 16 seasons

(MONCTON, N.B.) – The Dalhousie Tigers claimed both the men's and women's championship banners at the 2017 Subway AUS Track and Field Championships hosted by the Université de Moncton at the CEPS Louis-J.-Robichaud gym on campus this weekend.

The Tigers' women's team finished with 137 points to claim their 28^thconsecutive championship banner. The StFX X-Women team came in second with 125 points and the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds women's team claimed third with 54 points.

The Dalhousie men's squad earned 144 points and their 15^th championship banner in 16 years.

The Tigers' 12-year streak was broken by the StFX X-Men in the 2013-14 season. But the Tigers have found themselves back on top again these past three seasons.

This year, the UNB Varsity Reds claimed second place with 101 points and the StFX X-Men finished third with 86 points.

The host Aigles Bleus' men's and women's teams finished in fourth place.

Dalhousie's Mike Van der Poel and Colleen Wilson were named the AUS track athletes of the year.

Jordan Bruce, also from the Dalhousie Tigers and Jennifer Bell from the Mount Allison Mounties were named the AUS field athletes of the year.

AUS rookie of the year honours went to Andrew Wood from the Memorial Sea-Hawks and Maya Reynolds of Dalhousie.

UNB's Troy Wilson and Tess McDonald were named this year's recipients of the AUS student-athlete community service awards.

Lindsay Mackenzie of StFX was named the AUS volunteer coach of the year on both the men's and women's side.

AUS men's track and field coach of the year honours went to UNB Varsity Reds coach Jason Reindl. StFX X-Women head coach Bernie Chisholm earned the women's coach of the year award.

Moncton's Alain Doucet was named the Subway Athlete of the Meet on the men's side, while Dalhousie's Sarah Myatt earned the honour on the women's side.

There were a record 240 registered student-athletes from 10 of the 11 AUS member universities at the competition. Several will attend the U SPORTS Championships, March 9-11, in Edmonton, Alta.

Complete results from this weekend's championships can be found here.

Source: Recap and photos provided by Normand Leger, Moncton Athletics Communications

Dalhousie Tigers claim 28th consecutive AUS track and field title