For the second day in a row, a new club standard has been set in the 1000m. Today’s superb performance comes from Olympian Melissa Bishop running at the New Balance Grand Prix in Boston this evening where she completed five laps of the Reggie Lewis Track Centre in a blazing 2:39. 77. Not only does this performances clip 5.51 seconds off the previous club standard of 2:45.38 set outdoors in 1996 by Anna Gunasekera, but also ranks as the top performance by a Canadian in 11 years behind only the current Canadian record performance of 2:38.24 by Diane Cummins in 2003. Bishop finished 6th overall in the race won by American Mary Cain in 2:35.80.
On day two of the Armory Collegiate Invite in New York City, Mohamed Souleiman followed up his club record performance in the 1000m with a new University of Ottawa standard in the mile. Souleiman broke his own record of 4:22.63 set in 2012 with a 4:18.93 clocking to finish 13th in a tactical championship section race. In the women’s 800m, Charlotte Gardner ran a new personal best 2:14.44 in the 800m to finish 12th in the college section before teaming up with Bridget Hayes, Lucie Sagot-Duvauroux and Alannah McBride to run 3:55.16 in the 4x400m relay. The time was a seasonal best for the University of Ottawa squad and moves them into seventh on the current CIS rankings.
Also in Boston, at the BU Valentine Invitational, triple jumper Divya Biswal leapt out to a distance of 11.88m to finish sixth. The mark was a 30 cm improvement on her previous best this season and moves her into second in the NCAA Division III rankings, where she competes for the St. Lawrence Saints. Biswal was an NCAA Indoor All-American in the event last year after taking home the silver medal at the national meet.
