The indoor season officially came to a close Saturday as the USports Championships finished up at the Butterdome in Edmonton. But before they shut the lights out, Lions athletes manage pick up some hardware for the trip home.
It was a combination of veterans and rookies that won six medals, led by double gold medalist Ashley Connell. The senior at the University of Guelph swept both the throwing events, including a new personal best 18.46m in the weight throw. Her victories in the weight throw and shot put (15.59m) were the first in her collegiate career after previously winning medals each of the past two years in the shot put.
Also picking up two medals was Telvin Tavernier who put together the two best performances of his life to win a silver in the heptathlon and bronze in the pole vault. A relatively recent convert to the combined events from his first love, the pole vault, Tavernier was able to equal his PB in his speciality event to vault himself to the silver medal in the heptathlon, improving on his own Carleton University record by more than 150 points.
Less that 24 hours later the engineering student was back at it, clearing 4.82m in the pole vault, adding a further 12 cm to his lifetime best.The result was an impressive third place finish for Tavernier after entering the competition ranked 13th.
On the sprint straightaway, Shyvonne Roxborough showed she will be a force to reckon with over the next four years, picking up a silver medal in the 60m final as a freshman with a time of 7.51 seconds.
The Lions final medal also came on the straightaway as Tania Bambi sped her way to bronze with a time of 8.44 seconds. Nipping at her heals was Devyani Biswal who finished just one one hundredth back in 8.45 seconds.
South of the border at the NCAA Championships, Adam Palamar picked up his first All-American Award with his 5th place finish in the mile. The Syracuse University senior finished the tactical final in a time 4:06.27.
Other top eight finishes from the USports Championship include
Seb Saville
4th – 600m (1:18.79)
Scott Hancock
5th – 60m Hurdles PB 8.26 (0.01 off bronze)
5th – Long Jump PB 7.15m
Amelia Brohman
5th – 60m (7.55)
Charlotte Gardner
6th – 600m (1:32.21)
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