It was a successful weekend under the Arizona sun for four lady Lions at the Desert Challenge Games in Phoenix this past weekend. Among the highlights were Canadian Record performances by Keegan Gaunt and Shanna Boutilier.
As the lone entry in her 800m race, Gaunt obliterated the previous Canadian T13 record, crossing the finish line in 2:24.24. Gaunt’s performance was more than 10 seconds faster than the previous standard set by Courtney Knight at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney.
While Shanna Boutillier swept all three sprint titles, it was her winning time of 1:06.73 in the T46 400m which will be etched into the Canadian record books. Boutillier also won the 100m in 15.03 seconds
before taking the 200m in 30.83.
In the T12 category, Larissa Brown was victorious in the 100m, 200m and long jump. All three of Brown’s performances (13.85s, 27.95s and 4.72m) were slightly off her current Canadian records.
Also competing was 2012 Paralympian Rachael Burrows, who was third in the T34 200m and fourth in both the 100m and 400m.
Also this weekend, a small contingent took part in the Swathmore Final Qualifier in Pennsylvania with Lions athletes picking up seven medals including three golds.
The hurdlers again had a strong outing, sweeping both the men’s and women’s titles as well as finishing 1-2-3 in the women’s event. Ashlea Maddex led the women’s contingent winning in a seasonal best equaling 13.38 seconds. Maddex also picked up a silver in the open 100m. Devyani Biswal and Tania Bambi were second and third respectively while Sekou Kaba won the men’s event.
In the field, 2016 Olympian Tim Nedow dominated the men’s shot put field, easily winning with a best toss of 20.21m. The next closest competitor was nearly four and a half metres behind.
In the women’s triple jump, club record holder Divya Biswal was second place finisher with a best leap of 12.61m.
Finally, at the Atlantic Coast Conference championships, Adam Palamar finished 4th in 3 minutes 47.34 seconds.
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