The podium finishes came fast and furious as the Lions opened the new year at competitions across Ontario, Quebec and New York. In total, 25 podium finishes were produced – including nine gold medal performances.
The Can-Am Classic at the University of Windsor produced four medal performances from throwers Thomas Nedow and Leanna Garcia. Nedow was victorious Friday night in the men’s shot put competition with a number five all-time performance of 15.68m and followed it up Saturday with another personal best in the weight throw, 14.35m, to finish third. Garcia produced a gold medal performance in the weight throw with a 14.36m heave while also finishing second in the shot put.
Up the 401 in Toronto, Nedow’s older brother Tim opened his shot put season with a solid 19.84m heave to win at the Athletics Ontario Championship Series #1. Tim was recently named to the Commonwealth Games team where he will be looking to improve upon his bronze medal finish from four years ago.
The throws success continued in Quebec City at the Rouge et Or Invitational where Ty Coulter raised the University of Ottawa’s women’s weight throw record for the third consecutive meet with a heave of 15.58m to finish second. The mark currently ranks 7th in the USports ranking. Carleton Raven Dani Ferguson-Jamer finished in the bronze position with a best of 13.52m. Christina Hertner rounded out the throwing medals, claiming victory in the shot put with a 11.94m toss.
At the Great Dane Classic on Staten Island, Stephen Evans and Devyani Biswal each claimed victory. For Evans, it took a lifetime best of 2:27.06 to claim victoy in the 1000m while Biswal produced her fastest opener ever over 60m, 7.86 seconds, on her way to gold. Devyani would put out a similar effort as she finished 5th in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.53 seconds. Teammate Ashlea Maddex claimed silver in that race posting a speedy 8.44 second time.
The final medal from New York also came in the 1000m as Madison Clarke ran her way to a silver. Like Evans, Clarke’s time of 2:51.92 was a significant personal best as she erased nearly three seconds from her previous standard.
Other podium finishes from the weekend are as follows:
GOLD 600m – Marie-Eve Dahms 1:38.53
GOLD 4x200m – Carleton University Men 1:36.22
GOLD Pole Vault – Caroline Poirer 3.40m
SILVER 60mH – Nafthalia Lucien 9.55
SILVER 60mH – Tyler Dacosta 9.03
BRONZE 4x200m – Ottawa Lions Women 1:54.38
BRONZE 4x800m – University of Ottawa Women 10:04.40
BRONZE 4x200m – Ottawa Lions Men 1:37.45
BRONZE 4x800m – University of Ottawa Men 8:39.88
BRONZE 4x200m – University of Ottawa Men 1:37.45
BRONZE Triple Jump – Rinila Haridas 10.41m
BRONZE 60m – Emmanuel Nwokobia 7.10
Lions return to action this Saturday as they host the uOttawa Winter National Capital Invitational. Information can be found on our meet info page.
