Lions win 18 medals at Bomber Invite

It was a dominating performance by the Lionesses of Ottawa as they brought home more than two thirds of the medals from last weekend’s Bomber Invitational at Ithaca College. The 14 medal haul included 8 gold and nearly three medal sweeps.
One of the near sweeps occurred in the women’s 1000m where University of Ottawa freshman Maeliss Trapeau was victorious in a time of 2:59.31. Teammate Rebecca Brennan finished second, five seconds behind. Olivia Sidock and Holly Hicks were edged off the podium by St. Lawrence University runner, Mary Terhune.
A strong stable of female hurdlers almost rode off with all the medals in the 60m event. National finalist Devyani Biswal broke her own fieldhouse record to take gold in 8.53 seconds. Reigning USports bronze medalist Tania Bambi was second in 8.72 seconds, while Farah Jacques placed fourth in 8.82 seconds.
Jacques did manage a podium finish in her 60m speciality though, grabbing gold in 7.59 seconds while teammate Stephanie Gould was third in 7.83.
The final near sweep came in the women’s 500m where Madison Clarke, Sophia Skorenky and Mary Ollier went 1-2-4. While Clarke won the event in a personal best 1:14.92, all three ladies performances now rank among the top 10 in club history.
Another impressive performance came from high school senior Sharelle Samuel who picked up two medals on the day. After a silver medal finish in the 200m, Samuel laid down a fast time of 56.94 seconds in the 400m to win the event by more than three seconds.
The University of Ottawa women also swept both the 4x200m and 4x400m relays, with the Gee Gees B Team also managing to make it on the podium for bronze.
On the men’s side, Saj Alhaddad (1:05.19) posted a lifetime best over 500m to claim gold while Kevin M’Pindu  finished second in 1:07.98.
Also winning their event was Stephen Evans who was first across the line in the 800m, stopping the clock at 1:53.67. Lucas Zanetti finished second in the mile event.
Elsewhere, shotputter Tim Nedow continued to show he is rounding into form ahead of this spring’s Commonwealth Games. The Brockville native unleashed a massive heave of 20.82m to comfortably win the York Open in Toronto. Nedow’s mark currently ranks him seventh in the world.