A barrage of rain didn’t manage to slow down Lion athletes last weekend at the Athletics Ontario Junior/Senior Championships at the Pan Am Stadium in Toronto. A total of 21 athletes helped bring home 18 medals including 4 gold.
Commonwealth Games medalist Tim Nedow handily won the provincial shot put title with a heave of 20.61 metres. In fact, all four of the Brockville native’s measured throws would have won the competition by more than a metre. This was Nedow’s final competition prep before he attempts to win his sixth straight Canadian shot put title next Friday night at Terry Fox.
Tim wasn’t the only Nedow to walk away with a medal. His younger brother Thomas took home bronze in the senior men’s discus throw. Competing in a circle submerged in water, the younger Nedow unleashed the discus out to a personal best 48.23m. The distance ranks the first year senior athlete ninth nationally heading into the Canadian Championships.
On the track, Sharelle Samuel didn’t let moving up an age class affect her medal hopes. Moving up to the open 400m, the 17 year old Samuel showed she could hold her own with the big girls, posting a new personal best time of 53.68 seconds to finish second behind Windsor’s Kelsey Balkwill.
Also moving up a category was sprint hurdler Keira Christie-Galloway. The newly minted Canadian junior record holder placed second in the open women’s 100m hurdle event in a time of 13.57 seconds. Finishing in third was teammate Devyani Biswal who crossed the line in 13.81 seconds.
Christie-Galloway and Samuel teamed up with Paulina Procyk and Rinila Haridas to win the junior women’s 4x100m race though in a time of 48.13 seconds. The Lions also picked up a relay silver with the team of Stephanie Gould, Sophia Skorenky, Emmanuelle Keogh and Mary Ollier crossed the line in 48.83 seconds.
Other winners from the weekend included junior pole vaulter Caroline Poirier and senior 5000m runner Becca Brennan. Poirier’s clearance of 3.55m was just under her seasonal best of 3.60m set two weeks prior en route to winning OFSAA silver in the same stadium.
Other medalists from the the Championship included:
| Silver | Saj Alhaddad | 51.65 | Open 400mH |
| Silver | Oluwasegun Makinde | 20.77 | Open 200m |
| Silver | Matthew Hebert | 1:53.34 | U20 800m |
| Silver | Divyajyoti Biswal | 5.93m | Open LJ |
| Silver | Brandon Ovington | 43.86m | U20 DT |
| Bronze | Nico Pedersen | 15:28.42 | U20 5000m |
| Bronze | Keili Shepherd | 4:37.92 | U20 1500m |
| Bronze | Christina Hertner | 11.77m | Open SP |
| Bronze | Christina Hertner | 32.53m | Open DT |