Melissa Bishop-Nriagu opened up her run to Tokyo with a victory this past weekend at the Wolverine Invitational on the campus of the University of Michigan. Competing at 600 metres, the two time Olympian was the class of the field, winning in a meet record of 1:29.82. Saturday’s race was Bishop-Nriagu’s first run at the distance since setting a personal best 1:27.95 at the 2013 Millrose Games.
Elsewhere south of the border, Harvard sophomore Sharelle Samuel took top spot at the Beantown Challenge 500 metres on her home track. Samuel’s time of 1:16.33 put her nearly a half second clear of second place Kristina Cherrington of the University Connecticut.
Across the continent, Lauren Gale took top spot over 400 metres at the Potts Open at the University of Colorado. Gale, who was the indoor and outdoor 400 metre champion in the Mountain West Conference in her freshman season in 2019, opened her 2020 campaign with a 55.39 second clocking, nearly three seconds clear of second place.
At the Can Am Classic in Windsor, Lancer rookie Leewinchell Jean placed fifth in the 60 metre hurdles with a personal best time of 8.36 seconds. Jean, who is known for his exploits over the 400 metre hurdles, has been making strong strides in the shorter event, currently ranking ninth in USports.
Closer to home, Lions, Gee Gees and Ravens athletes were in Sherbrooke, Quebec for the Vert et Or Invitational where they took home a combined seven medals including gold from sophomore Caroline Poirier in the pole vault. The second year health sciences student cleared a height of 3.30 metres to out duel former Gee Gee Claudine Nafaa, competing for Laval, in a count back.
Fellow second year student Kyle Sprague found himself reaching new heights in the men’s high jump with his clearance of 1.95 metres. The mark was good enough for third and was a five centimetre improvement on his previous lifetime best, set back in 2017.
Marie-Eve Dahms took bronze in the women’s 600 metres with a time of 1:35.46, her fastest time ever on a 200 metre track. While it is early in the season, the mark currently has the human kinetics student ranked sixth in USports. Dahms’ training partner Hannah Frazer picked up a silver over 1000 metres with a 3:08.19 clocking.
Also picking up medals were Brianna Asiamah with bronze in the shot put while both the Gee Gee men’s and women’s 4×200 metre relay teams picked up silver.
The Lions return to action this weekend at the uOttawa WinterNational Invitational which kicks off Friday night with the 800 and 300 metres and concludes Saturday with the full slate of events. For details check out the technical package.