For the second week in a row and the third time this season, pole vaulter Caroline Poirier pushed her Gee Gee record to new heights, this time clearing 3.76 metres to claim bronze. It was a different story a year ago when Poirier found herself just off the podium in fourth. “I was like that can’t happen again,” Poirier said of the bar going up to 3.76 metres. “I was like I need to jump that 76 because everyone out there jumped 71 and I just got to step it up.” With her newest mark, Poirier is all but assured a spot at the USports Championships taking place in two weeks at the University of Alberta.
Also finding herself on the podium was Gee Gee veteran Madison Clarke in the 1000 metres, who was excited at finally cracking the 2:50 barrier. According to Clarke, her focus was just to stick with the lead back and kick in the final 100 metres. The tactics worked like a charm for the sixth year pyschology student as she clocked a new personal best of two minutes and 49.04 seconds to win a silver and guarantee her spot at the USports Championship. With two more races today, the 600 metres and 4×400 relay, Clarke wants to continue to feed off the energy of the Championships. “I’m just really excited and want to keep that going.”
Clarke would normally form part of the gee Gees 4×800 relay squad, but the quartet of Holly Hicks, Sydney Smith, Marie-Eve Dahms and Maeliss Trapeau more than held down the fort. The Gee Gee women nabbed their fourth straight bronze in the event with a seasonal best clocking of 9:06.24. The Gee Gees appeared to by in the running for silver at the final hand off as Trapeau received the baton with a few steps on the University of Toronto. However, recent Canadian U23 record holder in the 1000 metres, Lucia Stafford was able to eat away at the lead before finally over taking Trapeau in the final 300 metres.
In the women’s pentathlon, Emily Sprague had the competition of her life, putting together five solid events to tally 3341 points and finish fourth overall. It was a more than 100 point improvement for Sprague over her previous best from last year’s Championship fueled in part by a strong 1.62 metre clearance in the high jump. The performance temporarily moved the fourth year public administration student into a USports qualifying position. However, she was was knocked out of the top 12 later in the day by a competitor from the CanWest Championships.
Competition resumes at the OUA Championships this morning with the second day of the men’s heptathlon getting under way at 10 am. For live results, check out https://sidearmstats.com/yorku/track/index.htm.