The Gee-Gee women picked up exactly where they left off on day two of the OUA Championships with two more medals to bring the championship total to five. Overall, the women’s team amassed 49 points to finish sixth overall – a scant 1.5 points behind Windsor in fifth. The men compiled 12 points on their way to a ninth place finish.
Both medals Saturday came from the women’s 600 metres where the duo of Madison Clarke and Maeliss Trapeau captured silver and bronze respectively. For both women it was their second medal of the Championship after Clarke took silver at 1000 metres and Trapeau helped the Gee Gees to bronze in the 4x800m.
Clarke was in a battle for gold from the gun, even leading as she hit the bell; however, as she hit the home stretch, Guelph’s Jenna Smith was able to narrowly eek ahead, winning 1:30.54 to 1:30.59. In a reversal of sorts, Trapeau found another gear to kick past Smith’s teammate Sadie-Jane Hickson for third in 1:31.40. Fellow Gee Gee Marie-Eve Dahms also picked up some team points as she placed seventh in 1:34.39.
Kyle Sprague posted the top performance of the weekend for the men when he cleared 1.95 metres in the high jump to place just off the podium in fourth. Saturday’s performance was yet another mark of consistency for the second year student as the springs in Sprague’s feet have seen him equal his personal best of 1.95 metres on four separate occasions this season.
The only other individual top eight finish on the men’s side came Derek Brougham in the heptathlon. The fourth year student amassed 3995 points over the two day event to finish seventh overall. Brougham’s biggest points came from the final of events of each day, the high jump and 1000 metres, where he had performances of 1.86 metres and 3:05.20 respectively.
The Championship culminated with the 4×400 metres relays where the men and women finished a strong sixth and fifth respectively. The men’s quartet of Zach Leger, Quinn Lyness, Alex Vaculik, and Luka Vukovic produced their fastest time of the season to cross the line in 3:27.07. The women’s team of Madison Clarke, Lucy Hempstead, Sydney Smith and Marie-Eve Dahms also posted a season’s best with their time of 3:52.62.
The USports Championships are scheduled for March 5-7 at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.