The 2022 NCAA indoor season kicked off this weekend with a pair of Lions finding success on the track and in the field. Thrower Tommy Nedow and sprinter Lauren Gale were each victorious in their season debuts.
Nedow, competing for Southeastern Louisiana University, swept both of the throws at the Purple Tiger meet at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge on Friday. The fourth year athletic therapy student kicked off the competition with a new lifetime best of 16.57 metres in the weight throw. The distance was more than a full metre ahead of the second place finisher and added 69 centimetres to his previous best in the event. Nedow took an even more commanding victory in the shot put as he defended his Purple Tiger title from a year ago. His best throw of 16.26 metres outdistanced the competition by nearly three metres.
On the west coast, Olympian Lauren Gale kicked off her season in style with a new indoor personal best over 200 metres. Competing at the Potts Invitational on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, Gale dominated the seventh and final heat of the 200, winning easily in 23.52 seconds. The performance moved her to third on Colorado State University’s all-time list and equaled Canada’s number two all-time U23 performance. However, as the facility in Boulder is an oversized track (300m) the performance could not count for Canadian record purposes.
The NCAA season continues next weekend with Gale’s CSU Rams headed to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, while we may see hurdler Keira Christie-Galloway open her season for the Arizona State Sun Devils at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.