Conference championship weekend south of the border brought much success and accolades to the pride. The five competing athletes collected two Canadian records, two team titles, three individual conference titles, a relay title, a silver medal, and athlete of the meet accolades.
Lauren Gale continued to sizzle this season as her two victories in the 200 and 400 metres at the Mountain West Conference Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico helped lead the Rams to a nearly 40 point victory over San Diego State. The Colorado State senior won both her events in commanding, and Canadian record setting fashion.
After breezing through qualifying Friday night, the 2021 Olympian laid down one of the most impressive performances in Canadian indoor track and field history as she took down the national under-23 400 metre record in a time of 51.78 seconds and then followed it up an hour later by bettering her two week old Canadian record with a time of 23.00 seconds for 200 metres.
For Gale, she didn’t set out to set records on Saturday. “I was going to get points for my team mainly,” explained the 22 year old after the meet. “My coach didn’t taper me much for this meet, we are aiming more for nationals. I was running the 400 and knew I had a 200 and maybe a 4×400 left so the goal wasn’t to get any records but just make it to the end of the meet and get as many points for my team as I could!”
Gale’s entry to the NCAA indoor championships was confirmed today, where she will contest the 400 metres only. She is the first Lion to compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships since Adam Palamar placed fifth in the mile at the 2017 championships
In Birmingham, Alabama, the host site of the NCAA Championships, Tommy Nedow was busy throwing his way to a pair of medal performances. The Southeastern Louisiana student-athlete started the competition off with the second best performance of his life in the weight throw – hurling the 35 pound ball an impressive 17.87 metres. The mark was good enough for a bronze, seven spots higher than his 2021 performance.
Nedow rounded out the championship with a title of his own in the shot put. The 23 year-old heaved the 16 pound ball out to a seasonal best of 16.75 metres. Monday’s victory was the second straight for the Brockville native at the Southland Conference Indoor Championships.
At the Ivy League Championships in New York City, Sharelle Samuel helped the Crimson of Harvard to their first conference indoor title since 2017. Samuel ran the second leg of the Crimson’s winning 4×400 metre relay team and also placed seventh in the 500 metre final.
Elsewhere, Keira Christie-Galloway had the strongest performance of her indoor season at the Pac-12 Invitational in Seattle. The Arizona State student ran a seasonal best in the 60 metres and just missed her season’s best in the 60 metre hurdles with a time of 8.38 seconds to place fifth in the final. Meanwhile, Kevin Robertson ran the second fastest 3000 metres of his life, finishing 26th at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship in Blacksburg, Virginia. He also helped the Syracuse Orangemen to a ninth place finish in the distance medley relay, where he finished the final 1600 metre leg in 4:08.49.