For the first time in two years, Canada’s best university athletes are gathering in New Brunswick for national bragging rights and some glittering hardware. The USports Track and Field Championships start today in St. John at the recently built Irving Oil Fieldhouse and continues through Saturday.
A total of seven Lions varsity athletes representing the University of Ottawa and Carleton have made the trip out east for the Championship where they will be joined by seven other Club members representing their respective universities.
The University of Ottawa is led by OUA Champion Sydney Smith who looks to add national champion to her running resume in the 600 metres and will also run anchor on the Gee-Gees 4×400 metre relay team. Smith enters the heats of the 600, which take place today at 6:30pm eastern, as the top seed.
Joining the medal hunt for the Gee-Gees is Thomas Sénéchal-Becker in the high jump. The first year accounting student boasts a best of 2.05 metres this season, which ranks him third in the country heading into this weekend’s competition. The OUA silver medalist jumps for gold Friday night at 4pm.
Brianna Asiamah enters Friday night’s shot put competition ranked 10th in the country. The third year social work student will be pushing for a spot in the final when action goes Friday night at 6pm.
The Gee-Gees 4×400 metre relay team will be running in the fast section of the timed final Saturday afternoon. The quartet of Doyin Ogunremi, Frédérique Bell, Hannah Frazer, and Sydney Smith just missed out on a medal at the OUA championships and are eager to show the country just how fast they can go when the gun goes off at 3pm on Saturday.
Carleton University’s lone entry in this year’s championship is Alexandra Telford. The architecture graduate student is among the medal favourites when competition in the 300 metres gets underway on Friday – having posted the third fastest time in the country while winning the RSEQ Championships two weeks ago.
Telford had qualified in the 60m hurdles as well, but dropped the event to focus on the 300, as the hurdles are also scheduled for Friday. It will be a tight turnaround for the 300 metre field with the heats scheduled for 4:50pm and the final set to go just 110 minutes later at 7:40.
A trio of Lions will be representing the Varsity Blues of Toronto this weekend. David Adeleye will contest the 60 metre hurdles, where he enters with the sixth fastest time. The duo of Paulina Procyk and Helena Jovic will run on the Blues 4×200 metre squad, with Jovic also featuring on the 4×4 team as well.
Leewinchell Jean, a third year student at the University of Windsor, will line up for his second USports Championships this weekend. A finalist in the 60 metre hurdles two years ago, Jean will only contest the 4×400 metre relay this weekend for the Lancers as an injury hampered early season preparation in his marquee event.
In tonight’s 4×200 metre relay heats, Vanessa Lu-Langley will pass the baton to clubmate Audrey Gilmour as the pair represent McGill University. The Martlets enter the championship with the sixth fastest time in the country this season.
Rounding out the field of Lions is Will Cox, representing Dalhousie University. Cox will run the 3000 metres for the Tigers Friday night at 5:50pm. The AUS Champion enters the championship ranked 13th.
Lions Schedule
Thursday, March 31
Sydney Smith (uOttawa) 600m Heat 2 6:30pm
Paulina Procyk & Helena Jovic (Toronto) 4x200m Heat 3 7:20pm
Vanessa Lu Langley & Audrey Gilmour (McGill) 4x200m Heat 3 7:20pm
Friday, April 1
David Adeleye (Toronto) 60mH Heat 1 3:45pm
Thomas Sénéchal-Becker (uOttawa) High Jump Final 4:00pm
David Adeleye (Toronto) 60mH Final 4:40pm*
Alexandra Telford (Carleton) 300m Heat 1 4:50pm
Will Cox (Dalhousie) 3000m Final 5:50pm
Brianna Asiamah (uOttawa) Shot Put Final 6:00pm
Alexandra Telford (Carleton) 300m Final 6:40pm*
Saturday, April 2
Sydney Smith (uOttawa) 600m Final 12:15pm*
Paulina Procyk & Helena Jovic (Toronto) 4x200m Final 1:15pm*
Vanessa Lu Langley & Audrey Gilmour (McGill) 4x200m Final 1:15pm*
Helena Jovic (Toronto) 4x400m Final 3:00pm
Doyin Ogunremi, Frédérique Bell, Hannah Frazer, Sydney Smith (uOttawa) 4x400m Final 3:00pm
Live Results can be found at https://www.windsortiming.com/LiveResults/2022/USport/index.php
All the action will be streamed live on CBC.ca/sports