What better way to kick off your university career than with a personal best and the fifth best performance in Club history. That’s exactly how first year Western University student Audrey Goddard started things off Friday at the Saginaw Valley State Holiday Open as she led the Mustangs to a sweep of the podium in the pentathlon with an impressive 3526 points total.
Goddard’s new Club U20 record was fuelled by a pair of victories in both the 60 metres hurdles (8.77) and long jump (5.34m). In fact, the Merivale High School graduate never finished lower than third in the other three events – high jump, shot put, 800 metres – producing four individual bests in total.
However, Goddard was not the only Lion storming out the gate on the opening weekend of the indoor season. David Adeleye, who took home Canada Games silver in the 110 metre hurdles last we saw, broke through the 8 second barrier in the 60 metre hurdles at the Greg Page Relays in Ithaca, New York. A third year kinesiology student at the University of Toronto, Adeleye set a new best of 8.05 seconds before finding another gear in the final and crossing the line in 7.98 seconds. Adeleye was second behind Syracuse’s Anthony Vazquez in 7.95.
The Ashbury College graduate is currently ranked first among USports 60 metre hurdlers, and moves to third in Club history. The only two men in the Club to run faster are 2004 Olympic finalist Charles Allen and 2016 Olympian Sekou Kaba.
Other notable performances from the weekend included Joe Fast opening his season with a victory at 1000 metres in New York City. The third year Princeton student posted a 2:32.06 opener to take The College of New Jersey Winter Open by 10 seconds. At the Clemson Opener in South Carolina, Keira Christie-Galloway started her season with a 8.39 second clocking to take top spot in the 60 metre hurdles. Christie-Galloway is competing for Grand Canyon University where she is pursuing a Master in Business Administration degree after graduating from Arizona State earlier this year.
For updated Club rankings and stats following the first week of indoor competition, please visit ottawalions.com/awards-and-records.