While Spring was in the air Saturday, we were looking back on a strong winter season indoors as the University of Ottawa handed out their annual athletic awards. A total of five Gee-Gee athletes were recognized by the university for their excellence on the field of play.
Combined events athlete Kathryn Moreland took home the honour of Garnet Rookie of the Year following a tremendous opening campaign in the garnet and grey. Moreland, who competes in the five event pentathlon, recorded an impressive three individual event personal bests enroute to an overall pentathlon best at the OUA Championships where she placed fourth in the field.
Also at the OUA Championships, Moreland ran leadoff on the Gee-Gees 4×400 metre relay team, putting the team at the front of the pack as they captured OUA bronze out of the slow section. Through that run Moreland also secured her first trip to the USports Championship where the Gee-Gees ran a seasonal best time of 3:54.99 and placed 12th in Canada.
Doyin Ogunremi, a teammate of Moreland’s on the 4×400 metre relay, was recognized Saturday night as the Gee-Gees women’s track and field Most Valuable Player. In addition to her success on the 4×400 metre relay team, the fourth year student helped this year’s 4×200 metre squad to a place in the national final after they narrowly missed the school record by seven hundredths of a second.
Beyond her relay success, a massive highlight of Ogunremi’s season will undoubtedly be her school record performance at 300 metres. Running at the Ravens Last Chance Meet, Doyin erased a second off her previous best – running 38.73 seconds to become the first woman in school history to break the 39 second barrier. She would go on to finish fourth in the same event at the OUA Championships and 11th at USports.
The men’s track and field MVP went to third year student David Moulongou. A team leader, Moulongou put up the 10th fastest time in school history for 300 metres (34.70) – arguably the deepest event in Gee-Gee history. In addition, during his only run at the 60 metre hurdles, Moulongou put up the 13th fastest performance in school history.
Looking back to the fall season, André Alie-Lamarche and Melina Hamel were each recognized as the men’s and women’s cross country team MVP’s. Alie-Lamarche had a standout season, earning OUA Second Team All-Star recognition for his eighth place finish before going on to a career best 28th place finish at the USports Championship.
Hamel, a rookie on the cross country team, was the Gee-Gees top finisher at the OUA Championships, finishing 46th overall. In fact, she was the team’s top finisher at all four competitions the Gee-Gees competed in during the season.