Lions athletes wasted no time in re-writing the Club record book last Friday and Saturday at the uOttawa Winter Classic. With over 120 athletes competing under the Lions banner, the two-day meet at the Louis-Riel Dome delivered a spectacular showcase of talent. Nearly 100 personal bests, over 20 all-time top 10 performances and three new Club records highlighted the weekend.
First to set a new standard was reigning sprint queen Jorai Oppong-Nketiah. The 16-year-old outclassed the much older field in the women’s 60 metres by posting the fastest time in qualifying at 7.55 seconds. Opting to sit out the final after experiencing minor discomfort, Oppong-Nketiah’s time was strong enough to hold up as a new personal best and Club U18 record. The previous standard of 7.61 had been set by Jorai at the same meet in 2024.
Adding to the excitement, training partner Ange-Mathis Kramo twice added his name to the record book. The 16-year-old matched Dorbor Kollie’s long-standing 60m mark of 7.01 seconds from 2015 and broke Zachary Jeggo’s 300m record with an impressive 34.17-second run, eclipsing the previous mark of 34.21 seconds
Meanwhile, the spotlight on sprints continued with Stephan Balson, who delivered a head-turning performance in the 60 metres. Balson’s 6.84-second effort not only secured him second place overall but also tied him for third on the all-time U20 list alongside two-time Olympian Oluwasegun Makinde.
Success wasn’t limited to individual efforts. The University of Ottawa’s 4x800m relay team of Fred Parent, Max Wilson, Adriano Padoin-Castillo, and Safwan El Mansari turned heads with a time of 7:55.95, to place third in Friday night’s race. Their performance also ranked eighth in school history and the fastest since 2016, reflecting the growing depth of talent in the middle-distance program.
Notable performances extended beyond the sprints and relays. Carolin Evers, a German exchange student who competed for her native country at last summer’s European Under-18 Championship, cleared 1.66m to win the women’s high jump. The clearance ranks her third among U18s in Club history. In the weight throw, Amy Roy secured a personal best of 12.92m, moving her into seventh in the U20 rankings.
The weekend also saw a pair of record-breaking performances from Joshua Foster, a Carleton Raven rookie. Foster shattered school records in the triple jump (14.60m) and long jump (7.23m), with the latter surpassing the qualifying standard for this year’s USports Championship in Windsor.
First year University of Ottawa standout Safwan El Mansari continued to impress in the early season. The Telfer School student won the 1000 metres with a time of 2:28.39 to move into seventh on the Club’s U20 rankings. Meanwhile, Shannon Dewar made her mark in the U18 women’s 600m, clocking a time of 1:37.45 to move to ninth in Club history.
The indoor season continues today in Montreal with the first day of competition at the McGill Team Challenge. From there the focus shifts to Canton, NY where the pride will head to St. Lawrence University for some action against our southern friends.
For update stats from this season visit:
https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/ (Ottawa Lions)
https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/uottawa_rankings/ (uOttawa Gee-Gees)
https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ravenstf (Carleton University)