Kicking off the weekend with 17 victores, 35 personal bests, and four new meet records is what many would call a great Friday night. Such was the case for the Lions family, who opened the the indoor season in full force at last week’s Saints Holiday Relays in Canton, NY, inside St. Lawrence University’s Newell Field House.
Following a two-year hiatus from the sport, Sharelle Samuel made her return to the track on Friday and did so in record breaking fashion. The former Canadian U20 international posted the top time in both the 600 and 300m events – setting a new meet record in the latter. Samuel’s winning time of 41.52 seconds over the lap and half race bettered the previous mark of 41.70 set by fellow Lion Doyin Ogunremi in 2022.
The meet’s final event brought about another meet record for the Harvard University graduate as she teamed up with Alexandra Telford, Ellie McGregor, and Sophia McIntyre for a third victory – this time in the 4x400m relay. The quartet’s time of 4:01.72 was sealed by Samuel’s anchor leg of 57.86 as they trimmed more than four seconds off the previous meet record set by the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in 2019.
Another 300m meet record fell Friday night as both David Moulongou (Gee-Gees) and Ange-Mathis Kramo dipped under the old meet standard of 35.30 seconds. After some anxious waiting the scoreboard confirmed Moulongou had outdipped the younger Kramo by the narrowest of margins as he took the gold and the record in 35.21 seconds.
Like Samuel, Moulongou added to his record haul as part of the 4x400m relay. With last year’s OUA silver medal winning team returning intact, the Gee-Gees let it be known they will be looking for gold when February’s Championship comes around as they put forward the fastest time in school history for the month of December – winning in a time of 3:21.44 seconds on the flat 200m surface. Moulongou finished with a flash, anchoring the team in a blazing 48.52 seconds.
On the sprint straight Carleton’s Rose Basu and the University of Ottawa’s Joel Gurnsey were the class of their respective fields. Both set the track ablaze with new lifetime bests and gold medal runs. Basu’s preliminary run of 7.67 seconds shaved two hundredths off her personal best and moved her closer to Amelia Brohman’s school record of 7.54 that has stood since 2017. The third year Communications and Religion student equalled her previous best of 7.69 in the final to win by more than 0.3 seconds.
Gurnsey did things in the reverse order, winning his heat in 7.07 – just a hundredth off his lifetime best before breaking the magical seven second barrier in the final with his 6.99 second clocking to comfortably win by two tenths over teammate Jesse Costanzo. The third year finance student now ranks ninth all-time in school history over 60m.
Seaby Returns with a Statement in Boston
After an illness forced her withdrawal from last week’s Canadian Cross Country Championships, Maddie Seaby returned in style at the BU Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener. The Louisville junior sped her way to a 5000m personal best of 16:15.65, shaving nearly seven seconds off her previous best to extend her Club U23 record and solidify her hold on fourth all-time in Lions history.
Wallner Vaults Back into Combined-Events
At Saginaw Valley State University, Leo Wallner completed his first heptathlon in two seasons following injuries. The Western Mustang set personal bests in the 60m hurdles (8.55), shot put (11.96m) enroute to an overall heptathlon score of 4586, pushing him into 10th place on the Club’s all-time rankings.
Brennan’s Hold on Denison 300m Record Fleating
In Ohio, Emily Brennan – a senior at Denison University – briefly held the school record in the 300m after running a personal best 41.75, only to be surpassed moments later by her teammate Stevie Combs (41.15).
Procyk Back in Blue with Near-PB Performances
At the Greg Page Relays in Ithaca, N.Y., Paulina Procyk made a strong statement returning to U SPORTS competition with the University of Toronto. She clocked 7.76 for sixth in the 60m final — just 0.03 off her PB — after an 8.66 opener in the 60m hurdles heats (also 0.03 shy of her lifetime best). Procyk capped her day with 8.73 for fifth in the hurdles final.
For updated Club rankings, please visit our stats page. Full results and photos from St. Lawrence can be found on our website.