A small contingent of Ottawa Lions athletes took on elite competition south of the border this past weekend, highlighted by Zachary Jeggo’s NCAA Division II Championship debut in Virginia Beach and a quartet of Lions competing at Nike Indoor Nationals in New York City.
Making his first appearance at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships, Simon Fraser University freshman Zachary Jeggo improved upon his pre-meet ranking of 13th in the 400 metres placing 11th in 47.41 seconds.
Jeggo entered the championships three weeks removed from his breakthrough performance at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships, where he clocked a Canadian U20 indoor record of 46.72 seconds. Since then, the rising star has been managing hamstring issues, making his result in Virginia Beach a strong showing against the nation’s top Division II athletes.
He closed the meet on a positive note as well, anchoring Simon Fraser’s 4×400-metre relay team to another school record. The Red Leafs finished in 3:11.27, with Jeggo delivering the squad’s fastest split at 46.18 seconds.
The performances earned Jeggo Second Team All-American honours in both the 400 metres and the 4×400-metre relay.
At Nike Indoor Nationals, held at the famed Armory Track & Field Center in New York City, four Lions competed across multiple events.
Eli Mordel led the group with a strong performance in the championship section of the 60-metre hurdles. The U20 standout advanced to the semifinals after running 8.17 seconds in the heats, narrowly missing his own club U20 record of 8.14. He followed with an 8.24 performance in the semifinals to place 20th overall.
In the Emerging Elite boys hurdles, Cohen Pinto produced a personal best of 9.16 seconds, continuing his progression in the event.
On the girls’ side, Teagan Casselman made her debut over the 33-inch barriers in the Emerging Elite section as she placed 57th in 9.91seconds.
Jamie Meikle rounded out the Lions contingent as the club’s lone entrant in the Emerging Elite 60 metres. He posted a time of 7.39 seconds, finishing just shy of his personal best.