Ottawa Lions athletes delivered a championship-calibre weekend across two conferences, rewriting record books, collecting medals and adding significant marks to the club’s all-time rankings last weekend at the RSEQ Championships in Montreal and the AUS Championships in Moncton.
Ravens Rewrite the Record Book
Carleton Ravens athletes accounted for two school records and 11 additional all-time top-10 performances as the team secured two bronze medals, with the women finishing inside the conference’s top five.
Third-year Communications student Rose Basu played a central role in both podium performances.
Basu clocked a lifetime best of 7.56 seconds in the 60 metres to capture her first individual RSEQ medal. The performance came just 0.02 seconds shy of the Ravens record set in 2017 by Amelia Brohman. Teammates Michaella Appiah-Kubi and Kierra McGillivray also delivered top-10 marks, placing fourth (7.84) and seventh (8.18), respectively.
A few hours later, Basu returned to the track alongside Appiah-Kubi, McGillivray and Christine Ani-Asamani in the 4×200-metre relay. The quartet ran 1:45.16 to capture bronze, breaking a school record that had stood since 2016 by four hundredths of a second.
Basu’s weekend extended beyond the podium. She shaved nearly a full second off her personal best in the 300 metres, running 40.94 to place sixth and move to No. 2 all-time at Carleton behind former U SPORTS medalist Alexandra Telford. Appiah-Kubi also produced a lifetime best of 41.20 to finish seventh.
On the men’s side, first-year standout Cole Simard delivered a similarly historic performance.
Simard became the first Raven male to break the seven-second barrier in the 60 metres, running 6.96 to place fifth overall and eclipse the previous school record of 7.05 set in 2018. He followed with another lifetime best of 35.37 in the 300 metres, climbing to second on the program’s all-time list.
Simard then led off the Ravens’ 4×200-metre relay, teaming with Joshua Haughton, Will Flett and Ali Kalkas to clock 1:32.11. The squad placed sixth and moved to No. 2 on the school’s all-time list.
In the 60-metre hurdles, freshman Will Flett placed eighth in the final in 9.04 seconds after running a personal best of 8.90 in the rounds. The defending British Columbia high school champion now ranks second on Carleton’s all-time list in the event.
Redbirds Close with Relay Statement
Among the other Lions competing in Montreal, McGill speedsters William Sanders and Luca Nicoletti produced one of the defining performances of the RSEQ Championships.
With Nicoletti leading off and Sanders anchoring, the pair powered McGill to victory in the men’s 4×400-metre relay in 3:16.02 — nearly three seconds clear of the field. The performance carried added significance, as it likely marked McGill’s final appearance at an RSEQ Championship.
Individually, Sanders emerged as one of the meet’s top performers.
In the 300 metres, Sanders outkicked Nicoletti down the stretch to claim gold in 34.03, with Nicoletti close behind in 34.08. Both marks were lifetime bests and secured qualification for the upcoming U SPORTS Championships. The performances rank the duo eighth and ninth, respectively, on the Ottawa Lions’ U23 all-time list.
Sanders also captured bronze in the 600 metres, running another lifetime best of 1:19.82 to move to ninth on the club’s U23 rankings.
Gratton Claims AUS Silver in Photo Finish
At the AUS Championships in Moncton, freshman Jonah Gratton added to the weekend medal haul.
Gratton captured silver in the 60-metre hurdles, crossing the line in 8.43 seconds — just 0.002 seconds behind gold medalist Oliver Arnfast of UNB. The razor-thin margin underscored one of the tightest finishes of the championship meet and marked a strong conference debut for the first-year athlete.