All posts by : miles.rowat

With the OUA and RSEQ championships fast approaching, Ottawa Lions varsity athletes made their final major competition opportunity count at the Lancer Team Challenge this past weekend, delivering nearly 25 personal bests and five U SPORTS automatic qualifying standards. The results across sprints, middle distance, field and combined events underscored a group peaking at just the right time ahead of championship season.

Leading the way was high jumper Thomas Sénéchal-Becker, who cleared a seasonal-best 2.11 metres to win the event and secure a U SPORTS automatic qualifying standard. After a year away from university competition, the fourth-year student-athlete appears well positioned to contend for another national title.

On the track, David Moulongou powered to victory in the men’s 300 metres, stopping the clock in 34.28 seconds to better the U SPORTS automatic standard. The race marked his third lifetime best in as many weekends, following breakthrough performances in the 60 metres at the McGill Team Challenge and the 400 metres in Boston last weekend, as the uOttawa senior rounds into the strongest form of his career.

Safwan El Mansari added another event title and qualifying mark in the men’s 600 metres, crossing first in 1:19.55 to book his place at the national championships standard. The Gee-Gees sophomore had been knocking on the door of the mark throughout the winter season.

In the throws circle, Liam Davis continued that trend, winning the men’s weight throw with a mark of 17.83 metres, also beyond the U SPORTS automatic standard. It marked the third time this season the Guelph sophomore has surpassed the national qualifying mark.

Sprint hurdler David Adeleye delivered one of the meet’s most competitive performances, finishing second in the men’s 60-metre hurdles in 7.91 seconds. He was narrowly edged by Olympian Craig Thorne of Royal City Athletics Club, who won in 7.90, in a tightly contested final featuring one of the weekend’s deepest fields.

Several Lions athletes also made their mark on the club’s all-time lists. Middle-distance runner Nicolas Belan recorded a personal best of 2:26.11 in the 1000 metres, moving to sixth on the club’s all-time rankings in the event. Combined events athlete Waverley Lyons scored a personal-best 2,943 points in the pentathlon, elevating her to eighth on the club’s U20 all-time list.

On the sprint side, Rose Basu equalled her personal best of 7.61 seconds in the 60 metres during the heats before placing seventh in the final in 7.63.

At the Pandas Open in Edmonton, Paulina Procyk lowered her personal best in the 60-metre hurdles twice in the same day. After running 8.60 seconds in the preliminaries, the University of Toronto graduate student shaved another two hundredths off in the final to place seventh overall in a field that could closely resemble the national championship lineup.

Next up for the two varsity programs in Ottawa is a mini meet this Saturday at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. The competition will offer athletes a final opportunity to achieve conference standards and improve their championship seeding.

In what may prove to be the final edition of the McGill Team Challenge, Lions athletes delivered a wave of breakthrough performances last weekend, combining to produce 51 new personal bests and seven all-time top-10 club marks over the two-day event.

McGill senior Luca Nicoletti was among the meet’s most dominant performers, anchoring a standout series of relay and sprint efforts. Nicoletti led off McGill’s 4×200-metre relay on Friday night, teaming with Jay Yetman and William Sanders as the Redbirds stormed to victory in 1:27.63 – the fastest time in Canada this season and a McGill school record, eclipsing a mark that had stood since 1986.

Nicoletti followed that effort by claiming victory in the men’s 300 metres on Saturday, stopping the clock in 34.28 seconds. Though just shy of the school record he set earlier this season, the performance reinforced his status among Canada’s top short-sprint talents. He closed the weekend by leading off McGill’s winning 4×400-metre relay, with Sanders anchoring the team to a 3:16.88 finish.

William Sanders also delivered one of the meet’s top all-around performances. Along with his relay contributions, Sanders set new personal bests in both the 300 metres (34.63) and the 600 metres (1:19.89). His 600-metre mark now ranks ninth on the Ottawa Lions’ all-time U23 list, as he builds momentum toward championship season.

Despite a disqualification in the 300 metres, Ange-Mathis Kramo delivered a breakthrough sprint performance in the 60 metres, slicing 0.14 seconds off his personal best with a 6.87 clocking. The run moves the Paul-Desmarais senior to sixth on the Lions’ U20 all-time list and currently ranks as the fifth-fastest U20 performance in Canada this season.

On the women’s side, Rose Basu of the Carleton Ravens posted personal bests in both the 60 metres and 300 metres. The third-year religion and communications student ran 7.66 seconds in the 60-metre heats before placing 10th in the final, then delivered a major breakthrough in the 300 metres with a 41.83 run, cutting more than a second from her previous best. The mark places her third on Carleton’s all-time list. Basu also led off the Ravens’ 4×200-metre relay, which recorded the second-fastest time in program history (1:46.39).

Elizabeth Vroom turned in one of the weekend’s most dramatic improvements, dropping nearly seven seconds from her previous best in the 1500 metres. The Queen’s University engineering student finished second overall in 4:25.64, a time that now ranks ninth on the Lions’ U23 all-time list and second in Queen’s program history. The night before, Vroom anchored Queen’s to victory in the 4×800-metre relay (9:07.70).

Relay success was a common theme in Montreal. The Ottawa Gee-Gees posted their fastest men’s 4×200-metre relaytime since 2013, clocking 1:28.65 –  a mark that ranks 14th in school history and 12th nationally in U SPORTS. Meanwhile, the Carleton Ravens set a new school record in the same event with a 1:31.30 finish, breaking the previous standard established in 2018.

Individually, David Moulongou became the third Gee-Gee this season to break seven seconds in the 60 metres, running 6.99 in the heats before lowering his time to 6.98 in the final. Safwan El Mansari delivered an indoor-best 1:19.08 in the 600 metres, moving to third on the Gee-Gees’ all-time list and ranking ninth in U SPORTS. Leewinchell Jean continued his rise in the 60-metre hurdles, earning his second straight victory in 8.22 seconds – a seasonal best that places him 12th nationally and fifth in Gee-Gees history.

With championship season approaching, the performances at McGill underscored the growing momentum of Lions athletes heading into conference and national competition. They will look to build on that momentum this weekend at the Terrier Classic and Harvard Invitational in Boston.

Lions athletes shook off the holiday break in emphatic fashion last Saturday at the University of Sherbrooke’s Vert et Or Invitation, with the first meet of the new year producing 24 personal bests. Further underscoring the sharpness on display, five all-time top-10 performances were added to the Gee-Gees and Ravens record books, along with a new Lions top-10 mark, highlighting a highly productive holiday training period.

At the centre of the day’s biggest breakthrough was William Sanders, who delivered one of the meet’s standout performances in the men’s 300 metres. Racing for McGill, the Ottawa Lions standout surged to victory in 34.81 seconds, slicing 16 hundredths off his previous personal best set last season at the Ravens Last Chance Meet. Once conversions are applied for Sherbrooke’s flat track, Sanders now sits fourth in the early-season U SPORTS rankings, trailing only his McGill teammate and fellow Lion Luca Nicoletti. Finishing behind Sanders was the University of Ottawa’s James Compeau, who crossed the line in 35.83.

Another gold medal performance came from Ellie McGregor, who continued her remarkable season by winning the women’s 600 metres in a personal-best 1:34.04. McGregor powered past Myriam Deslandes of the Montreal Carabins (1:34.65), the top-ranked RSEQ athlete, to claim her second victory of the season against university competition.

Rounding out the list of meet winners was Leewinchell Jean, who delivered a commanding victory in the 60-metre hurdles. Jean crossed the line in a time of 8.29 seconds, finishing more than two-tenths ahead of Sherbrooke’s Gabriel Pomerleau. The education student now sits 11th in U SPORTS and has moved to seventh on the Gee-Gees’ all-time list.

Still on the track, Safwan El Mansari added another podium finish to his sophomore campaign with a silver medal in the 600 metres. The Gee-Gees runner clocked 1:20.68, finishing just two-tenths of a second behind Sherbrooke’s Thomas Péladeau. With his adjusted time, El Mansari currently sits 10th in the U SPORTS rankings.

In the men’s 60 metres, Noah Leinweber became the second Gee-Gee this season to break the seven-second barrier. The human kinetics graduate student clocked 6.97 in the semis, qualifying for the final where he finished seventh overall. Leinweber, who competed for the Windsor Lancers as an undergraduate, joins Joel Gurnsey in the sub-seven club this winter — the first time uOttawa has had multiple athletes under seven seconds since 2013, when four sprinters achieved the standard. Leinweber’s time ranks him eighth on the Gee-Gees’ all-time list.

Over on the Carleton Ravens side, several athletes made their mark in Sherbrooke by climbing into the school’s all-time top-10 rankings. Cole Simard ran 7.14 to rank fourth on the 60 metres list, while Will Flett’s 7.36 performance moved him into ninth. In the men’s 1000 metres, rookie Duncan Gray added his name to the school record books by running 2:42.55, ranking ninth in Ravens history.

With the Vert et Or Invitation now in the books, the Lions and their university athletes will enjoy a rare weekend off before returning to competition the following week in Montreal for what is expected to be the final edition of the McGill Team Challenge.

David Adeleye’s long-awaited return to competition was the headline moment for Ottawa Lions athletes competing this weekend at the Lancer Can-Am Classic, held Friday and Saturday at the University of Windsor.

The 23-year-old Western University graduate student had not raced since suffering an Achilles injury in 2024 that sidelined him for the entirety of the 2025 season, but there was little sign of rust as the 2024 U SPORTS silver medallist in the 60-metre hurdles opened his campaign with a dominant 7.94-second performance in Friday’s preliminaries. The time not only secured Adeleye’s qualification for the 2026 U SPORTS Championships in Winnipeg this March, but also moved him to No. 1 on the early season Canadian rankings list.

Adeleye elected not to contest the final later that evening, but his return alone marked one of the most encouraging early-season performances by a Lions athlete this winter.

Western’s strong showing in the hurdles continued with combined-events athlete Leo Wallner, who delivered the fastest 60-metre hurdle race of his career in the preliminaries. Wallner clocked 8.37 seconds to advance to the final, before finishing eighth in 8.77. The performance capped a stretch of steady improvement for Wallner, who has lowered his personal best in each of his three meets this season, slicing nearly four-tenths of a second off his lifetime best.

In the throws, University of Guelph second-year student Liam Davis produced a pair of podium finishes, earning silver medals in both the shot put and weight throw. Davis battled consistency in Friday’s shot put, recording just two legal throws but still managing a best of 14.81 metres to finish runner-up behind defending U SPORTS champion AJ Stanat of Windsor. He rebounded on Saturday in the weight throw with four legal efforts, highlighted by a 16.50-metre toss that again placed him second to the hometown Lancer.

Also for the Gryphons, first-year sprinter Kaiya Woodcock enjoyed an impressive U SPORTS debut, advancing through three rounds of the women’s 60 metres and placing fourth in the final in 7.83 seconds. Woodcock was at her best in the semifinals, where she ran a personal best 7.73 to move into eighth place on the Ottawa Lions’ all-time U20 list. A two-sport athlete at Guelph, Woodcock is coming off a busy fall with the Gryphons’ women’s soccer team, where she appeared in 11 matches as the program advanced to the U SPORTS Championship.

Many of the Lions’ varsity athletes will be back in action next weekend, with Western set to host the Don Wright Challenge in London, while Guelph’s squad will split between the Fred Foot Classic at the University of Toronto and the Upstate Challenge at Cornell.