All posts by : Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club

When Athletics Canada announced their team for the upcoming IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland there were some familiar faces on the list as three lady Lions cracked the national team roster.
The contingent is young, with Shyvonne Roxborough the oldest of the trio as a first year junior athlete. Roxborough is currently ranked as the fastest junior aged woman in Canada, after posting a personal best of 11.73 seconds to win the Ontario Junior Championship two weeks ago in Toronto.
Joining Shyvonne on the team will be Keira Christie-Galloway, a veteran of the Canadian team following her semi-final appearance in the 100m hurdles at least year’s World Youth Championships. Keira has had a record breaking start to her season, already eclipsing Perdita Felicien’s senior girls OFSAA record and Priscilla Lopes-Schliep’s provincial U19 record.
Also a member of last year’s World Youth team, Shona McCulloch will compete in the 3000m in Poland. McCulloch, who finished 11th last year in Colombia, enters the competition with a lifetime best of 9:21.61 set two weeks ago, which is a pending Canadian youth record.
The ladies will be joined on the team by Lions distance coach Ian Clark. Prior to Poland, Clark’s most recent national team appointment was for last year’s IPC World Championships in Qatar.

The 2016 Canadian Junior and Senior Championships kick off today in Edmonton, Alberta where 32 Ottawa Lion athletes are set to compete over the next four days. Headlining the list of competitors are Olympians Melissa Bishop, Sultana Frizell and Oluwasegun Makinde as well as Paralympians Jason Dunkerley, Josh Cassidy and Rachael Burrows.
Day one of the championships will see 12 Lions competing with all five para athletes looking for gold including Tommy Des Brisay who will compete in both the 1500m and 5000m final today.
Looking to qualify into the big meet will Ahmed Al-Slaq and Brandyn Martineau. Al-Slaq, who is coming off a big personal best two weeks ago in Toronto will look to find a place in the senior men’s triple jump final. Martineau will be a busy man as he attempts to qualify in the Jesse Owens Treble (100m, 200m, long jump).
The full list of competitors on day 1 is as follows:
11:00 – TJ Q – Al-Slaq
12:00 – 100m Para F – Brown
12:15 – 100m Q – Martineau
1:30 – 1500 Para F – Des Brisay
5:00 – 400H SF – Bedard, Tesfaye
5:15 – 400H SF – White
5:50 – 400H SF – McKechnie
6:00 – LJ Q – Martineau
6:10 – 100 Para WC F – Burrowes
7:15 – 200m Q – Martineau
7:45 – 800m Para WC F -Cassidy
8:15 – 5000m Para F – Dunkerley, Des Brisay
All times are mountain standard time. Events can be watched live on AthleticsCanada.tv

Shona McCulloch rebounded from her first OFSAA Track and Field loss last weekend with a resounding win over at the Brooks PR Invitational held in Renton, Washington. In her final high school competition of the season, the Longfields Davidson grade 11 student broke the 10 minute barrier for 2 miles, winning in 9:59.87.
McCulloch’s time is the second fastest among North American High School girls this year behind the 9 minute 56.85 second clocking from Weini Kelati, a 19 year old senior from Leesburg, Virginia.
En route to victory, McCulloch lowered her lifetime best in the 3000m to a scorching 9:21.61, nearly eight seconds ahead of the Canadian High School record set by Christie Konstanopolis at OFSAA. Shona has previously set the high school record this spring at the Penn Relays. It remains to be seen as to whether her time from the weekend will be ratified.
Next up for McCulloch will be the 3000m at this weekend’s Ontario Junior Championships before she attempts to qualify for the World Junior team at 5000m at next month’s Canadian Championships.
Watch the FloTrack broadcast of the full race here.
Listen to Shona talk about her race on MileSplit here

After a four-year drought, Scott Filip and Quintunya Chapman won a historic double for the USA at the 5th Pan American Combined Events Cup, part of the IAAF World Challenge, held at Ottawa’s Terry Fox stadium.
Second after Day 1, Champman moved to the lead after fellow American and overnight leader Chelsea Carrier pulled up her left quadriceps in the long jump. The 23-year old from Athens, Georgia, dominated the javelin with an equal season’s best of 42.26m and finished strong by running the fastest 800m of her career in 2:13.58.
Third at the US Championships in 2015, Champan scored her second heptathlon over 6000 points (6035) this season as she continues to aim at the Olympic qualifying mark of 6200.
This result “means that I have potential do a lot more with my training , mental wise and physically, just to get better for (the Olympic) trials” in two weeks. “I have not competed much this season, but I know where my potential lies and what I can go from here. I was definitely satisfied with my 200m and 800m times and my shot put. I know I can do the hurdles faster and once I perfect my high jump, get the technique down, I will be good to go,” commented Champman.
USA’s Allison Reaser finished strong to claim the silver medal with 5988, only two points less than her lifetime best. Two-time Olympic finalist Jessica Zelinka finished third with 5855 and clinched the national title as the Cup also served as the Canadian Championships.
The 2007 Pan American Games champion, who completed her first heptathlon in Ottawa 19 years ago, will retire after the 2016 season. She is still trying to qualify to her third Olympic Games.
Ottawa Lions´ Michele Krech finished 16th overall with 4552.
In the men’s field, 20-year old Pierce LePage of Whitby, ON, was en route for a massive personal best after an impressive 4393 total on the first day, thanks to excellent performances in 100m (10.63), long jump (7.52m), high jump (2.06m) and 400m (47.64).
He continued to lead after the Discus, but failed to clear a valid height in the pole vault after three misses over 4.25m. He continued to compete and finished 10th overall.
That paved the way for Filip, second after Day 1, who moved to the front with a 4.75m clearance. He remained consistent in the two last events and went on to win with 7726, a personal best by almost 80 points.
“The long jump was one of the highlights of my competition here. Ultimately when all the points added up, I had an overall score that was a personal best so I am pretty happy. For my first decathlon in a year after a surgery, it’s a great benchmark to start with. I was trying my best to focus on myself. I just wanted to stay on my own head and focus of doing the best that I could,” said Filpip, a Rice University student in Houston who still has two years in the NCAA circuit.
“It was surreal to step on the podium and listen to the national anthem. It was a great feeling, especially for my first international competition. I really didn’t expect it. I am really glad I had this opportunity,” he added.
Rustam Turner had a solid second day and moved from seventh to second to claim the Canadian title with a new personal best of 7565.
A pole vault specialist, USA’s Michael Morrison cleared a season’s best of 5.15m to move into a medal position. He eventually finished third with 7422.
Ottawa Lions´ Patrick Arbour finished improved his personal bests in the high jump (2.00m) and went under five minutes in the 1500m (4:58.63) for the first time in his career to finish fourth overall with 7386. This was the last decathlon of his career.
With the women’s gold and silver and the men’s gold and bronze, the team of the star and stripes also lifted the Capital Cup in both genders.
The pole vault proved to be disastrous for two other medal contenders: Grenada’s 2015 Pan American Games silver medallist Kurt Felix, and USA’s Tim Ehrhardt, third after Day 1. Felix finished seventh overall after two solid performances in the javelin and 1500m.
The Pan American Combined Events Cup ends on Sunday with the youth and junior competitions. A total of 81 athletes from 10 countries are taking part.

Canada’s Pierce Lepage and USA’s Chelsea Carrier are the overnight leaders after the opening day of the 4th Pan American Combined Events Cup, being held this weekend at the Terry Fox Athletics Facility at Mooney’s Bay.
The fastest athletes in the field, Lepage and Carrier took the pole position from their first events and never relinquished the lead in their quest to claim their first international title.
Only in his second year as a decathlete, the 20-year old from Ontario totalled an impressive 4393 points after the first five days of the Decathlon, thanks to excellent performances in 100m (10.63), long jump (7.52m), high jump (2.06m) and 400m (47.64).
USA’s Scott Filip (4193) and Tim Ehrhardt (4136) are trailing in second and third thanks to outstanding performances that may lead them to personal bests after Day 2. Grenada’s 2015 Pan American Games silver medallist and 2015 World Championships Kurt Felix is ranked fourth with 4080.
Other Canadians, James Turner (3846) and Ottawa Lions’ Patrick Arbour (3773) are currently in seventh and eighth.
In the Heptathlon, Carrier, a former sprint hurdler, dominated that event with a windy 13.02 and cemented her lead with 24.13 in 200m. After a low par high jump, fellow American Quintunya Chapman improved her shot put best to 14.88m and ran a fast and windy 23.75 to move up to second overall with 3589, 21 points ahead of 2014 winner Jillian Drouin.
Two other Canadians, 2007 Pan American Games champion Jessica Zelinka (3554) and 2014 runner-up Natasha Jackson (3436) are currently in fifth and seventh place, respectively.
The Pan American Cup continues on Saturday with Day 2 of the elite field and Day 1 of the junior category. A total of 81 athletes from nine countries are taking part.
The event, hosted by the Ottawa Lions in the past four years, is an annual fixture on the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge Series and also serves as the Canadian Junior and Senior Championships for both the heptathlon and decathlon.

The 4th Pan American Combined Events Cup gets underway Friday at the Terry Fox Athletics Facility at Mooney’s Bay. The event, hosted by the Ottawa Lions in the past four years, is an annual fixture on the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge Series and brings together the best heptathletes and decathletes in the western hemisphere.
As in 2015, the 2016 Championship will include both youth and junior categories, and will also serve as the Canadian Junior and Senior Championships for both the heptathlon and decathlon.
Leading the field of 47 decathletes and 34 heptathletes are Grenada’s Kurt Felix and Canada’s Jessica Zelinka. They are both looking for redemption in Ottawa after failing to finish their competition last year.
Leader after seven events in 2015, Felix did not clear a valid height in the pole vault and it paved the way for Cuba’s Yordanis Garcia to claim his third consecutive continental title in Ottawa. Since then, Felix went on to claim silver at the Pan American Games in Toronto and finish eighth at the World Championships in Beijing with then national records of 8254 and 8302 points, respectively.
Two-time Olympic finalists and Pan American Games gold medallist in 2007, Zelinka returns to Ottawa for her second heptathlon of the year. She scored 5944 in Götzis on May 29, her first completed heptathlon since claiming silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Returning to defend their Canadian titles from 2015 are Ottawa Lions’ Patrick Arbour and Madelaine Buttinger. 2014 winner Jillian Drouin is hoping to return to the Cup podium after missing a medal by 28 points last year. Georgia Ellenwood, who represented Canada at the World Indoor Championships in Portland, is also a strong contender for the medals.
The men’s field also includes Canada’s James Turner, third at the 2014 Pan American Cup. Since then, he picked up the NACAC Under 23 title and finished fifth at the World University Games in 2015.
Dominican Republic’s Juan Carlos de la Cruz improved his national record to 7504 to claim silver last year. He hopes to improve that performance to stay on the podium.
The 4th Pan American Cup features athletes from Canada, the United States, Mexico, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Peru, Haiti, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. Cuba is absent for the first time since 2012.
Live results available at: http://liveresults.athletics.ca/Live_Results/2016/Panamerican_CE_Cup/

The Ottawa Lions picked up nine medals this weekend at the Ontario Senior Championships, headlined by Oluwasegun Makinde’s sweep of the men’s sprint events.
Makinde kicked things off on Saturday in the 100m prelims when he ran his way to a new lifetime best of 10.24 seconds – good enough to move into third in club history behind Glenroy Gilbert and Oluseyi Smith. He would prove the time was no fluke, coming back in the final with a 10.25 second clocking for the victory.
Coming back on Sunday in the 200m, Oluwasegun put together consistent runs of 20.85w and 20.82w seconds in the heats and final respectively to win over York’s Bismark Boateng.
Also on Sunday, Devyani Biswal picked up bronze in the women’s 100m hurdle event in a windy 13.49 seconds. In the heats, the former Gee Gee ran an all conditions best of 13.28 seconds. Also grabbing bronze on the track was Sebastian Saville who was third in the men’s 800m in 1:52.71.
In the field, hammer thrower Leanna Garcia was awarded silver for her best throw of 47.33m. The mark was Garcia’s best of the season. Staying in the throws, Ashley Connell also produced a seasonal best effort, 13.99m, to capture bronze medalist in the shot put. High jumper Barb Bitchoka was also a bronze medalist after her 1.70m clearance in the high jump.
In the relays, the Lions picked up gold in both 4x100m events as well as the men’s 4x400m. The women’s quartet of Charifa Labarang, Ashlea Maddex, Devyani Biswal and Lindsay Brandys finished in a time of 47.83 seconds to move into fifth on the club’s all-time list.

Farah Jacques re-wrote the club record book for the second time this season on Saturday at the Sunshine Invitational in Miami. Jacques bested Ashley Purnell’s 14 year old standard of 11.55 seconds as she finished third in a lifetime best 11.49 seconds.
Farah, who previously set the club record in the 200m earlier this season, was second in that event with a time of 23.36 seconds as she battled a 2.0 m/s headwind.
Also in Miami, Oluwasegun Makinde was second in both sprints events with runs of 10.38 (100m) and 20.77 (200m).
At the Birmingham Diamond League stop, Melissa Bishop posted a seasonal best run of 1:58.48 to finish third in the 800m. The time is the third fastest of the Eganville native’s career behind only her Canadian record and silver medal runs at last year’s world championships.
Finally, with the OFSAA Track and Field Championships wrapping up Saturday in Windsor, Lions athletes brought home a further five medals on the final day of competition. Keira Christie-Galloway picked up her second medal of the championships with a silver in the senior girls long jump (5.69m). This was the third straight year Keira has picked up silver in the event.
Also in the field, grade 10 Rideau High School student, Wariso Dullo had to settle for bronze in the junior boys javelin after his best throw of 53.17m was bested in the final throws of the competition.
On the track, Shona McColloch finished third in the fastest girls 3000m in Canadian high school history. The top two athletes broke the 35 year old OFSAA record, while Shona was just one one hundredth of a second off it, crossing the line in 9:30.65. In the junior girls event, Mei Mei Weston posted a huge personal best of 9:41.56 to pick up silver.
Rounding out the medalists was Austin White of St. Michael’s in Kemptville as he finished second in the 400m hurdles in a time of 54.90.
 

In may have only been the third track event of the day at the OFSAA Track and Field Championships, but that didn’t stop Kiera Christie-Galloway from running the fastest 100m hurdles race in OFSAA history.
The grade 11 student at St.Matthews High School in Orleans eclipsed Perdita Felicien’s 18 year old record with a 13.33 second run in the heats before winning provincial gold in a time of 13.57.
Also picking up OFSAA gold on the second day of competition was Sharelle Samuel of Ashbury College. After setting a personal best in Thursday’s heats, Samuel put together another lifetime best performance in the junior girls 400m final, winning in 55.20 seconds. The grade ten student then followed up that performance with a new personal best in the long jump, 5.43m, to pick up her second gold of the day.
Also picking up medals in the field were Lexi Kundlace, who cleared 1.60m in the midget girls high jump to finish third. Bounding her way to the silver medal was Megan Miaro, who moved to seventh in club history with her 11.73m leap.
Back on the track, grade nine student Ben Robinson of Immaculata sped his way to silver in the midget boys 100m dash. Meanwhile grade 12 student, Shyvonne Roxborough of South Carleton, was third in the senior women’s sprint race, finishing in 12.00 seconds.
Rounding out the medals on day two were Tom Saville of Carine Wilson who picked up bronze in the open boys 2000m steeplechase. Also, Mei Mei Weston of Glebe was a silver medalist in the junior girls 1500m in a lifetime best 4 minutes 29.59 seconds.

After opening her Olympic season with smaller meets in and around her training base of Windsor, Melissa Bishop took a two lap tour of Rome’s Olympic Stadium on Thursday as she continues her Road to Rio.
The reigning world silver medalist finished seventh in a time of 1:59.97 and was appeared content with the performance afterwards.  “It wasn’t too bad, coming off the travel,” said Bishop. “There’s lots of works to be done, but it’s the second day in June. We have some time.”.  Melissa will compete Saturday in the Birmingham Diamond League before returning to Canada to run in the National Track League.
Closer to home, but also in the 800m, Samantha Murphy (2:03.84) and Svetlana Martynova (2:07.61 PB) finished 9th and 24th respectively at the Adrian Martinez Classic in Massachusetts. In the men’s race, Seb Saville was 21st in 1:51.34.
Finally, at the OFSAA Track and Field Championships in Windsor, Sharelle Samuel was in a class of her own in the junior girls 400m qualifying, qualifying for the final in 55.39 seconds, almost a second and a half better than the nearest competitor. In fact, the time was the fastest among the girls across all age categories yesterday.
Other OFSAA final qualifiers yesterday included Michael Mather (SB), Keili Shepherd (SG), and Mei Mei Weston (JG) all in the 1500m. In the steeplechase, Thomas Saville was the third fastest qualifer, whjile Teagan Harris also advanced.
Also, Rinila Haridas was sixth in the junior girls triple jump with a leap of 10.91m.