All posts by : Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club

Over the weekend, Lions athletes did something that had not been accomplished since 2002, taking home a club record equalling 10 gold medals from the OFSAA Track and Field Championships in Toronto. In addition to the haul of golds, Lions athletes all garnered five silver and two bronze for a total of 17 medals – one more than last year’s take.
Among the many winning performances, two out did all those before them as Keira Christie-Galloway and Larissa Brown each set new OFSAA records in their respective events. Coming off her silver in the long jump on Thursday, Christie-Galloway ran down the competition in Friday’s junior girls 80m hurdles event. After posting the fastest time in the heats, Keira found another gear in the finals, trimming two tenths of a second off the previous provincial standard, crossing the line in 11.24 seconds. The other record on Friday came from Larissa Brown of St. Mark High School who defended her title in the visually impaired 100m with a new record 14.01 seconds. Brown had set the previous standard of 14.20 seconds in 2014.
In addition to the record setters, freshman Lauren Gale of South Carleton and Stanford bound senior Claire Smith each picked up multiple gold medals. Gale, who was gunning for the midget girls 400m record on Friday, was the class of the field with her winning time of 54.76 seconds putting her 30 to 40 meters ahead of her nearest competitor. After comfortably winning the 300m hurdles in a personal best 44.17 seconds, Lauren faced her stiffest competition in the 200m final where she used a late surge to eek out victory by just two hundredths of a second in a personal best 24.60.
For Glebe Collegiate senior Claire Smith, she picked up the distance double which narrowly escaped her grasp in 2014. Smith comfortably captured her first senior girls 1500m title on Friday night with a 4:29.44 second clocking, almost found seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. On Saturday, in her stronger event, the 3000m, Claire appeared to be playing a game of cat and mouse with long time rival Charlotte Prouse of London’s Catholic Central as the two ladies kept exchanging the lead until with about two laps to go, Smith laid down the hammer, breaking Prouse, and running away with a seven second victory.
While she would be unaware at the time, Claire’s victory was the first of a lady Lions sweep of the 3000m OFSAA titles. In the junior category, Shona McCulloch set a new personal best of 9 minutes 37.10 seconds enroute to winning her second OFSAA title in as many years. Finishing things off was Glebe freshman Mei Mei Weston, who was victorious in the midget girls race with a time of 10 minutes 4.03 seconds. Weston was also a bronze medallist in the 1500m.
The final gold of the weekend came from Canterbury senior Erinn Stenman-Fahey, who captured her first OFSAA title in her final high school race. The world junior semi-finalist dropped a negative split on her way to victory in 2 minutes 10.97 seconds. Erinn had priously won silver (2014) and bronze (2013) over 800m at OFSAA.
Other medallists from OFSAA included:
Eric Mitchell – Junior Boys 100m Silver – 11.02 seconds
Eric Mitchell – Junior Boys Long Jump Silver – 6.83 metres
Reilly McCann – Junior Boys 3000m Silver – 8 minutes 37.55 seconds
Wariso Dullo – Midget Boys Javelin Silver – 52.33 metres
Keili Shepherd – Junior Girls 800m Bronze – 2 minutes 16.76 seconds

It was déjà-vu all over again for grade 10 student, Keira Christie-Galloway in the junior girls long jump yesterday as she finished second to Claire Larose from London. As in last year’s midget final, Keira held the lead in the fifth round following her best jump of the day, 5.52m in the second round. However, Larose popped out to 5.65m in round five and cemented her victory with a jump of 5.53m in round six. Christie-Galloway will now turn her focus to the hurdles on day two of the OFSAA championships where she enters as the top ranked runner. Elodie Drew of Lycee Claudel finished fifth after being relegated from fourth place based on a count back from her 5.32m jump.
On the track, six Lions advanced out of Thursday’s prelims including defending OFSAA medalists Claire Smith, Farah Abdul-Karim and Keili Shepherd. While Claire and Farah won their respective heats in the senior girls 1500m and open boys 2000m Steeplechase, Keili was narrowly edged out at the line after she had comfortably secured her place in the final. Also advancing to today’s 1500m finals were Jonathan Rioux, who enters the midget boys final ranked ninth, and Reilly McCann who qualified second in the junior boys race.
The final qualifier on day one belongs grade nine student Lauren Gale of South Carleton. Gale entered the 400m as the clear favourite and did not disappoint in yesterday’s heats. The Canadian Indoor Youth champion went to work right from the gun, taking the outright lead by 150m and never looking back. Lauren crossed the line in a time of 55.05 seconds, nearly fifty meters ahead of her nearest competitor. She will race in today’s final at 3:15pm
Other Lions results from Day 1 are as follows:

With just one day before the 2015 Ontario High School Championships kick off at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, Lions athletes look set to make a splash with more than 35 making the drive down the 401. Based on the results from last week’s regional championship in Brockville, there are a number of athletes to keep on an eye on.
Last week’s qualification meet produced no less than nine record breaking performances, highlighted by midget Lauren Gale’s performances in the 200m, 400m and 300m hurdles. The South Carleton student enters OFSAA ranked first in both the 400m and hurdles, and has the second best seed time for the 200m. For Gale, the potential for an OFSAA record also exists as her performance in the 400m is just 0.03 seconds of the current standard.
Lauren will not be the only potentially looking to get her name in the OFSAA record book. St. Matthews student Keira Christie-Galloway posted winning performances in Brockville of 11.39 seconds in the junior girls 80m hurdles as well as 5.71m in the long jump. Both were personal bests for Christie-Galloway and exceed the current OFSAA standards in each event.
On the boys side, Eric Mitchell of Carleton Place’s Notre Dame High School equaled Oluwasegun Makinde’s regional record in the junior boys 100m with a 10.97 second clocking to go with his record setting 6.99m leap in the long jump. For his efforts, the grade ten student enters the provincial championships as the top ranked athlete in each event.
Other record breakers from regionals include Elodie Drew in the junior girls triple (11.28m) who enters OFSAA ranked third and Shona McCulloch in the junior girls 3000m (10:04.93)  is ranked first. McCulloch was the midget girls 3000m champion in 2014 and owns a personal best of 9:38 from the Penn Relays this April.
Other returning medalists from 2014 include
Erinn Stenman-Fahey – Senior Girls 800m
Claire Smith – Senior Girls 1500m, 3000m
Larissa Brown – Girls Visually Impared 100m
Shyvonne Roxborough – Senior Girls 100m
Farah Abdul-Karim – Open Boys 2000m SC
Keili Shephard – Junior Girls 1500m

While the scoreboard may have read fourth place, it wasn’t the distance shot putter Tim Nedow had been hoping for. With a best throw of 19.96m at the Golden Spike Meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Nedow finished a measly six centimetres off the podium Wednesday night. The Brockville native took to Twitter following the competition, stating displeasure with his result considering the shape he is in. Tim, who has been said to be in close to 21 metre shape based on practice results says it’s “Back to the drawing board in Sweden.  Getting ready for my first Diamond League meet in Rome.” He competes in the Italian capital next Thursday.
Competing the day before in the hammer throw was Sultana Frizell. The Canadian record holder was showing the effects of two weeks of global travel as she could only muster a best effort of 70.94m, well off her seasonal best of 73.66m. Frizell tied for the sixth best throw of the competition with Amanda Bingson of the United States, but was relegated to seventh based on the distance of their second best throw.  Sultana returned to her training base of Kamloops, B.C. Tuesday night where she will prepare for the Canadian Championships in early July.
 

Athletics Canada announced today that Glenroy Gilbert of Ottawa, Ont., will lead the men’s 4×100-metres relay program effective immediately through to the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, China.
“The decision was made to help ensure the men’s 4×100-metres relay team is ready to execute at the World Championships,” said Peter Eriksson, Head Coach and Chief Technical Officer.
– See more at: http://athletics.ca/glenroy-gilbert-to-lead-mens-4x100m-program/#sthash.ILoNcIQU.dpuf

Orléans resident Karelle Edwards, an Olympic-hopeful in hurdling, has been chosen as Ottawa’s Pan American Games torchbearer.

The city was given the opportunity to choose one torchbearer, and put out a call for nominations in January.

Edwards said her father’s friend nominated her to cover the downtown route.

“For Canada to have the Pan Am Games is already huge,” said Edwards, 25. “So to be part of the kick-off is an absolute honour.”

To read more, please click here.

If you were to draw up the game plan for one week out from the NCAA Championships, you could look to Divya Biswal’s performance at the ECAC Division III Championships at Springfield College in Massachusetts. The St. Lawrence University senior got things off on the right foot Thursday, with a commanding victory in the triple jump as well as a new personal best in 100m hurdles qualifying.
Starting in her speciality, the triple jump, Divya wasted no time displaying her championship ready form as she bounded out to a seasonal best 12.31m. It would turn out this was more than enough to secure victory, but that didn’t stop her from improving on each of the next two jumps – pushing her seasonal best out to 12.42m and move in two second into the NCAA Division III rankings.
She would keep the good times rolling right into the 100m hurdle preliminaries as she sped to victory in heat two with a new lifetime best of 14.54 seconds. At this point, the time ranks her 22nd in the NCAA, and puts her in a qualifying position for nationals.
On the second day of competition, Divya returned to capture her second gold with a leap of 5.66m in the long jump and would wrap up her championship with a fourth place finish in the 100m hurdles. In total, Biswal accumulated 25 of St. Lawrence’s 45.5, leading them to a third place finish overall.
In other championship action, Matt Bedard put up a big personal best in qualifying for the 400m hurdles at the Summit League Championships with a time of 52.92 seconds. The performance moves him to 8th all-time in club history, but also makes him the number one junior ranked 400m hurdler in Canada and also exceeds the qualifying standard for this summer’s Pan American Junior Championships.
In the final, Bedard was in the lead before struggling with hurdle nine. However, he would finish strong, posting the second best of his life with 53.13 seconds. He would pick up a silver medal as part of North Dakota State’s 4x400m relay and a Summit League team title – the sixth straight for North Dakota State.
 
 
 

For four rounds she was in the lead, briefly holding the world lead, but Sultana Frizell’s best throw of 73.66m would be passed by two in the final round as she finished third at the Seiko Grand Prix on Sunday. Despite the final round defeat, Frizell was pleased with her efforts at the season opening World Hammer Challenge event in Japan, which was the best series of her life with four throws over 73m.
Frizell will continue her season in a week’s time at the next stop on the World Hammer Challenge in Beijing, China. It will mark the Perth native’s first return to the Bird’s Next stadium since her Olympic debut in 2008. Sultana will wrap up the month at the Golden Spike competition in Ostrava, Czech Republic May 26 before returning home to prepare for June’s Canadian Championships.
To watch a Sultana’s competition in its entirety, click below.
http://eversport.tv/athletics/iaaf-world-challenge/2015/5/10/kawasaki-2015?video=59071

It was another busy weekend for Lions athletes as the the NCAA season is swinging into full steam, the high school outdoor season just kicked off and the club was well represented at the IAAF World Relays in Bahamas.
At the Payton Jordan Invitational in Stanford, both Adam Palamar and Samantha Murphy picked up seasonal bests and in their respective events and victories in their heats. For Palamar, his 1500m winning time of 3:41.60 was his fastest clocking since breaking the Canadian Junior record in 2013, when he ran 3:38.92. Next up for the University of Tulsa Junior is the American Conference Championships in two weeks time. Murphy captured her 800m heat in 2:06.51, taking more than a half second off her season opening performance from two weeks ago.
Back on the east coast, Divya Biswal completed the trifecta at the New York State Collegiate Track Championships, taking victory in the 100m hurdles, long jump and triple jump. After narrowly edging out a 1cm victory in the long jump (5.41m), Divya had a breakthrough hurdles race in the semi finals, dropping almost half a second off her previous lifetime best, running 14.62 seconds. She would follow it up with a photo finish victory in the final, eeking out gold by five thousandths of a second. She rounded out the meet with by bounding out to 12.15m to win the triple jump. The distance moves her into a tie for second in the NCAA Div III rankings.
Further down the eastern seaboard, on the campus of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, Lions athletes picked up four victories, highlighted by Charlotte Gardner’s 400m/800m double. What made the double even more impressive for Gardner was the fact she did it in the span of 25 minutes. First, she captured the 800m in 2:12.09 before taking the 400m in 57.93. Karelle Edwards was also victorious, capturing the 100m hurdles in 13.61. Second place went to Devyani Biswal in a seasonal best 14.16 seconds. The final victory of the day came in the 200m as Charifa Labarang posted a seasonal best 24.60 seconds. Labarang was also third in the 100m.
Back in Ottawa, the outdoor high school season kicked off at Terry Fox with a sold out competition. Among the notable performances by Lions athletes were Hailey Adams’ junior girls high jump victory with a clearance of 1.63m and Emily Sprague’s 1.66m clearance in the high jump as she won the senior girls event. The height from Sprague is her second personal best in two weeks. For the boys, the highlight was Eric Mitchell’s victory in the junior boys long jump, as the grade student leapt out to 6.80m for the victory. Mitchell’s margin of victory was 1.25m or an eye popping 4 feet 1 inch.
However, not to be outdone in eye popping performances, grade nine South Carleton student Lauren Gale set the track on fire at the Hungerford Track and Field Classic in Brockville sweeping the midget 200m and 400m events. In the 200m, Gale sped to a time of 24.83 seconds, winning by more than a second and a half. However, the show stopper was in the 400m, where she completed the one lap event in 55.98 seconds – a full six and a half seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. To put things in perspective, Gale’s 400m time would have won OFSAA last year, and in all but one year since 1972 (the year they began keeping records).
At the IAAF World Relays in the Bahamas, the Lions were well represented by the trio of Oluwasegun Makinde, Michael Robertson and Farah Jacques, who was an alternate on the women’s 4×4 and 4×1 teams. Running the third leg for Canada in the 4x400m relay, Robertson helped Canada to a seasonal best 3:07.80 performance, but the quartet failed to advance – finishing 20th overall. For Makinde, however, a bobbled first exchange nullified his run, making Canada one of five teams in the heat who were disqualified.