All posts by : Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club

The opening night of the 2018 USports Track and Field Championships was squarely focused on the 600 metre semi-finals for the Lions and its four University of Ottawa athletes participating. The performances on the track did not disappoint with two athletes qualifying for Saturday’s final, Stephen Evans and Maeliss Trapeau.
Evans looked extremely comfortable in his heat one victory to secure his automatic qualification. The defending silver medalist was patient in his approach, allowing the leaders to do their work for the opening two laps. As the bell rang to signify the last lap Evans was already two strides into his sprint and one step ahead of his competitors. The fifth year political science student would not relent, much like he had done in the OUA final, and crossed the line in a time of 1:19.90, a half second ahead of his nearest competitor. Evans returns to action tonight in the men’s 1000m final at 5:45pm eastern.
On the women’s side, an impressive three Gee Gees qualified for the championship – a new school record. Sophomore Maeliss Trapeau was the top finisher Thursday evening as she secured her spot in Saturday’s final with a 1:31.08 clocking to finish second in the second of two semi-finals. With only six spots available for the final, qualification in the 600m was limited to the top runner in each heat plus the next four fastest times. For Madison Clarke and Mary Ollier, the pair finished just outside of the final finishing seventh and eighth respectively. Clarke posted a time of 1:32.30 while Ollier picked the perfect time for a new lifetime best of 1:32.93.
To round out the evening, the 4x200m team of Sydney Smith, Pernille Lund, Marie-Eve Dahms, and Sophia Skorenky finished 11th overall with a near seasonal best time of 1:43.57.

It was a record breaking weekend for Lion Hazel Harding at this past weekend’s Ontario Masters Indoor Championships held at York University. The 45 year old Harding teamed up with Debbie Zinman and Violeta Garfunkel of the University of Toronto Track Club and Nicole Armstrong of Peterbrough to set a new provincial record in the women’s 40 and over 4x200m relay.
While Harding, Zinman, and Garfunkel all compete in the W45 age category, they moved down an age group because of Armstrong and set the new standard at 2:07.05. The collegial makes it fairly common from athletes from various clubs to band together for relay running at the culmination of a competition. In addition to her record setting relay performance, Harding also captured gold in the W45 400m in a time of 71.93 seconds.
While not breaking any records, Liz Maguire dominated the W50 fields over 800 and 1500 metres. The 52 year-old Maguire was nearly 100m ahead of her nearest competitor as she crossed the line for the 800m in 2:38.98. It was a similar story over 1500m as Maguire’s time of 5:14.48 was nearly 23 seconds ahead of second place.
Gold also went to Neil Cunningham in the M40 60 metres. The 40 year old was a narrow winner over Sunday Eniojukan, crossing the line in a time of 8.27 seconds. However, in the 200m event the tables were reversed as Cunningham took silver to Eniojukan’s gold with a time of 27.34 seconds.
While he wasn’t the first to cross the line in the M50 400m, Serge Faucher was still the Ontario Champion, losing in a battle with American Khalid Mulazim who was competing as a guest. Faucher’s time of 56.63 seconds was just three one hundredths ahead of Newmark Huskie Mirco Graenert. Faucher was also a bronze medalist over 200m, finishing in 26.05 seconds.
Other medalists from the championship included:
Alex Manuel SILVER M29&U 60m
Alex Manuel GOLD M29&U 200m
Joseph Scatliffe SILVER M45 60m
Gilles Frenette BRONZE M40 800m
Gilles Frenette SILVER M40 400m

With conference championships taking place across all of Canada and most of the United States for university athletics, it was a very busy weekend on the track and in the field for the Lions. Highlighting the weekend were three athletes who brought home a combined four gold medals – Stephen Evans, Lauren Gale and Keira Christie-Galloway.
Keira Christie-Galloway captured her first Big 12 Conference Championship Saturday afternoon winning the 60 metre hurdles in a school and facility record 8.17 seconds. The Iowa State University transfer student has made a big impact in the short two months she’s been on the Ames, Iowa campus, dropping her personal best three times. Saturday’s performance places the 19 year old atop the Canadian rankings and is the fastest by a Canadian since 2017.
Also south of the border, Lauren Gale captured her first Mountain West Conference title over 400m in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The freshman at Colorado State University won in a come from behind effort over Jaylyn Harris of San Diego State University. Gale was two tenths behind at 200m and didn’t overtake Harris until she came off the final corner to win in 54.43 seconds. Gale, who missed the 200m final by one spot, helped Colorado State set a new school record of 3:40.55 in the 4x400m final to win bronze and secure another conference team title for the Rams.
At the Ontario University Athletics championship in Toronto Stephen Evans was one of just three men to capture individual double gold. The fifth year student at the University of Ottawa looked like a man on a mission this weekend. Beginning with the 1000m final Friday night, Evans bided his time near the front of the back through the opening four laps before laying down the hammer as the bell began to ring. As he took off, Evans’ competitors tried to match his kick but came up short as he won in 2:26.44.
It was a similar story of his kick being too strong for the rest of the field in Saturday’s 600m final. The defending USport silver medalist avenged his only loss on Canadian soil this year, out racing the the University of Toronto’s Jack Berkshire off the final corner to win by 23 hundredths of a second in a time of 1:19.68. Berkshire had out run Evans the previous weekend en route to running the fastest time in USports this year.
While not competing at one of the conference championships, combined events athlete John Claude van Biljon was victorious in the indoor heptathlon contested as part of the Quebec University Championships. Of note, Van Biljon set a new personal best of 4957 points, which is believed to be a new National Record for his native South Africa.
Other medalists from this past weekend include:
OUA
BRONZE Women’s 4x800m
Keili Shepherd, Sophia Skorenky, Marie-Eve Dahms, Maeliss Trapeau (uOttawa)
RSEQ
BRONZE Women’s Pentathlon
Nicole Istead (Carleton)
BIG 12
SILVER Women’s Distance Medley
Erinn Stenman-Fahey (Iowa State)
IVY LEAGUE
BRONZE Women’s 4x400m
Sharelle Samuel (Harvard)

It’s conference championship weekend both abroad and south of the border. Below you will find out who is competing where, how to check results, live stream and who to look out for.
OUA Championships
The Ontario University Championships kick off this afternoon at the Toronto Track and Field Centre on the campus of York University. In addition to the conference medals, this will be the athletes’ last chance to secure their spot at the upcoming USports Championships to be held in Winnipeg two weeks from now.
The Gee Gee men were 7th while the women were 6th at last year’s championships and only two individual medalists return – Madison Clarke and Stephen Evans. Clarke was also a member of the 4x800m team which capture their 3rd bronze in four years. Sophia Skorenky and Maeliss Trapeau also return from that team and enter the competition ranked 2nd.
While things are expected to change this weekend, the following athletes have currently qualified or are in a qualifying position for the USports Championships

• Auto – Madison Clarke 1000m
• Auto – Stephen Evans 1000m
• Top 12 – Maeliss Trapeau 600m
• Top 12 – Stephen Evans 600m
• Top 12 – Madison Clarke 600m
• Top 12 – Mary Ollier 600m
• Top 12 – Christina Hertner SP
• Top 12 – Women 4x400m
• Top 12 – Women 4x800m

LIVE RESULTS
LIVE STREAM
SCHEDULE
RSEQ CHAMPIONSHIPS
A small contingent of 11 athletes from Carleton University will compete at the Quebec University Championships this weekend at McGill University. The Ravens athletes will be in tough to equal last year’s record medal haul of seven following the graduation of key athletes such as Sebastian Saville and Emmanuel Nwokobia.
While the link for live results has not yet been shared, there is a good chance you’ll be able to find it on RSSTIMING.COM
LIVE STREAM
BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Taking place on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Iowa State Cyclones Keira Christie-Galloway and Erinn Stenman-Fahey will be on the hunt for conference hardware. Stenman-Fahey is in her senior year and will contest the 800m, Distance Medley Relay and is a potential candidate for the 4×4 team. The Bell High School graduate was a silver medalist last year over 1000m. For Christie-Galloway, this will be her first Big 12 Championship after transferring from the University of Ottawa this January. Christie-Galloway enters the competition ranked 5th with a best of 9.29 seconds in the 60m hurdles.
SCHEDULE
Friday, February 22
4:40PM Christie-Galloway – 60mH prelims
7:20PM Stenman-Fahey – 800m prelims
8:40PM Stenman-Fahey – DMR FINAL
Saturday, February 23
3:00PM Christie-Galloway – 60mH FINAL
5:10PM Stenman-Fahey – 800m FINAL
LIVE RESULTS
LIVE STREAM (FLOTRACK pro subscription required)
SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Even though he’s in his third year, Farah Abdulkarim will compete in his first Southeastern Conference Indoor Championship this weekend as a member of the Ole Miss Rebels. A transfer student from Moorehead State, Abdulkarim has quite the first year in a Rebels uniform posting lifetime bests over 3000m and 5000m after a cross country season that saw him medal at regionals and qualify for his first NCAA Championship. He enters the 5000m ranked 5th in the conference with a best of 14:02.78..
Schedule
Friday, February 22
8:30PM Abdulkarim – 5000m FINAL
Saturday, February 23
6:15PM Abdulkarim – 3000m FINAL
LIVE RESULTS
LIVE STREAM (ESPN+ subscription required)
IVY LEAGUE HEPTAGONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
While there are two Lions at Harvard, only Sharelle Samuel is expected to take to the track this weekend for the Ivy League Championships on her home track in Cambridge, Mass. Sharelle is expected to contest the 400 metres as well as the run as a member of Harvard’s 4x400m relay team. She enters the competition ranked fifth in the conference over 400m with a seasonal best of 55.63 seconds from a meet at Texas Tech just two weeks ago.
Schedule
Saturday, February 23
11:50AM Samuel – 400m prelims
Sunday, February 24
1:05PM Samuel – 400m FINAL
LIVE RESULTS
LIVE STREAM (ESPN+ subscription required)
MOUNTAIN WEST CHAMPIONSHIPS
Colorado State University freshman Lauren Gale enters her first Mountain West Championship as a medal hopeful in her specialty, the 400m. The multiple time Colorado State champion in high school, Gale has transitioned well into university. She currently is ranked third in the conference with a time of 54.36 set just two weeks ago on the same Albuquerque, New Mexico track. She is also entered in the 200m, where she has the 8th fastest time in the conference.
SCHEDULE
Friday, February 22
4:45PM Gale – 400m prelims
6:15PM Gale – 200m prelims
Saturday, February 23
2:30PM Gale – 400m FINAL
3:30PM Gale – 200m FINAL
LIVE RESULTS
LIVE STREAM (FLOTRACK pro subscription required)

A week out from university conference championships, the Ottawa Lions played host to the Ravens Last Chance Meet last Saturday at the Louis-Riel Dome, with many athletes showing they are rounding into form at just the right time.
Highlighting the day’s events was the men’s 600m which was the fastest in Canada this year. St. Laurent Selects runner Mohand Kelaf was able to pull away in the final meters of the race to win in a new Dome record of one minute 17.32 seconds. The previous record was held by Sebastian Saville who was in Saturday’s race and leading for most of the race before being jostled off course as the athletes entered the home stretch for the first time.
Second place went to the University of Toronto’s Jack Berkshire, while Ottawa’s Stephen Evans was third in a personal best 1:18.26. Berkshire and Evans both auto qualified for the upcoming USports Championships with their performances and are currently the top two ranked athletes in the country.
There was similar strength of performance in the women’s 600m, where Madison Clarke led 2-3-4-6 finish for Lions athletes as she finished in 1:32.89. Following closely behind were Marie-Eve Dahms, Svetlana Martynova and Mary Ollier who all recorded new lifetime bests.
Also getting on the PB train was Charlotte Gardner. A past USports medalist over 600m, Gardner has been hampered by injury for the past few months. After completing the first two weeks of pain free training in quite some time, Gardner exceeded her pre-race expectations by smashing her personal best in the 1000m by a staggering seven seconds en-route to victory. The 24-year old had spent the majority of the race running second to Maeliss Trapeau before finding an extra gear down the final homestretch to finish in 2:49.72. Trapeau was close behind in a personal best 2:50.20.
South of the border, most Lions athletes had the week off in preparation for conference championships, but at the NEC Conference Championships on Staten Island, Jeremie Venne won the mile in a time of 4:11.06. Venne also helped St. Francis University to a bronze in the distance medley relay.
 

Athletics Ontario has released their draft list of nominations for the Quest for Gold Ontario Athlete Assistance Program and it features an five current Lions athletes. Quest for Gold  is a program run by the Government of Ontario who’s principle aim is to help athletes continue their pursuit of athletic excellence at the highest levels of national and international competition.
The list of Lions nominated for the 2018-19 season include:

• Keira Christie-Galloway – 100m Hurdles
• Devyani Biswal – 100m Hurdles
• Saj Alhaddad – 400m Hurdles
• Charlotte Gardner – 800m
• Thomas Nedow – Shot Put (half card)

Gardner is the only athlete on the list to have previously received Quest for Gold funding after being nominated during the 2015-16 season.

As the indoor season progresses towards conference and national championships, the athletes continue to ramp up the quality of their performances. This past weekend it meant three improvements to the club’s all-time list.
Farah Jacques got every athlete’s dream birthday present as she ran her way to a new lifetime best Friday night on Staten Island. Jacques’ recent work at an Athletics Canada training camp in Grenada certainly paid off as she sped to an 8.40 second clocking over the 60m hurdles in the preliminaries before posting a time of 8.45 seconds in the final to claim victory.
An Olympic finalist as part of the 4x100m relay team in Rio, Jacques has utilized her speed to great effect since switching to the hurdles. Friday’s performance moves her to seventh in club history.
Already in the number two spot, Keira Christie-Galloway equaled her two week old lifetime best of 8.29 seconds over the 60m hurdles. Christie-Galloway who recently transferred to Iowa State University to join club-mate Erinn Stenman-Fahey, was victorious in her home debut in Ames. In her first four meets as a member of the Cyclones, she failed to fall below a top-5 finish.
Also in Ames, Stenman-Fahey produced a lifetime indoor best over 800m of two minutes 6.20 seconds to finish fourth. The performance currently ranks the senior 17th in the NCAA.
Finding their way on to the top ten was Farah Abdulkarim in the more seldom run indoor 5000m. A junior at the University of Mississippi, Abdulkarim captured top place at the Music City Challenge in Nashville, Tennessee Friday night with a scorching time of 14 minutes 2.78 seconds to narrowly edge out Jaime Romo of Eastern Kentucky University. Abdulkarim’s time ranks him eighth in club history, only three seconds behind the other most recent entry on the list, Adam Palamar from 2016.
The Lions return to the track this weekend as they host the Ravens Varsity Last Chance this Saturday at the Louis-Riel Dome. Action gets underway at 10am with the U16 shot put and runs throughout the day.
For more information, please consult ottawalions.com/meet-info

It seemed everywhere you turned last weekend another Lion was setting a lifetime best as athletes took to the track at Harvard and Boston University last weekend. Among the most notable was Madison Clarke as she set new lifetime bests on back to back days in Beantown.
Clarke kicked it off Friday night in the mile at the Harvard Crimson Elite where she ran to her first sub five minute mile, clocking in at 4:57.07 to finish second. Right behind her was teammate Rebecca Brennan who took third in 5:02.18. With the performances the pair move to second and third all-time at the University of Ottawa. Clarke followed things up Saturday at BU with another lifetime best in the 1000m, winning in 2:50.59.
It was a sweep of the 1000m for the Gee Gees at BU as Stephen Evans claimed victory for the second time in as many weeks. Evans crossed the line in 2:25.78 as he continues to lead the USports rankings.
Also at Boston University, the trio of Sydney Smith, Mary Ollier and Marie-Eve Dahms lit up the track over 500m. The women finished 5-6-7 over the non-conventional distance and more importantly did so with the best times of their lives. Smith’s time of 1:15.43 moved her into a tie for ninth with Sharelle Samuel on the club’s all-time list while Ollier snuck back into the top ten with her run of 1:15.59.
Elsewhere on the track, Saj Alhaddad and Maeliss Trapeau each set new indoor bests in their respective events. Alhaddad claimed eighth in the 400m at Boston with a 49 second flat clocking. Over 800m, Trapeau also finished eighth, crossing the line in 2:09.57.
Thrower Christina Hertner stepped away from her shot put specialty to launch some big heaves in the weight throw over the two days of competition. She began Friday at Harvard where she cracked the 14m barrier for the first time with 14.42m heave. She promptly followed that up the next day at Boston, whirling the 20lb ball out to 14.08m.
Elsewhere, Telvin Tavernier captured gold in the heptathlon at the Bomber Invite in Ithaca, New York. The Carleton University graduate finished tops in the long jump, shot put and pole vault en route to amassing 5060 points. In the women’s pentathlon, Gee Gee Emily Sprague added 116 points to her lifetime best to finish 3rd with 3115 points.
Finally, down in Nebraska, Iowa State transfer Keira Christie-Galloway continued to roll, equaling her second fastest 60m hurdle time of 8.31 seconds to finish second at the Husker Invite.
The Lions return to action today at the Fasttrack National Invite on Staten Island in New York. Tim Nedow will also compete at the IAAF World Indoor Tour event in Madrid.

After Commonwealth bronze and NACAC silver in 2018, shot putter is pushing to add a global medal to his collection this September at the IAAF World Championships in Qatar. The six foot seven inch giant got his season off to a good start this past weekend in Ogden, Utah where he managed to heave the 16 pound ball out to 20.68m.
The mark was mountains ahead of his nearest competitor and currently ranks Nedow sixth on the early world rankings. He will look to improve as he heads to Europe to contest three meets in Spain, the Czech Republic and Turkey.
The Razorback Invitational on the campus of the University of Arkansas was the venue for the second fastest female 60m hurdle race in club history. Keira Christie-Galloway, who began classes at Iowa State University earlier this month, dropped her personal best to a blazing 8.29 seconds in the preliminaries before crossing the line in 8.32 seconds in the final to finish fifth. The former University of Ottawa student is currently ranked second in Canada and 21st in the NCAA.
Also in Fayetville was Iowa State teammate Erinn Stenman-Fahey who similarly took fifth, completing her 800m race in two minutes 7.53 seconds. The performance ranks the senior 18th in the NCAA.
Finally, Colorado State freshman Lauren Gale lowered her seasonal best over 400m to 54.81 seconds as she won at the Air Force Invitational by nearly a second. Gale is undefeated so far this season at the distance.

A middle distance sweep for Stephen Evans and two dominating wins in the heptathlon and women’s 4x800m relays highlighted a successful weekend at the McGill Team Challenge, Canada’s largest indoor competition.

The hard work is paying off early in the 2019 indoor season for University of Ottawa senior Stephen Evans. The fifth year political science and communication student claimed victory in both the 600m and 1000m in Montreal, signalling to the country that he is looking to improve upon his silver medal from last year’s USport Championships.

A week after running the fastest indoor 800m of his career, Evans jumped back on the #PBtrain to win the 1000m in 2:24.57, two and a half seconds faster than his previous best set last January. With the performance, he has a strangle hold on the top of the USport rankings, having run two seconds faster than anyone else this season.

Down a distance, the defending USport silver medalist was again the class of the field, edging Laval standout Yasine Aber by a narrow five hundredths of a second. Evans’ winning time of 1:19.49 was his fastest ever on a 200m track, a mere hundredth ahead of that medal winning performance from a year ago. In recognition of his efforts in Montreal, Evans was named the University of Ottawa Athlete of the Week.

The Gee-Gees dominated the women’s 4x800m field Friday night, winning by nearly 15 seconds over the otherwise all Quebec field. The quartet of Sophia Skorenky, Keili Shepherd, Marie-Eve Dahms and Maeliss Trapeau were able to get the baton around the Tomlinson Field House sixteeen times to finish in 9 minutes 19.99 seconds. The performance currently ranks the University of Ottawa fourth nationally.

The men’s heptathlon was dominated by John Claude Van Biljon, more commonly known by the initials JC, as he amassed 4904 points, 500 points clear of his nearest competitor. The South African born Van Biljon claimed individual victories in the long jump, high jump, and pole vault while failing to finish lower than second in any other event en-route to his victory. The performance currently ranks fourth in club history for the event.

Christina Hertner continued to knock at the door of the 13 metre barrier as her final round effort of 12.73m was good enough for silver in the shot put. Also standing on the second rung of the podium was Gee Gee freshman Annabelle Gagne who snagged a silver in the pole vault. The Louis-Riel grad cleared 3.35m to equal her seasons best.

Bronze medals also came from the Gee Gees women’s 4x400m relay team of Sydney Smith, Hanna Frazer, Sophia Skorenky, and Stephanie Leask and triple jumper Kyle Sprague.