2023_NCAA_Qualifiers

Robertson and Christie-Galloway secure spots at NCAA Championship

by linkinbioUniversity

Everything is bigger in Texas, or so the saying goes. For Kevin Robertson and Keira Christie-Galloway, they’ll find out first hand if there’s any truth to the rumour as they head to Austin to compete in the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships next month. Both Kevin and Keira qualified for the national collegiate championship by way of their finishing at this weekend’s East and West Preliminary Meets.

Robertson was the first to punch his ticket to Austin, winning his quarterfinal of the 3000 metre steeplechase in Jacksonville, Florida on Friday night. The Syracuse junior entered the competition with the 13th fastest time in the nation and lived up to his top billing with his winning run of 8 minutes and 47.69 seconds. 

In what was a tightly contested race, Robertson hit the bell in fourth place – two and a half seconds behind the leader.  As the lead back approached the final water jump, Robertson dropped the hammer, leaving the rest of the field with only the back of his head to look at. By the corner the lead was already five plus metres, and the computer engineering student just continued to accelerate from there as he closed in a speedy 62.75 seconds.

For Christie-Galloway, a pair of second place finishes was all she needed to earn a trip back to the NCAA Championships – her first since earning Second Team All-American honours at the 2019 championship. Coming on the heels of a personal best effort of 13.01 seconds for the 100 metre hurdles at the WAC Championship, the Grand Canyon University student laid down back to back times of 13.08 seconds to finish second in both her heat and quarterfinal. Both performances were the second fastest of her career and earned her the Big Q to advance to Austin. 

The NCAA Championships will begin Wednesday, June 7 at the University of Texas’ Mike Myers Stadium with Robertson scheduled to run the steeplechase semi-finals at 8:02 pm eastern. Christie-Galloway will run the 100 metre hurdle semi-finals the following day at 9:32 pm eastern.

Ottawa, Canada. 25 May 2023. Jorai Oppong-Nketiah (734) of Pierre-de-Blois - Ottawa competing at the 2023 Ottawa City High School Track and Field Championships. Copyright 2023 Sean Burges / Mundo Sport Images

Records fall at NCSSAA and EOSSAA Championships

by High Schoollinkinbio

As local high school athletes continue their journey to the OFSAA Track and Field Championships set for June 8-10 here in Ottawa, a few Lions did so in record breaking fashion. 

For the second week in a row, Jorai Oppong-Nketiah etched her name into the record book, becoming the fastest grade nine girl in Ottawa track and field history. The Pierre-de-Blois student bested the field by more than a second in the final as she broke the tape in a blistering 12.25 seconds. 

Oppong-Nketiah’s performance bested the 48-year meet record of 12.40 set by Anne Liuzzo from Canterbury. 

Jorai also advanced to the East Regional Championship next week by taking top spot in the 200 metre. While falling short of Lauren Gale’s meet record, her time of 25.91 gave her a nice 1.4 second margin of victory. 

At the EOSSAA Track and Field Championships at  Thousand Island Secondary School in Brockville, a trio of meet records fell at the feet of Lions’ athletes. 

Quinn Couglin took down two records over the course of the two day championship, beginning on day one with the junior girls 300 metre hurdles event. The grade 10 student at Opeongo High School sped her way to a victory in 44.67 seconds Thursday afternoon – more than five seconds clear of second place. The performance bested the old record of 46.85 set by Catherine Farish of Frontenac Secondary School set in 2006. 

Coming back the next day, Coughlin took down another record. This time it was her idol’s, Melissa Bishop-Nriagu, junior girls 400 metre record that fell. Last year’s OFSAA silver medalist completed one lap of the TISS track in 57.65 seconds to shave 39 hundredths of second of Bishop-Nriagu’s 19 year old record.

While not in record time, Coughlin did add a third individual gold to her EOSSAA Championship performance in the 800 metres. Winning time for the grade 10 student was 2 minutes and 21.74 seconds. 

Rounding out the record breakers was Louise Stonham. The grade 12 student at Arnprior District High School bested her own record in the open girls 2000 metre steeplechase event. Louise stopped the clock in a time of 7 minutes and 15.63 seconds – more than 37 seconds ahead of second place. Her previous meet record of 7:21.13 had been set last year. 

Stonham also picked up a pair of bronze medals in the senior girls 1500 and 3000 metres. 

While he didn’t get his name in the NCSSAA record books, Glebe’s Jay Yetman put forward a very impressive performance over the two day championship, completing a sweep of the senior boys 100 and 200 metres as well as the long jump. 

The grade 12 student put together massive personal bests in both sprint events, as he joined the sub-11 and and sub-22 clubs with winning times of 10.99 and 21.79 seconds respectively. Yetman’s winning leap in the long jump measured 6.22 metres, a mere centimetre ahead of second place. 

The road to OFSAA continues next week here in Ottawa with the East Regional High School Championships on Thursday and Friday at Terry Fox. 

For full results from the NCSSAA and EOSSAA Championships, please visit https://ottawalions.com/results/2023-results/

For updated Club rankings, please visit https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/

(York, Canada — 3 June 2022) Timeo Atonfo of Gis?le-Lalonde - Ottawa competing in the sprint hurdle heats at the 2022 OFSAA Ontario High School Track and Field Championships held at the Toronto Track and Field Centre at York University. 2022 Copyright Sean Burges / Mundo Sport Images.

Records fall as Lions begin road to OFSAA Championships

by High SchoollinkinbioLocal

The march to the OFSAA Track and Field Championships has begun and three athletes have already made it known they should be considered forces to be reckoned with after record setting performances at both the National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association East and West Conference Championships taking place last week. 

In just her first high school season, Jorai Oppong-Nketiah quickly made her name known as one to keep an eye out. The grade nine student at Pierre-de-Blois set records in both the 100 and 200 metre sprint events at the West Conference Championship.

Oppong-Nketiah bested former Lion Remy Wade’s 10 year old 100 metre record in the preliminary rounds, stopping the clock at 12.39 seconds. Wade’s old mark was 12.44 seconds. Jorai was a hair slower in the final, finishing in 12.40 seconds. 

Over 200 metres, Oppong-Nketiah equalled the meet record of 26.03 seconds in the heats before taking top spot in the final with a blazing time of 25.96 seconds. The previous record had been set by Shelani Fernando in 2010. 

At the East Conference Championship, it was the wind that kept Timeo Atonfo from breaking a pair of records for the second year in a row. The Gisèle-Lalonde student captured top spot in the junior boys long jump with a leap of 6.44 metres to eclipse Japhet Divita’s seven year old mark of 6.40. 

The record is the second long jump record for Atonfo at the East Conference meet. He set the novice boys mark a year ago.

On the track, Atonfo topped the junior 100 metre hurdle race with an impressive 14.04 second clocking – besting the previous meet record by more than three tenths of a second. Unfortunately for the grade 10 student, the wind gauge registered a trailing wind in excess of the allowable 2.0 metres per second (+2.6), nullifying the record.

Atonfo made it a three gold medal day as he hopped, skipped, and jumped his way to top place in the triple jump. His best mark of the day was 13.04 metres, more than 1.2 metres ahead of second place. 

Rounding out the record breakers was Olivia Baggley in the senior girls 3000 metres as he took down Alex McGowan’s nine year old mark of 10:21.96. The Gloucester senior completed the seven and half lap race in 10 minutes and 20.83 seconds to best the next closest competitor by nearly two full minutes. 

All three athletes and a host of others will compete this Wednesday and Thursday at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility for a spot at the East Regional Championship. The top five finishers at the city championship will advance to regionals.

For updated Club rankings, please visit https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/

For full results from the East and West Conference Meets as well as the LCIAA and UOVHSAA Meets, please visit https://ottawalions.com/results/2023-results/

(York, Canada---12 June 2022) Thomas Nedow competing in the hammer throw at the Athletics Ontario U20/Open/Para Track and Field Championships at the Toronto Track and Field Centre. 2022 Copyright Sean Burges / Mundo Sport Images

Nedow finishes collegiate career with big finish

by linkinbioUniversity

This past weekend marked the start of the conference championship schedule south of the border. For the two Lions in action, the stories represented both ends of the spectrum. For Tommy Nedow, it was his final collegiate championship while Emily Brennan was running in her first.

Nedow finished off his career at Southeastern Louisiana University with a trio of top-five finishes at the Southland Conference Championship in Commerce, TX. Starting the Championship in the hammer throw, Nedow unleashed a massive lifetime best of 56.34 metres to place fourth. Making the performance more impressive is that It was his first hammer competition of the season. 

Nedow also added a fourth place finish in the discus, where he hurled the two kilogram platter out to 50.93 metres. The graduate student rounded out the championship with a 16.38 metre throw in the shot put to place fifth. 

For Brennan, this past weekend marked her first North Coast Athletic Conference championship after missing the indoor season due to injury. The Denison University freshman just off the podium in the 400 metre hurdles after running a seasonal best of 1 minute and 8.72 seconds. Brennan also helped Denison to a pair of bronze medals in both the 4×100 and 4×400 metre relays.

Oregon was the scene of a pair of Twilight Meets for a small contingent of Lions senior athletes. Opening the weekend Friday night at the Oregon Twilight in Eugene, Victoria McIntrye extended her early season winning streak to three by taking top spot in the 200 metres. The 27-year-old broke the tape in 24.91 seconds. 

Alexandra Telford also found her way onto the podium at Hayward Field, crossing the line in the 400 metres with a time of 55.46 seconds to claim second place.

A day later in Portland, McIntyre again took top spot in both the 100 and 200 metre events. Also reaching the top of the podium were Bertwin Ben-Smith and Telford, who won the 400 metre and 400 metre hurdles respectively. 

For updated club rankings, please visit https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/

Meet results can be found on our website, https://ottawalions.com/results/2023-results/

(Canton, USA---29 April 2023) Victoria Mcintyre runs to win the 100m in a meet record 12.28 seconds (-0.7) at the 2023 St Lawrence University Twilight Meet. Copyright 2023 Sean Burges / Mundo Sport Images.

Lions re-write record books at St Lawrence Twilight

by linkinbio

Conditions were far from ideal Saturday afternoon for the small contingent of Lions athletes that headed south to St Lawrence University to open their outdoor season, but that didn’t stop them from taking home some meet records and more than a few wins to open up their outdoor season.

A total of 10 Lions were in action at the SLU Intercollegiate Athletics Twilight Meeting, taking home four golds, a silver and a pair of bronze medals.

Victoria McIntyre dominated the fields in both the women’s 100 and 200 metres as she set new meet records in each event. On the straightaway, McIntyre was the class of the field, speeding her way to a time of 12.28 seconds – her fastest performance since 2013. The effort was so dominating, teammate Kennedy Banton-Lindsay took home the silver more than a second back of McIntyre. 

The 200 metres produced a similar story line for McIntyre, with her winning time of 25.27 seconds again being her fastest in a decade as a combination of nagging injuries and the pandemic have kept the University of Toronto graduate off the track for much of that time. Banton-Lindsay fell a spot on the podium, taking third in 27.83.

Triple jump produced another victory and meet record for the Lions. Heather Grandy was  commanding in her victory, leaping out to 10.78 metres almost a metre and a half clear of the field. Grandy’s jump added more than 20 centimetres to the previous meet record set in 2018.

For the men, Bertwin Ben-Smith picked up the only victory on the day. The University of Guelph graduate was first across the line of the 200 metres, stopping the clock in a time of 22.31 seconds, a half-second under the previous meet record. Teammate Michael Pinnock finished just off the podium in 22.90.

Fabrice Nonez opened his season with the best performance of his life. Known more for his hurdling, Nonez placed third in the flat 400 metres with a time of 51.39 seconds – more than a second faster than his previous best. 

At the Limestone Race Weekend in Kingston, André Alie-Lamarche took second spot in the Saturday night’s 10k in a tightly contested battle with Queen’s University’s Roman Mironov. Alie-Lamarche crossed the line in a personal best of 31 minutes 55.88 seconds – 1.2 seconds back of Mironov. 

On Sunday morning, Cameron Bruce took top spot in the half-marathon, finishing in a time of 1 hour, 20 minutes and 0.15 seconds. Daniel Cova placed second overall in the 5km race with a time of 16:08.83.

For updated Club rankings, please visit https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/ 

(Ottawa, Canada --- 08 June 2022) Quinn Coughlin competing at Ottawa Summer Twilight Meet #3 Photograph Copyright 2022 Miles Rowat / Mundo Sport Images Please tag @mundosportimages if posting on social media

Coughlin leads string of record performances at Ravens High School Relays

by High Schoollinkinbio

With the Carleton Ravens High School Relays running last Thursday, it officially marked the start of the outdoor season in Ottawa. The competition, one of three run by the Lions in the lead up to the highly anticipated high school season, was a huge success with over 500 entries.

With a number of Lions in action, seven in particular stood out among the field as they combined to set a total of 11 meet records between them. Opeongo student Quinn Coughlin was responsible for more than a quarter of those results as she set new marks in the junior varsity 400 and 800 metres as well as the 300 metre hurdles. Despite it being Coughlin’s first attempt at the intermediate hurdles, her time of 46.93 was 0.4 seconds faster than the previous mark. 

It was the 800 metre records which took the hardest hits Thursday as the junior varsity and varsity marks fell on both the boy’s and girl’s side. Koree Yach’s time of 2:28.58 eclipsed Grace Munro’s one year old mark in the varsity girl’s event. The Arnprior runner also set a new record in the varsity girls 400 metres. 

On the men’s side, OFSAA cross country champion Saul Taler erased more than 11 seconds from the junior varsity boy’s standard with his time of 2 minutes and 7.50 seconds. Canterbury’s Nicolas Belen put on a commanding performance in the varsity event as he broke the two minute barrier, stopping the clock at 1:58.45 for a new personal best and a more than 17 second improvement on the previous meet record. 

The pair of 800 metre boy’s record holders squared off in the open 3000 metres where it was the elder Belan who held on to top spot and took the record in the event with a time of 9:08.22. Taler also dipped under the previous mark with a time of 9:18.20.

Out in the field, defending novice boys OFSAA Champion in the high jump Kai Gibson picked up where he left off last high school season. The grade 10 Longfields Davidson student took top spot in both the junior varsity high jump and long jump with record performances. Gibson cleared 1.75 metres in the high jump and sailed out to 5.96 metres in the long jump.

Rounding out the list of record breakers from Thursday’s event was Jay Yetman. The grade 12 Glebe student was the class of the field in the varsity boys long jump as he broke the sand out at 6.47 metres to claim top spot. Yetman’s leap was nearly a foot further than the previous mark set in 2019.

Full results from Thursday’s competition can be found on our website at https://ottawalions.com/results/2023-results/2023-ravens-high-school-relays/

Bianca-Borgella-2022-CDN-100m-Champ

Borgella starts season on top of the world

by Internationallinkinbio

Best in the world. That’s how Bianca Borgella kicked off her season yesterday. The University of Ottawa student blasted out of the blocks Saturday at the LSU Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge to record a pair of new personal bests in both the 100 and 200 metres within the span of a couple of hours. 

In Louisiana as part of an Athletics Canada training camp, Borgella recorded times of 12.31 and 25.31 seconds respectively over the 100 and 200 metre events. While placing in the bottom half of the hotly contested Southeastern Conference fields, the 20-year-old’s performances now rank her among the best on the planet in the World Para Athletics T13 category.

Borgella has Leber congenital amuarosis, a term covering a group of inherited diseases that affect the retina during early childhood, causing severe vision loss or blindness. 

Since receiving her T13 classification in early 2021, Borgella has emerged as a dominant force in Canadian Para running, having re-written the national record book multiple times in every event from 100 through 400 metres. Saturday’s performances were both national record times, and also have Bianca ranked second globally in the T13 100 metres and in top spot on the planet in the T13 200 metres. 

While she leads the world at 200 metres, don’t expect to see her next summer at the Paralympic Games running the half lap event. The women’s T13 200 metres did not make the cut for next year’s Games, but don’t fret as we expect Bianca to be donning the red and white in both the 100 and 400 metre events. 

Before next year’s adventure, she’ll get a trial run at this summer’s World Para Athletics Championship – also to be held in Paris. 

OTTAWA - August 19, 2020: Liz Maguire at the fifth Ottawa Summer Twilight Series meet of 2020, held under COVID-19 protocols at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility.

Lions enjoy weekend of road racing success

by InternationallinkinbioMastersNational

Monday was Patriot’s Day in the United States – a holiday celebrated on the third Monday of April commemorating some of the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. For running fans, it’s more commonly known as the day of the Boston Marathon. 

This year’s event in the Massachusetts capital featured a number of current and former Lions in action. Leading the contingent was Josh Cassidy, a mainstay at the event for more than a decade. The two-time Paralympian was 19th to cross the finish line on Boylston Street, stopping the clock in 1 hour 47 minutes and 2 seconds. 

While Monday’s result was Cassidy’s worst performance at Boston, he still managed to find the silver lining. “Coming down Boylston for the final stretch with the incredible support as always is emotional,” expressed Cassidy on Instagram following the race. “Even after a rough one, thousands of people patting you on the back, to say well done.”

The other two current Lions in Boston runners were a pair of masters runners – Liz Maguire and Rob Muir. Maguire finished Monday’s race in 3:18:16 to finish an impressive 10th among the women’s 55-59 age category. In the same age grouping, Muir finished 109th among the men with a time of 3:10:18.

In other road running action, Nicholas Pedersen and Jay Sneddon ventured their way across the country to take on the Vancouver Sun Run Sunday morning. Pedersen, who was battling a nagging injury heading into the race, posted a time of 33 minutes and 59.0 seconds to place 67th in the race of more than 25,000 runners. Nico was 9th in the men’s 19-24 category.

For Sneddon, the Sun Run is always a bit of a homecoming for the man who originally hails from nearby Tsawwassen. The 30-year-old cracked the top-100 as he crossed the line in a time of 34 minutes and 34.0 seconds to placed 84th overall. 

Closer to home masters runners Fritzlor Auguste and Gilles Frenette were in action at the Course Saint Laurent 5k in the Montreal suburb. Auguste, a silver medalist at last year’s Canadian Cross Country Championships, placed 45th overall with a time of 18 minutes and 36.0 seconds. Teammate Gilles Frenette was 58th across the line, stopping the clock at 19:12.0.

For updated Club Rankings, please visit https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/

SB20220605ClassiqueMTL225

Lions have roaring success on track

by InternationallinkinbioUniversity

While the outdoor season may be nearly a month old, it wasn’t too late for a few firsts for Lions athletes. For veteran 800 metre runner Stephen Evans, this weekend marked the first time he tried his hand at the 1500 metres. 

Since his debut with the Lions more than 12 years ago, Evans has run every distance between 60 and 1000 metres;  however, Friday marked the debut in the metric mile for the 26-year-old. Toeing the line at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational at the University of Florida, Evans completed three and three quarter laps in an impressive 3 minutes and 45.04 seconds. The time was good enough for eighth in the race and moved Evans to 16th on the Club’s all-time list. 

In a rare outdoor mile opportunity, Kevin Robertson made the most of it at the Friar Invitational in Rhode Island. The Syracuse junior placed fourth in a personal best time of 4 minutes and 2.08 seconds. Robertson had set his previous best of 4:06.28 in February. 

On the west coast, Keira Christie-Galloway continued her strong season at the Mt Sac Relays. The Grand Canyon University grad student placed fourth in the 100 metre hurdles with a time of 13.36 seconds on Friday. Keira currently ranks 26th on the NCAA Division I Outdoor performance list.

Joining Christie-Galloway at Mt Sac was fellow sprint hurdler David Adeleye who made his outdoor debut with a 14.30 second effort to finish 11th. Adeleye followed up on Friday’s effort with a 14.47 clocking the following day at the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University where he placed seventh.

At his final home meet, Southeastern Louisiana graduate student Tommy Nedow took home top honours in the discus at the Strawberry Relays. Nedow’s top throw of 51.81 metres bested the rest of the field by more than six metres. 

Rounding out the Lions in action on the track were Joe Fast and Emily Brennan. Fast made his outdoor debut after pulling out of the 1000 metre final at the Ivy League indoor championship. The Princeton junior placed 28th in the 1500 metres at the Larry Ellis Invitational in 4:03.27. 

Brennan, who missed most of the indoor season due to injury, helped her Denison University teammates to a gold medal in the 4×400 metres at the Division III All-Ohio Championship.

Updated Club rankings can be found at https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/

Keira_Christie-Galloway_GCU

Christie-Galloway runs to school record in Austin

by linkinbioUniversity

After spending the entire indoor season re-writing the record book at Grand Canyon University, Keira Christie-Galloway has continued to rip out those old pages and pen new ones of her just a couple weekends into the outdoor campaign. Running at the Texas Relays in Austin over the weekend, the MBA student posted the fifth fastest time of her career over the 100 metre hurdles finishing in 13.23 seconds. The time placed her sixth overall in the biggest meet of the early NCAA season.

While Saturday’s performance was also a new school record, it wasn’t the fastest time of the weekend for Christie-Galloway. The 23-year-old ran an all-conditions best in the preliminaries, crossing the line in 13.08 seconds. However, the wind measured in at a blustery 6.6 metres per second, well over the allowable limit of 2.0. 

Joining Keira in Austin was fellow graduate student Sharelle Samuel. The Harvard graduate is now studying at UCLA and posted a time of 1:03.50 in the 400 metre hurdles. 

Competing at the Southern Miss Invitational in Hattiesburg, Mississippi Tommy Nedow took top spot in both the shot put and discus throw. Nedow, also a graduate student, launched the 16 pound shot put out to a seasonal best of 16.99 metres to best the host school’s Piers Cameron by over two feet. It was a similar battle in the discus as Nedow hurled the two kilogram platter out to 51.26 metres leaving him more than four metres clear of Cameron. 

For updated Club rankings, please visit https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/