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They say good things come in threes and this weekend three Lions punched their tickets to the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas set for June 5-8. For Erinn Stenman-Fahey, Keira Christie-Galloway and Lauren Gale it’s safe to say they are willing to put in a little extra work at school before breaking for the summer.
All the numbers seemed to add up for the fourth year accounting major Erinn Stenman-Fahey in the women’ s 800 metre quarterfinal as she was third across the line in section. While the clock in Sacramento State University’s Hornet Stadium read 2:05.78, it was the Q beside Stenman-Fahey’s time that was more important. A year prior she had found herself just six spots short of nationals on the same track.
Unlike Thursday’s heats, Stenman-Fahey had to fight her way back into a qualification spot (top 3) as she sat seventh at the bell.
“Something the coach and I talked about was that 150 mark. When you commit, you gotta go for the line. So that’s what I did,” said the Iowa State Cyclone after the race. “Almost got a tumble at the end there, but I was able to hold on and get third.”
After a strong run in the heats, Cyclone teammate Keira Christie-Galloway was able to secure her ticket to Austin in Saturday night’s quarter final of the 100 metre hurdles. The Glebe Collegiate grad narrowly missed the auto qualifying position, finishing fourth in her section, but was able to advance on the strength of her 13.18 second clocking.
The final athlete to secure a spot in Austin was Colorado State freshman, Lauren Gale. After falling short in her individual bid in the 400 metres on Thursday, Gale returned to action Saturday night running the backstretch on the Rams’ 4×100 metre relay team. Gale and her teammates managed to get the stick around the track in 44.36 seconds, the eighth fastest time of the evening, to secure their spot.
Gale also ran on the Colorado State’s record setting 4×400 relay team which  placed 20th.
Also at the West Prelim, Shona McCulloch ran the second fastest time of her life in the 3000 metre steeplechase, 10:24.58, to finish 33rd overall.
On the East coast, Tommy Nedow hurled the two kilogram platter out to 51.42 metres to finish 34th in the discus. The mark was just shy of his personal best 51.85 metres from earlier this season.
 

OFSAA East Qualifiers

On night one of the NCAA West Preliminaries, Iowa State senior Erinn Stenman-Fahey took another step towards the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas. Running in the sixth and final heat, the Canterbury High School graduate found her way into one of the three auto qualifying spots during over the first lap and did not let go. Stenman-Fahey crossed the line in two minutes and 6.16 seconds to get her automatic berth into today’s NCAA quarterfinal.
Stenman-Fahey will line up in the first of three quarterfinals at 9:30pm eastern. The top three finishers from heat race, plus the next three fastest times will move on to the semi-finals in two weeks time.
Also in action in Thursday night was Lauren Gale, who took to the track in round of the women’s 400 metres. The Colorado State freshman finished fifth with a time of 54.02 seconds in a heat littered with juniors and seniors. With a 31st overall finishing, Gale will now turn her attention towards Saturday’s quarterfinals in the 4×100 and 4×400 metre relays.
In the East Preliminaries in Florida, Lion alum, Alejandro Zapata posted a seasonal best 45.55 second clocking for 400 metres. The time was second fastest among the field and positions him well to return to the NCAA Championships.
Congratulations is extended to another Alum, Roan Allen, who launched the javelin further than he’s ever done before, 70.74 metres, to place second at the NAIA Championships yesterday for his UBC Thunderbirds.
While the NCAA Preliminaries continue tonight and tomorrow, para athletes Shanna Boutillier and Joshua Cassidy will be representing Canada this weekend at a pair of IPC Grand Prix events.
Boutillier will return to familiar grounds at the Desert Challenge in Tempe, Arizona. The 22 year old will contest the T46 100, 200 and 400 metre events. Boutillier has set Canadian records over 400 at this event each of the past two seasons.
Across the pond, Cassidy will take a break from his spring of marathon races to contest the T54 800, 1500 and 5000 metre events in Notwil, Switzerland.

The first round of the NCAA Championships commence today with regional competitions set to take place in Jacksonville, Florida and Sacramento, California. A quartet of female Lions are set to do battle in the California capital, with two running into action today.
First to step on the track will be the busiest individual of all, Lauren Gale. The freshman at Colorado State University will line up in lane five of the sixth in final heat of the 400 metre preliminaries tonight at 10:20pm eastern. Gale, who set a lifetime best of 52.68 at the recent Mountain West Championships as the third fastest seed in her heat. This should come in handy as the first three across the line are guaranteed a spot in Friday’s quarterfinal.
Gale will also see action on each of the Colorado State relays. The Rams’ 4×100 metre relay team has broken school record after school record this season and enters with a seed of 44.12 seconds. That performances ranks them third heading into Saturday’s preliminary race where a top three performance will guarantee them a trip to Austin, Texas for the NCAA Championships. Gale and her 4×400 metre relay teammates will be in a much tougher spot to advance as they come in with the slowest mark in their heat.
Taking to the starting line at 11:10pm eastern will be Erinn Stenman-Fahey as she looks to advance to the next round in the women’s 800 metres. The Iowa State senior is also  the third seed in her heat based on her personal best time of 2:05.42 run last month in Arizona. As a four time participant in the West Preliminary, this weekend will mark Stenman-Fahey’s last attempt to secure that elusive spot at the NCAA Championships.
Stenman-Fahey’s Cyclone teammate Keira Christie-Galloway is among the top entries in the 100 metre hurdles which gets underway Friday evening. The Canadian under 20 record holder has been on a tear this season since moving to Ames for her studies. In seven races races so far this year, Christie-Galloway has won all but one, most recently setting a personal best of 13.10 seconds en route to winning the Big 12 Conference title. Christie-Galloway’s prelim run begins at 7:30pm Eastern on Friday.
In just her first year of steeplechasing, Shona McCulloch has found her way to the starting line of her NCAA West Prelim. The University of Washington sophomore produced a personal best of 10:23.02 at the recent PAC 12 Championships to qualify for Sacramento. If McCulloch is to advance to Austin, she will likely need to continue her streak of personal bests which may mean a run at Danelle Woods’ 12 year old Club record of 10:13.98.
At the East Prelim in Florida, Lion alum Alejandro Zapata will run the 400 metres for Liberty University. Zapata, who ranks third in club history at 400 metres, enters this weekend’s competition with a seed of 45.56 seconds and is a favourite to qualify on to Austin.
For West Prelim Results, click here.
For East Prelim Results, click here.

Little did we know that when Melissa Bishop-Nriagu walked off the track in London Stadium after the 2017 World Championship 800m final fans we would have to wait another 643 days before we would get to watch her run again. The Eganville native opened up her 2019 campaign this past Saturday at the John Loaring Classic in Windsor where she toed the line at 1500 metres, as she has been known to do in the past. Bishop-Nriagu was the class of the field, winning in a new Club Record time of four minutes and 9.36 seconds and topping the field by more than 12 seconds. Bishop-Nriagu’s old mark of 4:09.58 was set in 2017.
Speaking with the Windsor Star following the race, the 30 year old runner was pleased with the result, saying “It shows my fitness is coming along and we still have lots of work ahead of us.
“I have confidence now in the work I’ve put in the last 10 months since (daughter) Corinne was born. Now, the goal is to keep working really hard and stay healthy.”
Bishop-Nriagu wasn’t the only Lion in Windsor on Saturday night as two others found themselves on the podium, including fellow Olympian Farah Jacques. The Montreal native was third in the 100 metre hurdles final in a speedy time of 13.25 seconds. However, as was the case at the Liberty Twilight, Jacques was not rewarded with a new personal best as the wind reading was in excess of 2.0 metres per second. Doubling up, Jacques also placed second in the prelims of the 200 metres with a time of 23.98 seconds.
Hurdler Saj Alhaddad also found his way on to the podium with a silver medal performance in the 400 metre hurdles. The defending Canadian silver medalist posted a seasonal best time of 52.88 seconds. Also in the race was teammate Quinn Lyness who set a new personal best of 56.03 seconds in finishing sixth.
In the men’s sprints, Lionel Muteba (10.60) and Oluwasegun Makinde (10.63) placed seventh and eighth respectively in the men’s 100m. Makinde also posted a windy 21.62 second clocking in the 200 metre prelims.
South of the border, Divya Biswal swept the long jump and triple jump at the Redlands Invitational in California. Biswal equaled her long jump best with a 6.30 metre effort while bounding out to 13.31 metres in the triple jump. Unfortunately for the St. Lawrence University graduate, both efforts were aided by a following wind in excess of 2.0 metres per second.

Dear members,
As you have been made aware, I am now the acting president until we select a permanent board. I have sought help with Athletics Ontario to create a formal and transparent process in our board selection. We want to ensure that we are selecting the best possible board for our long-term success. In order to move forward, in a transparent, unbiased and neutral way, we need to create a nomination committee that will be charged with selecting a slate of candidates for our new board. At which point, the membership will be called in to vote on this slate at a special AGM meeting held later this summer. These 4 to 6 individuals will have the mandate of compiling the application forms, reviewing them, holding interviews and proposing a board slate that will be skills based to ensure the best governing of our club. Gordon Cavé (director at large) and myself will be holding a meeting on Thursday to detail this process and to answer any questions you may have about our path moving forward. We will be putting a special motion forward to create this mandate. We have also invited Paul Osland (CEO of Athletics Ontario) to attend this meeting. He will answer questions and provide an update on the discussions going on at the national level with respect to the safe sport initiatives.
I have a long history with the Club and I want to see it continue as a force, however, be assured that I fully understand our need for a complete cultural overhaul. I am committed to this. We still have a lot of work to do to change our culture. We have a chance to be a leader in the sport world through our commitment to change. We have been given an opportunity to truly create a safe sport environment free of any type of harassment, discrimination and abuse. I hope that you will give me your support moving forward as we endeavour to create a board that will display these values.
Yours truly,
Nathalie Côté
Acting President
613-323-7176
ottawalionstfclubpresident@gmail.com
Board of Directors Application Form

By Jim Parker of the Windsor Star
There is nervousness and excitement for Melissa Bishop-Nriagu and she prepares to return to racing.
The Canadian record holder in the women’s 800 metres will return to the track for her first competitive race in nearly two years on Saturday at the Johnny Loaring Classic at University of Windsor Stadium.
“I’m excited to be back in the scene and put a uniform on and have spikes on my feet and be around that atmosphere again and see my old teammates and friends,” the 30-year-old Bishop-Nriagu said. “I’m really excited for that, but, sure, there’s a lot of nerves surrounding it.
Continue reading at WindsorStar.com

By Zach Quevillon
This week saw the East + West conference championships take place at Terry Fox. While many Lions advanced to the city Championships, some standout performances included:
EAST CONFERENCE
Audrey Gilmour dipping under 59 seconds in the Junior girls 400m – 58.93 for a shiny new pb
Zoe Gardiner pb’ing with a 2:22 in the junior girls 800m and 4:53 in the 1500m
Vienna Courteau flying past the 5m barrier in the long jump – 5.09m for the win
Yannick Meredith breaking the meet record in the midget boys 400m! – 52.58
Andile Mabaleke breaking the meet record in the midget boys 100m hurdles! – 14.60
Yannick Meredith and Charles Asselin contributing to the De La Salle midget boys 4x100m record breaking performance at 47.30!
Sam Robinson doubling up, winning the Junior boys 100m + 200m dash
Owen Pensom doubling up, winning the Junior boys 800m + 1500m
Sebastien Cino with a huge pb to run 9:31 in the Junior boys 3000m
Zach Bryant, David Adeleye, and Ben Robinson going 1-2-3 in the senior boys 100m final 11.25 – 11.44 – 11.44
Zach Meredith and Joe Fast dominate 400-800-1500-3000m for the 3rd year in a row, this time as first year seniors.
Wariso Dullo breaks the senior boys javelin record with his throw of 52.31m!
WEST CONFERENCE
Katie Manor found her form again despite a poor start roaring to a 12.71 victory in the junior girls 100m
Elllie Munro led from the gun in the Junior girls 200m winning in 26.44
Helena Jovic is back from a year abroad, picking up where she left off winning the 400m (58.82) and 400mh (1:04.27)
Emma Dobson Takoff consolidated her first year of training with a win in the senior girls triple jump, leaping to 10.50m
Madison Maclean broke the meet record in the senior girls javelin, knocking on the 40m door with a 39.57m throw
Luca Nicoletti stormed to triple gold in the midget boys 100m (11.74), 100mh (14.76) and meet record 300mh (42.40) Old record – 44.39!!
Thomas Kukla-Colby uttered his famous tagline WHOOSHKIMA as he raced to a 400m pb and victory in 54.26
Manny Fernandez edged training partner Kyle Porter in the midget boys 1500m – 4:35 to 4:36
Dani Hassan was victorious in the junior boys 100m @ 11.80
Josh Foster dominated the senior boys  horizontal jumps winning both long (6.47m) and triple (14.08m)
Brandon Ovington, not wanting to be outdone, won the shot put (17.07m) and discus (47.21.m) with a combined margin of victory in excess of 16m.
Wishing all the best to our athletes at the City championships next week. A full list of East Regional qualifiers will be posted at the end of the meet! EOSSA and Western Quebec championships are also taking place. Good luck to all!

The young pair of Keira Christie-Galloway and Lauren Gale made a big splash south of the border last weekend as NCAA Conference Championship season came to a close. Both women, members of Team Canada at last year’s World Under 20 Championships, picked up new lifetime bests on the way to conference gold.
For Christie-Galloway, her transition to the NCAA from USport competition with the University of Ottawa Gee Gees has been as smooth one. The Iowa State Cyclone sped her way to a new lifetime best of 13.10 seconds in the 100m hurdles and another Big 12 title on Sunday. Christie-Galloway, who also captured the indoor conference title, has completely re-written the Iowa State record book in her short four and a half months in Ames, having set the school record three times already this season.
Also at the Big 12 Championships, Cyclone and Lion teammate Erinn Stenman-Fahey finished sixth in the 800m, crossing the line in a time of 2:08.87. For the senior Stenman-Fahey’s her placing Sunday in the 800m was the best of her career at the conference level.
Lauren Gale also ran her way into the record books this weekend as she swept the Mountain West conference indoor and outdoor 400m titles in her freshman year. The Colorado State Ram blew the field out of the water in Friday’s heats as she stopped the clock at 52.68 seconds, nearly a full second improvement from her previous best set just two weeks prior. The time was a school record and also moves her to number two in club history.
Gale’s dominance continued through the final where she cruised to victory in 53.18 seconds, more than a full second ahead of her nearest competitor. In addition to her individual accolade, Gale also picked up gold as a member of the Colorado State 4x100m relay as well as a bronze in the 4x400m.
At the Pac 12 Championships in Tucson, Arizona, Shona McCulloch continued to show she has a bright future in the 3000m steeplechase. The University of Washington sophomore placed fifth overall in a time of 10:23.02 to move into second in club history behind Danelle Woods. McCulloch also took part in the 5000m where she placed 19th in 16:46.43.
Rounding out the performances, Jeremie Venne saved the best race of his collegiate career for his last one. The Saint Francis senior placed second in the IC4A 1500m Saturday in Princeton, New Jersey in a new personal best time of 3:48.22.
Next up for Christie-Galloway, Stenman-Fahey and Gale will be the NCAA West Preliminaries scheduled for next Thursday through Saturday in Sacramento, California.