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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.

The Gee Gee women’s team found themselves back in the USports top ten rankings this week after a number of national level performances at last weekend’s uOttawa Winternational Invitational. The team was led by veteran Madison Clarke who competed in four events over the two days of competition.

Running the 800m Friday night, Clarke clocked the second fastest 800m race of her life, finishing second to the University of Toronto Track Club’s Madeline Kelly in two minutes 6.75 seconds. Using the USport conversion table, the performance now ranks Clarke tops in the country for the 1000m, improving upon her previous ranking of sixth, and automatically qualifies her for this year’s USport Championships.

The psychology student’s work was far from over as she opened Saturday’s competition with a time of one minute 31.54 seconds to win the 600m over teammate Maeliss Trapeau (1:32.29). The performances moved each women up to fourth and sixth in the national rankings. To round out the day, Clarke won a tight battle over Svetlana Martynova in the 1500m and then produced the quickest leg on the Gee Gees 4x400m relay (56.9 seconds) to lead them to a sixth place national ranking.

In the field, Christina Hertner took gold in the women’s shot put with a seasonal best effort of 12.96 metres. The throw now places the third year International Development student eighth in the USport rankings.

On the men’s side, Stephen Evans out battled club mate Sebastian Saville to win Friday night’s 800m event. Evans crossed in 1:50.45, just ahead of Saville’s 1:50.62. Like Clarke, Evans’ converted mark is a national leading time for the 1000m and confirms his return to the national event. Running the 600 metres Saturday, the defending USport silver medalist was victorious in a time of 1:19.86. Gee Gee teammate Andrew Heffernan produced a lifetime best of 1:20.19 to take second spot in the event. The pair are now ranked fifth and ninth respectively in USport.

The Lions return to action this weekend at the McGill Team Challenge in Montreal.

The Lions 2019 competitive season kicked off with a number of excellent performances last weekend with athletes competing in Sherbrooke and across the United States.
From Quebec, the club brought home six medals including a new University of Ottawa record in the pole vault. Gee Gee freshman Caroline Poirier added 3 centimetres to Felicite Kokron’s school record from 2015 with her 3.60m clearance. The performance was good enough for victory, 10 cm of the silver medalist from Sherbrooke. Also on the podium was teammate Annabelle Gagne who took bronze with a 3.35m clearance.
On the track, the Gee Gee women’s 4x400m team of Sydney Smith, Rebecca Brennan, Jennifer Dumoulin and Amanda Hummel also capture gold while the men took silver. Brennan also picked up an individual silver in the 3000m where she finished in 10 minutes 22.76 seconds. Also picking up a silver was Bertwin Ben-Smith who went 36.78 seconds for 300m.
At the Great Dane Classic on Staten Island, a pair of Lions swept the 1000m race. Running for the Gee Gees, Madison Clarke won the women’s event by nearly a second over Faten Laribi of Monroe College, finishing in 2 minutes 53.79 seconds. Clarke’s performance currently ranks her sixth in USPORTS, just one place ahead of teammate Maeliss Trapeau.
In the men’s event, it was near domination by the runners from the Nation’s Capital. Veteran Sebastian Saville won the event in a time of 2 minutes 28.01 seconds, less than two tenths off his personal best set last year. Saville led a near sweep of the top five positions as Lion Jeremie Venne took third in a personal best 2:28.75 while running for St. Francis University in Pennsylvania. Andrew Heffernan and Stephen Evans went fourth and fifth respectively, with “Heff” also setting a new lifetime best with his 2:29.58 clocking.
Lionel Muteba took silver in the men’s 60m with a 6.85 second clocking.
Elsewhere in the U.S., Harvard freshman Sharelle Samuel made her debut over 500m, finishing third at the Beantown Challenge with a time of 1:15.43. The performance places Samuel ninth on the club’s all-time list for the event. In Boulder, Colorado Lauren Gale handily won her debut 400m for the Colorado State Rams in a time of 55.25, more than two seconds ahead of her nearest competitor.
The Lions return to action this weekend with the hosting of the uOttawa WinterNational Invitational at the Louis-Riel Dome. For a full schedule and heat sheets, check out ottawalions.com/meet-info
 

As we’ve entered 2019, and about to resume our regularly scheduled programming back at the Dome next week, we thought it best to take one final look at 2018 by the numbers. Using the IAAF Scoring Tables of Athletics for both indoors and outdoors, we have ranked the Top-25 performances of the past twelve months.
For the second year in a row, Tim Nedow and Adam Palamar go 1-2 on the men’s side. While they had equal points a year ago, Nedow’s outdoor best of 21.02m in the shot raised him to the top of the class, nearly 100 points clear of Palamar. To put Nedow’s 1182 points into perspective, the IAAF equates it to running 10.07 in the 100m, 3:51.49 in the mile and leaping out to 8.20m in the long jump.
While Melissa Bishop sat out the 2018 season to give birth to her daughter Corinne, hurdlers Keira Christie-Galloway and Farah Jacques ran to replace her for the top performance of the year. The pair each ran 13.31 seconds over the 100m hurdles to score 1108 points. Christie-Galloway’s time set a new national junior standard in the event, eclipsing a 36 year old mark set by Karen Nelson while Jacques performance was the culmination of an excellent first season hurdling from the Olympic relay finalist.
As was done for 2017, athletes could only be listed once per event, but were able to appear across multiple events. Also, events run at the Louis-Riel Dome were scored using the outdoor tables.
MEN

1. Tim Nedow, Shot Put, 21.02 – 1182
2. Adam Palamar, 1500m, 3:41.65 – 1084
3. Oluwasegun Makinde, 200m, 20.94 – 1076
4. Saj Alhaddad, 400m Hurdles, 51.34 – 1064
5. Oluwasegun Makinde, 100m, 10.45 – 1056
6. Sekou Kaba, 60mH(i), 7.96 – 1053
7. Sebastian Saville, 800m, 1:49.04 – 1053
8. Sebastian Saville, 600m, 1:17.45 – 1052
9. Lionel Muteba, 60m(i), 6.81 – 1049
10. Stephen Evans, 600m(i), 1:19.50 – 1034
11. Oluwasegun Makinde, 110mH, 14.24 – 1023
12. Jodd Nelson, 100m, 10.57 – 1018
13. Stephen Evans, 800m, 1:50.32 – 1017
14. Lionel Muteba, 100m, 10.59 – 1011
15. Adam Palamar, 800m, 1:50.78 – 1004
16. Jodd Nelson, 200m, 21.50 – 995
17. Lionel Muteba, 200m, 21.53 – 991
18. Stephen Evans, 1000m(i), 2:27.06 – 983
19. Oluwasegun Makinde, 60mH(i), 8.23 – 969
20. Stephen Evans, 500m(i), 1:04.64 – 966
21. Bertwin Ben-Smith, Stephen Evans, Saj Alhaddad, Sebastian Saville, 4x400m, 3:15.56 – 963
22. Saj Alhaddad, 400m, 48.43 – 954
23. Oluwasegun Makinde, 60m(i), 6.97 – 954
24. Bertwin Ben-Smith, 200m, 21.86 – 945
25. Saj Alhaddad, 500m(i), 1:05.19 – 940
26. John Claude Van Biljon, Decathlon, 6788 – 940

WOMEN

1. Keira Christie-Galloway, 100mH, 13.31 1108
2. Farah Jacques, 100mH, 13.31 1108
3. Devyani Biswal, 100mH, 13.43 1092
4. Keira Christie-Galloway, 60mH(i), 8.31 1091
5. Ashlea Maddex, 100mH, 13.51 1082
6. Ashlea Maddex, 60mH(i), 8.36 1080
7. Maeliss Trapeau, 800m, 2:04.82 1078
8. Devyani Biswal, 60mH(i), 8.40 1071
9. Lauren Gale, 300m(i), 38.73 1069
10. Charlotte Gardner, 800m, 2:05.42 1067
11. Sharelle Samuel, 400m, 53.68 1062
12. Farah Jacques, 200m, 23.74 1061
13. Erinn Stenman-Fahey, 800m, 2:05.81 1061
14. Lauren Gale, 200m, 23.76 1059
15. Madison Clarke, 800m, 2:06.10 1056
16. Erinn Stenman-Fahey, 1000m(i), 2:46.18 1054
17. Farah Jacques, 100m, 11.72 1048
18. Maeliss Trapeau, 600m, 1:30.27 1047
19. Lauren Gale, 400m, 54.23 1041
20. Tania Bambi, 60mH(i), 8.58 1032
21. Madison Clarke, 600m, 1:30.98 1031
22. Farah Jacques, 60mH(i), 8.59 1030
23. Sharelle Samuel, 300m(i), 39.49 1029
24. Alexia Lamothe, 60mH(i), 8.60 1028
25. Farah Jacques, 60m(i), 7.59 1023

The Foundation for Global Sports Development (GSD) announced it’s winners of their 2018 Athletes in Excellence Award. Among the ten recipients is Lion Jason Dunkerley who was recognized for his commitment to sport in our community.
In addition to his running exploits, Dunkerley has recently transitioned into a coaching role, mentoring a new generation of runners with the Ottawa Lions. As well, the Paralympic medalist is the President of Achilles Ottawa, a support community for runners who have visual impairments, and sits on the Board of Directors for the Ontario Blind Sports Association.
The Athletes in Excellence Award was introduced in 2014 to acknowledge the remarkable community service work demonstrated by athletes across the world. The award recognizes those athletes who have taken their talents beyond the field or court and into communities of need.
“Sport is about so much more than winning or competition,” said GSD Executive Board Member, Dr. Steven Ungerleider. “This award highlights the sense of partnership and community found in sport and recognizes athletes who embody those values.”
GSD Executive Board member, David Ulich, added, “These Athletes in Excellence Award winners were nominated by their peers and colleagues for their efforts in making a difference in the lives of people all around the globe.  They are using sport as a catalyst for positive change.”
With this distinction comes an unrestricted award of $10,000, which the athletes may use to further pursue their volunteer, service, and mentorship goals.
 

It was a week later than anticipated, but the 2018-19 indoor season kicked off this past weekend with no less than 17 victories as the majority of athletes took to the track in New York state.
The lion’s share of athletes made their way down the Highway 416 and across the bridge to St. Lawrence University in Canton, where Lions, Gee Gees and Ravens combined for 16 gold medal performances. This medal haul included sweeping men’s and women’s titles in the 60, 600, 1000, and 3000 metres as well as the 4×400 metre relay and pole vault.
Veteran Lionel Muteba cruised to victory in the men’s 60 metre event, winning in an impressive 6.92 seconds. The time surpassed the seven year old meet record of 6.99 seconds and was also a comfortable 14 hundreths ahead of his nearest competitor.
The women’s sprint title was capture by University of Ottawa student, Pernille Lund. The Norwegian exchange student equaled her lifetime best of 7.84 seconds in her first outing of the season.
Defending USports silver medalist at 600 metres, Stephen Evans stepped up in distance to open his season,taking the 1000 metre title. The Political Science student’s winning time of 2:29.55 was the second best of his career as he finished almost a full four seconds clear of fellow Lion Remy Binns.
Evans’ female counterpart, Holly Hicks was also dominating, completing her five lap run to victory in 3:04.50 – a full 7.5 seconds clear of St. Lawrence’s Leah Livernois.
It was a great start to the season for the pole vaulters, as they captured both the men’s and women’s titles. The University of Ottawa’s Claudine Nafaa set a new lifetime best of 3.20 metres to take victory over Plattsburgh’s Anike Roberts. Nafaa’s previous best of 3.10 metres was set this past summer. Meanwhile Jesus Bustillos came as close as possible to a lifetime best as his winning leap of 3.80 metres fell one centimetre short of his personal standard.
Also in New York, former Carleton Raven Telvin Tavernier captured the heptathlon title at the SUNY Brockport Green and Gold Invite. The 25 year old Tavernier claimed victory in the long jump, shot put and pole vault en route to his victory. His 5043 points were the third highest total of his career and 127 more than his nearest competitor.
In Massachusetts, Canadian Junior record holder Sharelle Samuel opened up her season with a fifth place finish at the BU Season Opener in Boston. The Harvard freshman clocked in at 39.49 seconds for 300 metres – the second fastest time in her young career.
Other winners from St. Lawrence included:
Mary Ollier – 1:40.22 (600m)
Zachary Meredith – 1:26.16 (600m)
Tyler Dacosta – 9.05 (60m Hurdles)
Bertwin Ben-Smith – 36.34 (300m)
Rebecca Brennan – 10:38.72 (3000m)
Nic Roberts – 9:01.34 (3000m)
Christina Hertner – 12.36m (Shot Put)
Rinila Haridas – 4.74m (Long Jump)
Ashley Nearing, Lindsay MacMillan, Pippa Kolking, Kierah Barton – 1:55.63 (4x200m)
Madison Clarke, Mary Ollier, Robyn Davis, Stephanie Leask – 4:11.64 (4x400m)
Tyler Dacosta, Stephen Evans, Alex Small, Jesse Fortier – 3:38.14 (4x400m)

It was a great day for cross country racing atop historic Fort Henry as the City of Kingston played host to the Canadian Championships and a record 1110 entries on Saturday. Among the masses, a total of 33 Lions toed the line, combining for one individual top ten finish and two top five team finishes.
The 2018 Championships were again a story of success at the youth level with just a reversal in the team results. The U18 girls team of Rosalyn Barrett, Skye Pellerin, Cara MacDonald, Zoe Gardiner, Isabelle Honegger, Olivia Mackasill, Pippa Norman and Elana Tyman avenged the narrow fourth place finish of a year ago with a bronze medal performance.
The duo of Barrett and Pellerin led the squad, finishing 24th and 26th respectively. Rounding out the scorers were Cara MacDonald (41st) and Zoe Gardiner (67th). The ladies were just eight points behind the Edmonton Harriers who captured silver on the strength of Sadie Sigfstead’s individual win.
While the girls moved up a spot in 2018, the U18 boys dropped a spot after finishing third a year ago. Adam Sanger led the team with a tenth place overall finish, making him the club’s top finisher on the day and rebounding well from his 22nd place finish at OFSAA. Teammates Kevin Robertson (16th) and William Cox (24th) both cracked the top 25 while Colby Frost rounded out the scorers with his 101st overall placing.
While there were no scoring teams in either of the U20 categories, University of Ottawa freshman Nico Pedersen was the top male, placing 35th while Gee Gee sophmore Keili Shepherd was 33rd overall on the women’s side.
In the senior men’s 10 km event, Nic Roberts posted the top time, completing the course in 33 minutues 9.0 seconds to finish 75th overall. Despite finishing 128th overall, Jay Sneddon had a pretty noteworthy performance Saturday. The 25-year old Sneddon lost his shoe just three kilometres into the course. However, he didn’t let it faze him powering his way through the mud and up the hills to cross the line in 37 minutes 0.7 seconds with one bare foot.
On the women’s side, Shona McCulloch was 18th overall in 35 minutes 47.0 seconds.
Rounding out the performances, Liz Maguire finished third in the women’s 50-55 category. The 52 year old Maguire completed the 8km course in 33 minutes 0.1 seconds and was the 14th fastest female masters athlete on the day.
For photos from the nationals, check out the photo album on our Facebook page.

Dear Athletes, Parents, and Coaches,
Please be advised the Louis Riel Dome will remain CLOSED for the weekend of November 24th-25th.
The LR Dome and Lions plan to return to action on Monday, November 26 with regularly scheduled programs. However, please stay tuned to our website and social media few for updates on the matter.
Please be advised that plans are being prepared to arrange makeup sessions for our youth, foundation, and aspire programs.
As well, Saturday’s planned Varsity Intersquad competition has been postponed (Details to be shared soon).

 
Another weekend of championship cross country running produced some exciting action including two NCAA qualifying performances south of the border. Farah Abdulkarim and Shona McCulloch are both off to Madison, Wisconsin this coming Saturday, but their pathways were very different.
Farah Abdulkarim, a junior transfer at the University of Mississippi, executed a marvelous race plan to qualify for his first NCAA Championship on the strength of his third place finish and team gold. The Glebe Collegiate graduate bided his time, holding strong in the lead pack through 5km, crossing the race’s midpoint in 15 minutes 48.2 seconds to sit in 28th.
Abdulkarim would then spend the final 5km turning up the heat on his competition, moving to 15th, 7th, 5th, 4th and finally into the bronze medal position in each of the successive kilometres. He would negative split the race, finishing in a time of 31 minutes 18.6 seconds. While the top five individual performance assured Farah a spot in Wisconsin, he will be joined by his Rebel teammates as he led them to a dominating victory, 45 points, ahead of Florida State’s 92 points.
Across the continent in Sacramento, California, Shona McCulloch was busy finding a less direct route to Wisconsin. The red-shirt freshman at the University of Washington turned in arguably the best performance of her young Husky career with a 28th place finish, just three spots out of all region honours. “The biggest surprise was Shona, just a huge improvement and the best race she’s run in a Husky uniform from her. She is starting to show some of her high school form and came up big for us today,” said Washington head coach Maurica Powell.
As her school’s third scorer, the Longfields Davidson graduate helped Washington to a fourth place finish. While only the top two teams receive an automatic bid, the Huskies were awarded one of 13 at large bids yesterday by the NCAA.
Also competing at the NCAA regional championships, Jeremie Venne placed 110th at the Mid-Atlantic Championships, completing the 10km course in 33 minutes 46.2 seconds.
Closer to home at the USports Championships, Carleton University’s Jenna Van Vliet produced the top performance. The environmental engineering graduate student finished 40th overall, completing the 8km Fort Henry course in 30 minutes 24.0 seconds. The University of Ottawa duo of Rebecca Brennan and Magale Babineau finished 79th and 85th respectively.
On the men’s side, Nic Roberts and Nico Pedersen represented the Gee Gees, finishing 89th and 93rd respectively. Roberts crossed the line in 33 minutes 41.1 seconds while Pedersen followed 3.6 seconds later.
Finally, at the Athletics Ontario Cross Country Championships, the Lions were represented by a small contingent of Elana Tyman and Keaton McGrath. Both athletes finished 60th overall in their respective midget categories.
 

It was a good day for running on the shore of Spencer Creek in Dundas as more than 1500 athletes competed in the 2018 OFSAA Cross Country Championships, one of largest events of it’s kind in North America.
The Lions top performer was De La Salle’s Yannick Meredith who captured bronze in the midget boys category. The grade nine student completed the 4 kilometre course in 14 minutes 41.1 seconds, a mere second ahead of Riley Flemington from Oakville’s Appleby College. Meredith follows in the footsteps of his older brother Zachary who was a silver medalist in the same race two years ago.
In the senior boys event, grade 12 students Kevin Robertson of Bell and Will Cox of Colonel By finished 10th and 11th respectively to round out their high school cross country careers. Robertson crossed the line in  20 minutes 24.3 seconds, exactly two seconds ahead of Cox. Adam Sanger of Glebe, who had won the National Capital title was 22nd overall, helping his Gryphon team to a sixth place finish.
Despite being the only Lion in the junior girls competition, Zoe Gardiner of Glebe put forth an excellent effort, covering the 5 kilometre course in 20 minutes 21.7 seconds to finish 11th, ten spots up from her finish in 2017. In addition, Gardiner was the top scorer for a Gryphon team that won it’s second consecutive OFSAA team title.
In fact the Glebe Gryphons, led by Lions coach Kirk Dillabaugh swept both junior races. Their boys team, which included Owen Pensom (46th – 18:34.0), Keito Newman (52nd – 18:40.5), and Sebastian Cino (56th – 18:45.4) finished with 211 team points, 16 ahead of London’s Oakridge Secondary School.
A further congratulations goes out to Coach Dillabaugh’s teams as the girls captured the overall title while the boys were third.
For full results, see the list below.
Midget Girls:
Gillian Porter (Franco Cite) 42nd – 17:24.1
Isabelle Honegger (AY Jackson) 45th – 17:24.9
Rebecca Greer (St. Thomas Aquinas) 96th – 18:15.4
Freya Hurst (Glebe Collegiate) 177th – 19:29.7
Charlotte Murchison (Mother Teresa) DNS
Junior Girls:
Zoe Gardiner (Glebe) 11th – 20:21.7
Senior Girls:
Skye Pellerin (St. Francis Xavier) 19th – 24:12.2
Katie Newlove (St. Peter) 37th – 24:53.2
Olivia Macaskill (Earl of March) 77th – 25:55.1
Midget Boys:
Yannick Meredith (De La Salle) BRONZE – 14:41.1
Kyle Porter (Sir Robert Borden) 40th – 15:37.7
Toby Welburn (Glebe) 139th – 16:40.5
Manuel Fernandez (Paul-Desmarais) 190th – 17:23.9
Junior Boys:
Cameron Porter (Sir Robert Borden) 40th – 18:29.3
Owen Pensom (Glebe) 46th – 18:34.0
Keito Newman (Glebe) 52nd – 18:40.5
Sebastian Cino (Glebe) 56th – 18:45.4
Miguel Alvarez (Franco-Ouest) 69th – 18:50.9
Andrew Taylor (John McCrae) 160th – 20:11.8
Jack Hayden (Merivale) 238th – 21:56.1
Senior Boys:
Kevin Robertson (Bell) 10th – 20:24.3
Will Cox (Colonel By) 11th – 20:26.3
Adam Sanger (Glebe) 22nd – 20:46.8
Joe Fast (Ridgemont) 49th – 21:14.1
Zachary Meredith (De La Salle) 81st – 21:52.5
Harun Omar Ali (Ridgemont) 148th – 22:45.6