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It’s conference championship weekend across North America, and Lions athletes kicked things off Friday with two golds, a silver and two bronze.
Highlighting the list of accomplishments on Friday was Devyani Biswal, a fifth year math and economics student, who shaved nearly a tenth of a second off her personal best to take the OUA 60m hurdle title in 8.45 seconds. With her time, Biswal cemented her place in the upcoming Canadian Interuniversity Sport Championship in two weeks as well as bested Ashlea Maddex’s previous University of Ottawa record of 8.49 set in 2011.
Competing in the Quebec University Championships, Amelia Brohman of Carleton University picked up the first conference gold in school history as she won the 60m in 7.63 seconds. She wasn’t the only speedster to get on the podium as Emmanuel Nwokobia picked up bronze in the men’s race in 7.15 seconds.
Also at the Quebec Championships in Montreal, Telvin Tavernier kicked things off with a bang, clearing 4.50 metres in the pole vault for silver. To make things more impressive, the performance came after the fourth year engineering student completed the first four events of the heptathlon. Telvin currently sits in 3rd, but will look to pick up valuable points in the pole vault.
The final medal of the day came from shot putter Ashley Connell. Competing for the University of Guelph, Connell managed to launch the 4kg ball out to 14.75m to finish in third. Fellow Lion, Leanna Garcia of the University of Windsor used a final round personal best of 13.54m to finish 6th overall.
Qualifying performances:
Erinn Stenman-Fahey qualifies for Big 12 800m final with time of 2:10.11.
Adam Palamar qualifies for final by winning his heat of the mile in 4:11.91 at the ACC Championship.
Lindsay Brandys ran 7.72 seconds in 60m heats at the OUA Championships to qualify 6th to the semi-final.
Final Performances
Katie Phillips finishes 4th over 3000m in 10:03.16 while Chelsea Gillies finishes 6th over 1000m in 2:52.54.
Jacob Powrie and Scott Hancock finish 6th and 7th respectively in the 60m hurdle final. Hancock also finished 8th in the men’s long jump final.
 

Melissa Bishop has won her last three races and broke the Canadian indoor record twice in the last three days.
Talk about a perfect way to kick off an Olympic year for the world championship silver medallist in the women’s 800 metres.
“Obviously, it feels really good to be running these kinds of times right now,” Bishop said after winning the 800 at the World Indoor Tour meet in Glasgow. “That being said though, there’s still six, seven months to go here, and there’s still a lot of work to be done.
“I’m still trying to keep my head on straight, but obviously, I’m enjoying the small things”
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While Melissa Bishop broke the Canadian outdoor 800m record at last summer’s World Championships in Beijing there was still the matter of taking over the indoor record. Until today of course, as Bishop set a new national standard of 2 minutes 0.60 seconds at a meet in Athlone, Ireland.
The world championship medalist made it look easy during her four lap tour of the Athlone Institute of Technology Arena. The Eganville native’s native trims six hundredths of a second off of the previous Canadian best of 2:03.66 set by Diane Cummins in 2003. Bishop’s time currently has her ranked fourth in the world. She will compete next on Saturday the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix, the final stop on the IAAF World Indoor Tour.
About an hour before Melissa’s record breaking performance, shot putter Tim Nedow put on one of his own. Competing at the World Indoor Tour stop in Stockhold, the Pan Am silver medalist heaved the shot out to an astounding 21.33m. The mark was nearly a meter further than second place finisher Michal Haratyk of Poland.
Today’s victory combined with his win last week in Karlsruhe give Tim a total of 20 points on the World Indoor Tour a secured his overall tour victory. Next up for the big man are some final tune up meets in a couple weeks time before he heads to Portland, Oregon for the World Indoor Championships on March 18th.
For videos of both Melissa and Tim’s record setting performances, please visit our Facebook page – facebook.com/ottawalionstfc

• Charifa Labarang Women’s 60m – 7.74
• Sophia Skorenky Women’s 500m – 1:16.87 (7th fastest in club history)
• Charlotte Gardner Women’s 800m – 2:15.46
• Chelsea Gillies Women’s 1000m – 2:54.24
• Devyani Biswal Women’s 60m Hurdles – 8.65
• Charifa Labarang, Devyani Biswal, Sophia Skorenky, Charlotte Gardner Women’s 4x200m – 1:43.32
• Colle Thompson, Christianne Lela, Caitlin Fischer, Gift Okankwu Women’s 4x400m 3:59.66

Also setting a new meet best was Remy Binns in the men’s 800m with a time of 1:55.54.

In only his second meet of the season, shot putter Tim Nedow broke his own club record for a second time Saturday with a massive throw of 21.00m – the second farthest throw in the world this year. Competing at the York University Open in North York, the Brockville native produced the best series of his life with four of his six throws in excess of 20.80m.
After the competition, Nedow conceded he felt as though he didn’t connect with any of his throws, but rather the distance was a byproduct of being in great shape. “I was more happy with my opener 20.84m,” Nedow said in comparison to his 21.00m throw. Next stop will be Karlshure, Germany on February 5th and then a competition in Stockholm on the 17th as he gets ready for the World Indoor Championsips in Portland, Oregon at the beginning of March.
Nedow wasn’t the only one to produce a world class performance Saturday as 800m runner Melissa Bishop won her season debut in 2:01.10. Competing at the Camel City Elite competition in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Bishop’s time is her fastest ever on a 200m track and now ranks her second in the world behind Laura Muir of Great Britain.
Also on Saturday, middle distance runner Adam Palamar made an assault on the club’s all-time list. A senior at Syracuse University, Palamar finished third in the mile at the Boston University Terrier Classic in an outstanding 3 minutes 58.55 seconds. The time trims almost a second off his previous best and makes him the fourth fastest miler in club history and also moves him to fourth in the current NCAA rankings.

It was a big night for the Ottawa Lions at the 2015 Ottawa Sport Awards held Wednesday night at Algonquin College. Members of the club pulled in a combined seven awards including two of the majors – Female Athlete of the Year and Coach of the Year.
Melissa Bishop took home the award for Female Athlete of the Year after a breakout 2015 season that included both a world championship silver medal and new Canadian record over 800m. Bishop, who became the first female Lion to be named athlete of the year, also took home the top athlete award for athletics.
 
After re-taking the reigns of Canada’s men’s 4x100m relay team last summer, coach Glenroy Gilbert helped lead the quartet to world championship bronze. For his efforts, Gilbert was recognized as Ottawa’s Coach of the Year. This was Glenroy’s third coach of the year nod, having won previously in 2013 and 2008.
While Paralympian Jason Dunkerley was unsuccessful in his bid for a second Male Athlete of the Year award, the International Paralympic Committee World Championship medalist did take home the award for top Parasport athlete in Ottawa. Dunkerley and his guide Joshua Karanja were second in the T11 5000m at the world champions last fall. This was after a gold medal performance at the Para Pan Am Games in August.
Lions athletes also swept the two running awards with Claire Smith winning for cross country while Tommy DesBrisay was awarded for his exploits on the local road running scene. Claire, a freshman at Stanford University, was a winner for third year in a row following a provincial championship and two national team appointments including the IAAF World Cross-Country Championships in China. Tommy is a repeat winner for road running after four 1st-place finishes, winning the Goode Run 10 km, the Nine Run Run half-marathon, the Chelsea Challenge 10 km and the Wakefield Moonlight Run 10 km. He finished a respectable 5th in the Disney Wine and Dine half-marathon and 34th in the Ottawa Race Week Marathon.
In addition, Lions Speed for Sport athlete Jonah Shaffer was acknowledged for his water skiing abilities. Some of his accolades included winning the Junior U.S. Masters Championships, the Junior U.S. Open Championships, placing 3rd at the Junior World Championships and being ranked 1st in the world in the U-18 Division.
Finally, the Ottawa Lions were also recognized for winning their 11th straight Athletics Ontario club championship as well as the Athletics Canada national club championship.
 

The Ottawa Sport Awards announced their major award nominees Friday with Lions being nominated in the male athlete, female athlete and coach of the year categories. Coach Glenroy Gilbert is being nominated for his work with Canada’s bronze medal winning world championship men’s 4x100m relay team. Gilbert has previously won the award twice – the latest in 2013.
Up for male athlete of the year is International Paralympic Committee world championship silver medalist Jason Dunkerley. Competing in both the T11 1500m and 5000m, Dunkerley and his guide Joshua Karanja were also double medalists at the Para Pan Am Games, including gold over 5000m. Jason previously took home the award in 2004.
Melissa Bishop received her first nomination in the female athlete of the year category for her breakout 2015 season. After taking home Pan Am Games gold, Melissa broke the Canadian 800m record on her way to world championship silver.
The winners will be announced at the Ottawa Sport Awards next Wednesday, January 27 at Algonquin College.

Athletics Ontario has released their list of nominations for the Quest for Gold Ontario Athlete Assistance Program and it features an impressive eight 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 2015-2016 season include:

• Steve Nkusi – High Jump
• Shyvonne Roxborough – 100m
• Charlotte Gardner – 800m
• Lindsay Brandys – 100m
• Sebastian Seville – 800m
• Karelle Edwards – 100m Hurdles
• Tommy Des Brisay – T20 1500m
• Alexia Lamothe – 100m Hurdles (Injury)

Congratulations as well to Lions alum Alex Wilkie who was nominated in the 1500m.

World Championship silver medalist Melissa Bishop stepped up in distance to open her 2016 season Saturday at the University of Windsor, running a world leading time of 4 minutes 17.91 seconds to win the 1500m. The Eganville native took control from the gun, separating herself from the field and built on it through out the race, finishing more than 10 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor.