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It may have been a light first day at the Canadian Junior Championships in Ste. Therese, Quebec, but Lion’s steeplechasers made the most of the day’s only finals.
Ontario high school girls champion Maggie Scheunert hit the track first, in the women’s 2000m steeplechase, finishing ninth in a personal best 7:26.73. The first year junior athlete had finished 13th in 2013.
In the men’s 3000m steeplechase, Farah Abdulkarim was making his debut at the distance, and certainly made the most of it. Coming off a bronze in the 2000m steeplechase at the recent OFSAA championships, Farah banged out consistent laps of 72-74 seconds to finish fifth in a time of 9:13.36. Despite the debut performance for the 18 year old, the time was just off World Junior Standard and now ranks him sixth all-time in club history.
In the women’s 100m, 16 year old Shyvonne Roxborough finished second in the morning qualifying round with a time of 12.44 seconds to advance to the evening’s semi-finals where she would wind up 11th overall as the competition’s youngest competitor. Teammates Alex Telford and Charifa Labarang would place 13th and 15th overall.
The Lions return to action today at 11:15pm when four time OFSAA champion Zachary Kerr goes for gold in the men’s pole vault.

Among the 35 athletes named today to represent Canada at the upcoming NACAC U23 Championships are two of the Ottawa Lions very best – hurdler Ashlea Maddex and sprinter Devin Biocchi. The three day championship, which brings together the best espoir athletes from North America, Central America and the Caribbean, kicks off August 8th in Kamloops, BC.
This will be Maddex’s second appearance at the NACAC U23 championships following her bronze medal performance two years ago in Irapuato, Mexico. She will undoubtedly be looking to change the colour when she lines up for the 100m hurdles on August 9th. The Rockland native is coming off a bronze medal performance at last weekend’s national championships in Moncton which culminated in a personal best equalling 13.34 seconds.
For Devin Biocchi, this will be his fourth national team appointment after previously representing Canada at the 2010 World Junior Championships, 2011 Pan Am Junior Championships and 2013 Penn Relays. Devin will be a member of 4x400m relay team.

Lions athletes wrapped up the 2014 Canadian Championships with a bang on Sunday, walking away with seven of the club’s total 15 medals for the championship. Highlighting the day’s medal haul was Josh Cassidy’s double medal day as well as back to back gold for Sultana Frizell and Melissa Bishop.
Cassidy was the busiest Lion of the weekend, competing in four events, showing his wide range from 400m up to 5000m. On Sunday morning, the wheelchair racer put on a dominating performance in the T54 5000m, winning with ease in 11:22.51. Josh’s nearest closest competitor finished nearly 14 seconds behind him. Less than four hours later, the marathon world record holder would come back to finish a close second in the 800m race. The silver gave Josh a full set following his bronze in Saturday’s 1500m.
There may have been no surer bet for gold in these championships than hammer thrower Sultana Frizell. The Canadian record holder made quick work of the competition with a second round effort of 73.78m to secure her fifth national senior title. The mark was almost two meters further than her previous championship record set in 2010 and more than 8.5 metres ahead of her nearest competitor.
In the women’s 800m, Melissa Bishop showed her experience, calmy bidding her time early on before making her move on the second lap as she ran away from the field to victory. Crossing the line in 2:03.23, the Eganville native captures her second straight championship. Bishop will look to continue the level of success as she prepares for the Commonwealth Games later this month.
Other medals from Sunday included back to back bronze in the sprint hurdles from the pair of Ashlea Maddex and Sekou Kaba. Maddex equalled her lifetime best of 13.34 seconds to finish third behind Olympic finalists Phylicia George and Jessica Zelinka.
Oluwasegun Makinde capped off the championships with a silver medal in the 200m final. The University of Ottawa graduate’s time of 20.94 seconds was hampered by a stiff headwind of 2.3 m/s. Fellow sprinter Michael Robertson also picked up a silver in the men’s 400m with third best performance of his life, 46.34 seconds.
Other medalists from the weekend included:
Jared Broughton – Gold T13 800m and Silver T13 1500m
Jason Dunkerley – Gold T11 5000m
Rachael Burrows – Silver T34 100m and Silver T34 200m
Jon Dunkerley – Silver T11 400m

The 2014 Canadian Track and Field Championships are set to kick off Friday in Moncton with 20 Lions athletes ready to do battle over the three day competition.
The contingent is led by defending champions, Sultana Frizell, Melissa Bishop, Rachael Burrows, Joshua Cassidy and Jason Dunkerley.
Frizell enters the women’s hammer competition as the heavy favourite to repeat having bettered her own Canadian record already this year and nearly 8.5m ahead of her nearest competitor.
Bishop will be looking for her second national championship when the women’s 800m final goes off Sunday afternoon. While the Eganville native has been very consistent in the 2:00.50 to 2:01.00 range so far this season, look for her to run tactically to regain her crown.
Josh Cassidy will likely be the busiest Lion of the weekend, as he is set to demonstrate his range, racing the 400m up to 5000m in the T54 wheelchair category. Cassidy, who will be using this event as a tune up for next month’s Commonwealth Games enters as the top seed in the 800m, 1500m and 5000m.
Paralympian Rachael Burrows will be looking defend her T34 100m and 200m titles while Jason Dunkerley will be racing in both the T11 1500m and 5000m – events he medalled in at the 2012 Paralympic Games. Dunkerley had won the 800m event at last year’s national championships, just a few months after donating a kidney to his wife.
Other returning medalists from 2013 include Oluwasegun Makinde (200m), Michael Robertson (400m), Sekou Kaba (110mH), Jon Dunkerley (T11 400m/800m) and Jared Broughton (T13 1500m).
The full list of Lions participants are as follows, with seeds in parathenses:

1. Oluwasegun Makinde 100m (11^th), 200m (5^th)
2. Oluseyi Smith 100m (16^th)
3. Michael Robertson 200m (12^th), 400m (4^th)
4. Devin Biocchi 200m (16^th), 400m (7^th)
5. Toluwalope Makinde 200m (17^th)
6. Gordon Frenke 400m (10^th)
7. Jon Dunkerley T11 400m (2^nd), 800m (1^st)
8. Jason Dunkerley T11 1500m (1^st), 5000m (1^st)
9. Josh Cassidy T54 400m, 800m (1^st), 1500m (1^st), 5000m (1^st)
10. Mohamed Souleiman 800m (11^th), 1500m (10^th)
11. Jared Broughton T13 800m (1^st), 1500m (2^nd)
12. Jason Dunkerley T11 5000m (1^st)
13. Sekou Kaba 110mH (3^rd)
14. Rachael Burrows T34 100m (2^nd), 200m (2^nd)
15. Melissa Bishop 800m (1^st)
16. Ashlea Maddex 100mH (5^th)
17. Karelle Edwards 100mH (8^th)
18. Divya Biswal LJ (12^th), TJ (5^th)
19. Valerie Chartrand (11^th)
20. Sultana Frizell (1^st)

Another Twilight Meet, another record for Claire Smith. Actually, make that another two records as the 17 year old Glebe Collegiate student smashed her own Canadian Youth Record in the 3000m and at the same time took out a 22 year old Meet Record. Claire’s new national standard of 9:22.75 sheds nearly 13 seconds off her old mark, and also trimmed nearly two seconds from Nancy Norman’s old meet record of 9:35.58. In addition to breaking records, the time surpasses the IAAF World Junior Championship standard of 9:35 and currently ranks her number two in Canada over the distance.
Also satisfying a World Junior standard last night was fellow youth athlete, Erinn Stenman-Fahey, who won the women’s 800m handily. Erinn’s time of 2:08.83, bested the field by nearly four seconds and was also a new personal best for the OFSAA silver medalist. Stenman-Fahey now ranks sixth in Canada among junior aged athletes.
Other notable performances from evening came from hurdler Alexia Lamothe as she used her flat speed to trim two seconds off her personal best to win the women’s 400m in 56.13. With the time, she is now ranked10th in Canada among juniors. As well, decathlete Patrick Arbour hurled the discus out to a seasonal best 47.03m, to grab a spot in the national top ten rankings.

It’s been a busy and highly successful week for Glebe Collegiate grade 11 student Claire Smith. How else would you characterize a week that included a World Junior Championship standard, provincial championship, Ontario record and Canadian record!
While Smith’s gold and silver performances at this past weekend’s OFSAA championships have already been discussed, it wasn’t until last night we discovered Claire’s 9:35.39 3000m was in fact a new Canadian Youth Record. The mark took nearly a second and a half off the old record of 9:36.77 set by New Brunswick’s Genevieve Lalonde in 2008.
Following her successful weekend, Smith decided to try her hand over 5000m at last night’s Twilight Meet. With the goal of bettering Athletics Canada’s standard of 16:40, Claire opened up with successive kilometres of 3:18, 3:16, 3:16 and 3:18 before crossing the line in 16:31.88 to set the global standard and establish a new Ontario best for 18 year olds, all while celebrating her 17th birthday .
This is only latest in a breakthrough year for Claire that has so far included an individual bronze and team gold at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Cross Country Championships as well as a gold medal at the recent Youth Olympic trials in Florida.

Not since 2009 had a contingent of Lions athletes brought home as many medals from OFSAA, the Ontario High School Championships, as 13 athletes won 16 medals, including five gold. The first gold came Friday from Maggie Scheunert of Garneau HS in the open girls 1500m steeplechase who used a strong finishing kick to beat Callie McGuire of Loyola to the line in 5:07.82.  While Scheunert’s place atop the podium was no surprise, she entered the competition ranked third, it was expected she would be joined by top seed Alexa Livingstone. However, Livingstone would collide with one of the barriers in the heats, surrendering her lead, but still managing to qualify to the final. However, x-rays following the race revealed Alexa had broken both arms. Despite pulling out of the steeplechase, the gutsy runner would return for Saturday’s senior girls 3000m final where she would place 15th.
Taking the senior girls 3000m race was Livingstone’s Glebe HS teammate Claire Smith who looked like a woman on a mission after her silver medal performance in Friday’s 1500m final. While running shoulder to shoulder with rival Charlotte Proust of London through two kilometers, Smith began turning up the pace, eventually creating a 60 metre lead as she won comfortably in a lifetime best 9:35.39.
Smith wasn’t the only lady to dominate the 3k as Longfields Davidson student Shona McCulloch proved to be the class of the field in the midget girls race, winning by more than 20 seconds, crossing the line in 10:07.06. While Shona appeared to be making a run at the OFSAA record early on, leading by 100m at the halfway mark, the hot sun slowed the pace over the final four laps.
While Shona was running to gold on the track, pole vaulter Zack Kerr of Hillcrest HS was taking his final jumps at OFSAA and the grade 12 student was making the most of it,equalling his personal best of 4.55m to secure his fourth straight OFSAA gold in the pole vault. A member of Canada’s team at last year’s World Youth Championships in the Ukraine, Kerr is first male pole vaulter to win four OFSAA gold since the removal of grade 13 and possibly the only male to never lose an OFSAA pole vault competition.
The final gold came from St. Mark’s Larissa Brown who dominated the girls visually impaired 100m, winning in an OFSAA record time 14.20 seconds. Brown’s time slashed an astonishing 2.71 seconds off the previous best as she became the first St. Mark student to win 100m gold since former Lion Ashley Purnell set the Canadian Interscholastic Record in 2002.
Other performances of note include Matt Bedard’s double silver in the 400m and 400m hurdles as well as Shyvonne Roxborough’s 100m/long jump double silver. Bedard kicked things off with a seven tenths of a second personal best in the flat four, finishing in 48.65 before rounding out the championship with a near PB 53.76 in the 400m hurdles.
After claiming second in the junior girls 100m Friday afternoon, Roxborough picked up her silver medal and made her way over to the long jump looking for some gold. After jumping into the lead in round four with a leap of 5.28m, Shyvonne was passed in round five when Ebhani Blackwood went to 5.33m. However, Roxborough produced a personal best jump of 5.33m in the final round, and put one hand on that gold medal on the count back. Unfortunately for the South Carleton student, Blackwood leapt to 5.30m on the final jump of the competition to eek out the competition by 2cm in the count back.
Other medallists from the weekend included:
Erinn Stenman-Fahey – Senior Girls 800m SILVER
Arden McAlpin – Junior Girls 4x100m SILVER
Keira Christie-Galloway – Midget Girls Long Jump SILVER
Alexia Lamothe – Senior Girls 100m Hurdles BRONZE
Farah Abdul-Karim – Open Boys 2000m Steeplechase BRONZE
Keili Shephard – Midget Girls 1500m BRONZE
For videos of the OFSAA Championships, please check out our YouTube Channel
Pictures will be posted shortly on our Facebook Page

With 49 days to go before the 20th Commonwealth Games kick off in Glasgow, Scotland five Ottawa Lions athletes have been given the nod to suit up for Team Canada. Leading the Lions contingent will be 2010 medallists Sultana Frizell and  Josh Cassidy as they will be joined by Olympians Melissa Bishop and Oluwasegun Makinde as well as Pan Am Games finalist Michael Robertson.
Heading in to the Games, hammer thrower Sultana Frizell is a strong favourite to repeat her gold medal winning performance from four years ago. The Perth native is having the best season of her life, currently ranked second in the world following her recent Canadian record throw of 75.73m. The Commonwealth record holder’s toughest competition is likely to come Olympic finalist Sophie Hitchon of England. Strangely enough, Hitchon is the former pupil of Frizell’s coach Derek Evely.
For Cassidy, he’ll be looking to improve on his bronze medal in Delhi. The multiple Canadian champion is currently ranked 16th in the world with a season’s best performance of 3:05.24 for 1500m. He will be looking to challenge the likes of Kurt Fearnley of Australia and David Weir of England for a spot atop the podium.
While this will be the first Commonwealth Games experience for the trio of Bishop, Makinde and Robertson, all enter with years of international seasoning. Bishop will be looking to build on the experience gained from both the London Olympics and last year’s world championships in Moscow as she looks to advance to her first major international final. She appears well positioned early in the season with a yearly best of 2:00.52 for 800m and a top ten global ranking.
Makinde and Robertson were named to the men’s 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m relay teams respectively, roles they both filled at the recent IAAF World Relay Championships.
The athletics portion of the Games begins July 27th with Sultana Frizell kicking things off in hammer throw qualifying.

He keeps getting older and his times keeping getting faster. For sprinter Michael Robertson, record breaking seems to have a become a bit of a habit of late as he bettered his own club 400m record for the third time in less than 10  months on Saturday at the Ottawa Springtime High Performance Meet. Running in a field worthy of a national final, Robertson won handily, crossing the line in a time of 46.29 – nearly a full second ahead of runner-up Daniel Harper of Brampton. Mike’s previous record of 46.32 was set in August 2013.
After Mike leading Canada to a a silver medal in the 4x400m relay at last summer’s World University Games, there was a noticeable change in Robertson’s approach and execution to his running, leading to back to back record breaking performances to close out last season. He has carried that speed and success through to 2014 where he has also led a quartet in breaking the Ottawa Lions’ 4x400m record which had stood since 1997. Most recently, Robertson had run anchor for Canada at the World Relay Championships last weekend in Nassau, Bahamas.
 

It was a busy weekend for Lions athletes competing both near and far on the weekend. At the NCAA Division III Championships in Delaware, Ohio horizontal jumper Divya Biswal had a weekend to remember, picking up her first national championship in the triple jump after finishing fourth in the long jump. Divya has had a career year so far in 2014, and added to it considerably at the championships where she got things started on Thursday with her fourth place finish in the long jump with a lifetime best 5.71m. Biswal likely gave her St. Lawrence Saints coaches a few heart palpitations after opening the championship with back to back fouls before produce the personal best jump. It would be her only legal effort of the day, proving one is sometimes enough.
Divya entered Saturday’s triple jump competition looking for that elusive gold medal following a silver and two bronze indoors and outdoors at the NCAA level. Leading for most of the competition with an opening round leap of 12.25m, the Sir Robert Borden grad was passed by 1cm in the fifth round by Bria Halama of Wisconsin-La Crosse. However, with her sixth and final jump Divya cued the dramatic finish, bounding her way out to a lifetime best 12.47m and her first NCAA Championship. In addition to her national title, the leap also moves her to number two in club history.
Also competing south of the border, hammer thrower Sultana Frizell followed up her national record performance from Thursday night with another victory at the Tucson Elite competition in Arizona. Frizell’s throw of 74.35 was nearly 60cm ahead of her nearest competitor.
In Windsor, Olympian Melissa Bishop was looking to hit the Commonwealth Games “A” standard of two minutes flat at the Windsor Open. Despite a valiant second lap effort, running alone, Bishop fell just off the mark as she crossed the line in 2:00.87. You can watch Melissa’s race in it’s entirety at the end of this article.
Rounding Saturday’s performances was Michael Robertson, running anchor on Canada’s 4x400m relay at the inaugural IAAF World Relays Champs. Mike kept Canada in the thick of things on the final lap, crossing the line in 3:04.85.
Finally, with Race Weekend taking over the City of Ottawa many Lions athletes put forth some impressive performances. Tommy Des Brisay certainly received the most amount of press for his 2 hours 39.21 minutes debut performance in the marathon, being recognized even on the CBC national news. However, another significant performance came from grade nine student Shona McColloch who finished an impressive 17th in the women’s 10km race with a personal best effort of 37 minutes 49 seconds.
Melissa Bishop’s 2:00.87 800m
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUK-sWNGDbA]