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]

Tommy Des Brisay, 22, was diagnosed with autism at an early age, but that hasn’t stopped him from winning countless racing medals or from clocking a half-marathon race time of 1:14:55.
But Tommy will be lacing up on Ottawa Race Weekend for his first ever marathon. And despite the much longer course, his focus remains the same as it has been since he first started running eight years ago.
“Determined to win the race, win my age category,” said Tommy.
Tommy wasn’t always an athlete.
When he was five years old, experts told his parents, MaryAnn Given and Peter Des Brisay, that he may never develop the ability to speak.
By the time he was 14 years old, he was overweight as a result of medication he was taking, and his parents wanted to find an interest for him to pursue.
To read the whole story on CBC.ca, click here

The Tucson Elite Meet wasn’t even on Sultana Frizell’s schedule a week ago, but coach Derek Evely liked what he was seeing in practice on Monday so much to ask, “Are you up for getting on a plane tomorrow?” Frizell was immediately on board, and Thursday night in Tucson she made the most of the last minute opportunity setting a new Canadian record with a sixth round effort of 75.73m to win the competition. Frizell’s previous record of 75.04m had also been set in Tucson back in 2012.
Frizell is no stranger to Canadian record setting performances, having now set nine new standards since 2008. With the current mark, she also reclaims a share of the North American Record with American Amanda Bingson who finished second in Thursday’s competition. The two athletes are now tied for 21st on the IAAF all-time list.
Sultana, now ranked second in the world this year, will compete again in Tucson on Saturday before returning to her training base in Kamloops, B.C. where she will prepare for a World Hammer Challenge competition in Marrakech, Morocco June 8.

This evening at the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championship Awards Banquet in Delaware, Ohio horizontal jumper Divya Biswal was named NCAA Atlantic Region Field Performer of the Year. The junior from St. Lawrence  University enters this weekend’s national championship ranked second in the triple jump and third in the long jump. Divya had previously received the Atlantic Region Field Performer of the Year at this year’s indoor championships.
Biswal has had a breakout spring, increasing her lifetime bests on multiple occasions in each event. Her latest assault was in the long jump where she leapt to an all conditions best of 5.91m last week in winning the East Coast Athletic Conference title while also pushing her personal best to a wind legal 5.63m.
Divya gets started tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 pm Eastern, jumping third in flight one of the long jump final. The triple jump final begins at 3:00 pm on Saturday where she will jump third in Flight 2.
 

In case you don’t follow us on Twitter (@ottawalionstfc) the club 4x400m record was taken down by the team of Devin Biocchi, Gord Frenke, Michael Robertson and Denray Jean-Jacques at the Wolfpack Last Chance meet on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The quartet completed four laps in 3:11.02, eclipsing the old record of 3:13.30 set back in 1997 by the team of Sasha Cessaratto, Sean Surerus, Lyndon George and Marc Deneault.
The men ran the following splits:
Devin Biocchi 48.2, Gord Frenke 48.0, Michael Robertson 46.4, and Denray Jean-Jacques 48.4
 

Oluwasegun Makinde and Michael Robertson were 2 of the 10 men named to represent Canada at the upcoming IAAF World Relay Championships today. The inaugural event is scheduled to take place in Nassau, Bahamas May 24 and 25.
Both men are no stranger to international competition. Makinde served as an alternate on Canada’s 4x100m relay team at the 2012 Olympics as well as last year’s World Championships while Robertson was a finalist at the 2011 Panamerican Games as part of the 4x400m team. Robertson also helped the lead Canada to silver in the 4x400m at last year’s World University Games.
For more details, please see Athletics Canada’s full release on the team announcement here.
 
 

A small group of Ottawa Lions athletes kicked off their Eastern USA spring tour last week with some great results, headlined by Olympian Oluwasegun Makinde. Running last Wednesday at Liberty University in Charlottesville, Virginia, Makinde set a new personal standard in claiming victory with a 20.51 second victory. The mark also moves him to number two on the club’s all-time list and satisfies Athletics Canada’s “A” standard for this summer’s Commonwealth Games. Makinde warmed up for his speciality by placing second in the 100m final earlier in the day with an all conditions best of 10.22w seconds. Makinde followed up this performance with a second place finish in the 200m at the Tennessee Challenge meet on Saturday where he crossed the line in 20.80. He would also finish second in the 100m in 10.47.
Also in Virginia, Mohamed Souleiman kicked off his outdoor season with a victory in the 800m as he sat and kicked his way to a 1:50.37 clocking, just 52 hundredths ahead of Liberty University’s John Sherrett. On the homestretch, CIS hurdles record holder Sekou Kaba adjusted to the longer outdoor race in finishing second in the 110m distance with a windy 13.95 clocking. The final podium finish came from Michael Robertson in the 400m, as he finished third in 47.34 seconds.
Next stop on the tour was Knoxville, Tennessee where Mohamed Souleiman was once again the first across the line – this time winning the 1500m in 3:49.63. Moh was the only runner to break 60 seconds on the bell lap, providing him with the one and a half second cushion for victory. He would double back later in the day, losing the 800m in a nail biter – 1:52.03 to his 1:52.09. Sekou Kaba would also emerge victorious in Knoxville, claiming the 110m hurdles in a windy 14.06.
Elsewhere in the United States, Divya Biswal left the New York State Collegiate Track Association Championships with a trio of gold medals, claiming victory in both the long and triple jump as well as the 100m hurdles. Biswal, a junior at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, kicked things off by leaping to a new personal best 5.61m to win the long jump on Friday. She would follow up with another 12 metre plus effort in the triple jump and a time of 15.83 in the hurdles. Biswal is currently ranked 2nd (triple jump) and 18th (long jump) in NCAA Division III.
In Princeton, New Jersey javelin thrower Brandon Heroux had his second outing of the season where he produced a best effort of 65.99m to finish second. Heroux is currently the 7th ranked javelin thrower in Canada.
Rounding out the weekend performances was heptathlete Michele Krech who competed at the Multistars meet in Florence, Italy. Krech finished 15th at the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge event with a score of 4721 points.
 

 

It may have been her own record, but hammer thrower Sultana Frizell smashed the previous meet standard at the famous Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut California ten days ago. Not only did the Perth native’s throw of 74.98m dispose of her previous meet standard of 71.63, but it also places her in third on the current IAAF top list. Frizell’s current Canadian record stands at 75.04m and was set in 2012.
Next up for Frizell is a scheduled appearance at the IAAF World Hammer Challenge event in Marrakesh, Morocco on June 8. It is expected she will then compete in Europe before returning to Moncton, New Brunswick to defend her Canadian championship at the end of June.
Video of Frizell’s record throw.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE9tB2okMUk]