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It was an impressive weekend for grade 11 students Claire Smith and Erin Stenman-Fahey as they took part in the North American Trials for this summer’s Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China. Competing against the best from the United States, Mexico and Central America, Smith dominated the girl’s 3000m event, winning handily in 9:50.98 while her next closest competitor finished 20 seconds behind her.This was Smith’s second time wearing the maple leaf this spring after capturing individual bronze and team gold at the NACAC cross country championships in February.
Claiming silver in the 800m was Erin Stenman-Fahey, who was representing Canada first time internationally. Mikaela Smith of the United States won by a couple meters, crossing the line in 2:12.96.
Elsewhere in the United States, Brandon Heroux took third in the javelin at the Colonial Relays in Virginia. Competing at his alma mater, the College of William and Mary, the former All-American had a best throw of 67.97m.
A little further north, in Rochester, N.Y. , Divya Biswal opened up her season with a personal best in the long jump with a leap of 5.43m after the event had been postponed a day due to cold weather. Biswal also won the hurdles in an ECAC qualifying time of 15.77 seconds.
Rounding out the weekend’s performances was 800m runner Samantha Murphy as she took third in the Pepsi Dual in Eugene, Oregon. Running for the Ducks, Murphy finished behind two of her Oregon teammates in 2:06.90.
 

It was another collegiate championship weekend, this time south of the border where two members of the Lions Den shone. In Lincoln, Nebraska, horizontal jumper Divya Biswal continued to show she is among the NCAA Division III elite. For the third straight season, Biswal earned All-American status with her bronze medal winning leap of 11.99m in the triple jump on Saturday. In Friday’s  long jump competition, Biswal had a best mark of 5.34m to finish 11th.
At the NCAA Division 1 Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Samanatha Murphy and her University of Oregon teammates finished sixth in Friday night’s distance medley relay. Running third in the order, Murphy ran a 2:05.99 800m to help her team to finish sixth in 11:17.38 and earn All-American honours. In addition to her All-American distinction, Murphy left New Mexico with her first NCAA team championship as Oregon eked out victory over the University of Texas by a mere 0.5 points.
Back in Canada, a small contingent of athletes travelled to Montreal for the inaugural AC Indoor Open. Competing in the open category, hurdler Karelle Edwards finish third in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.50 seconds while Gord Frenke ran 48.95 to finish third in the 400m. In the combined events, Michele Krech produced a new personal best score of 3697 points to capture the open pentathlon. Training partner Bridget Hayes also set a new personal best of 2935 points in the five event discipline to capture a national bronze in the junior category.

The Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Championships ended with a bang for Lions athletes on Saturday with three athletes finding their way on to the podium.
Kicking things off was second year University of Ottawa student Charlotte Gardner as she ran a hard fought race to capture bronze in the 600m with a personal best time 1:31.40. After running the first two laps in third place, she was dropped back to fifth by 450m, but would find another gear entering the final homestretch as she sprinted past former Lion Fiona Callender and Kaitlyn Ayers of Guelph. Charlotte’s time now ranks her seventh all-time in club history and puts her in an elite group of 600m runners, Jen Perrault (Bronze – 2012), Julia Tousaw (Gold – 2009, Silver – 2008), Isabelle Gervais (Gold – 1999).
In the men’s pole vault, it was Olivier Gauthier-Kwan who rose to the championship occasion, twice bettering his personal best in the competition before landing in the silver medal position. A fourth year medical student, Gauthier-Kwan saved his best performance as a Gee-Gee for his final competition, clearing a personal best 4.75m on his final attempt to keep himself in medal contention before making it over 4.85m on his first attempt to secure his fate. In addition to adding 13cm to the lifetime best he set last weekend, Gauthier-Kwan also came within 2cm of the club’s long standing pole vault record of 4.87m set by Rob Lindsay way back in 1984.
Rounding out the trio who was middle distance star Mohamed Souleiman who nabbed a bronze in the highly competitive 1500m. With 14 runners  having met standard, Moh was relegated to the “slow section”. However, that didn’t slow him down as he sped to a 3:50.79 clocking to win the first section by nearly three seconds. He would have to wait and watch, but with only two runners able to go faster in the second section, he captured the first ever medal in the 1500m my a University of Ottawa male.
The meet concluded with the men’s 4 x 400m relay team of Isaiah Moses, Wade Embury, Gabriel Tesfaye and Devin Biocchi going for the three peat. While the quartet would finish third in the “fast section”, it wasn’t enough to beat out the the top two teams from the first section and would be relegated to fifth with a time of 3:18.80.

After suffering his first defeat  in Canadian University competition this year at the OUA Championships, Sekou Kaba entered last night’s CIS final with something to prove. Prove it he did, capturing his second CIS title in three years, after sitting out the 2013 season, in a championship record 7.79 seconds. In addition to breaking Olympic champion Mark McKoy’s record of 7.83 seconds, Kaba also took 0.01 seconds off his University of Ottawa record. With Sekou’s time, Gee-Gee athletes now hold three CIS records including the men’s long jump and 4 x 200m relay.
Other results from Lions athletes in the first two days of competition include a fourth place finish in the shot put by Ashley Connell on Friday with a best throw of 13.61m. Connell, a freshman at the University of Guelph, also finished 10th in Thursday’s weight throw competition.
In the men’s 1000m, Mohamed Souleiman finished 6th in 2:27.91, while Alex Wilkie, running for Queen’s University, took 9th in the 3000m with an 8:30.40 clocking.
In Thursday’s 600m semi-finals, Charlotte Gardner ran her way to a personal best of 1:33.10 to nab the 7th and final spot in today’s final. Also competing today will be Olivier Gauthier-Kwan in the men’s pole vault and Mohamed Souleiman returns to action in the 1500m final. As well, the quartet of Devin Biocchi, Wade Embury, Isaiah Moses and Gabriel Tesfaye  look to bring home a third straight 4 x 400m relay gold for the University of Ottawa.
All action can be viewed online at CIS-SIC.tv

The Board of the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club would like to apologize for the late change, but due to unforeseen circumstances our Annual General Meeting has had to be re-scheduled for the evening of Monday, March 17, 2014. The meeting will still take place at École Secondaire Louis-Riel.
Again, all members are invited to attend.
Details
Annual General Meeting
École Secondaire Louis-Riel
1655 Bearbrook CH, Gloucester, ON
7:30pm
March 17, 2014
 
 

The Canadian university track and field season is set to wrap up this weekend in Edmonton at the CIS Championships where the Ottawa Lions will be represented by a total of ten athletes. Leading the group will be veterans Sekou Kaba and Devin Biocchi. Kaba, who sat out the 2013 season with an injury, is looking to regain the 60m hurdle title he won two years ago in Winnipeg. Coming off a silver medal at the OUA Championships two weeks ago, Kaba will face stiff competition from Toronto’s Gregory McNeil. With both men entering the competition with seed performances faster than the current championship record of 7.83 seconds set in 1984 by Olympic champion Mark McKoy, more than gold could be on the line when they square off Friday night.
For Biocchi, he will be looking to lead the Gee-Gee’s to a three-peat in the men’s 4x400m relay. After some early season injuries, Biocchi is looking in fine form, winning last weekend’s Super Saturday 400m competition in 47.83 seconds. He will need to show that speed Saturday afternoon if he and teammates Gabriel Tesfaye, Wade Embury and Isaiah Moses are to improve on their fourth place ranking heading into the event. The quartet will be joined by alternate Remy Binns.
For middle distance runner Mohamed Souleiman, this will be his first appearance at the CIS Championships and he is hoping to display the same form that propelled him to the top of the national rankings in the 1000m when he steps to the line in Friday night’s final. Moh, as he is known to teammates, has so far had a tremendous season that has included numerous Gee Gee records across a range of distances, including  a 2:22.46 clocking in the 1000m at the Armory in New York City last month. Souleiman is also scheduled to run the 1500m Saturday afternoon where he enters ranked 11th.
Competing for the University of Guelph, freshman thrower Ashley Connell is entered in both the shot put and weight throw. The defending Canadian junior shot put champion enters the competition ranked fourth with a seasonal best of 13.91m. While Connell has added nearly one metre to her best in the shot put this season, it has been the weight throw where she has experienced the greatest improvement. From her first competition back in November she has added nearly 2.5m to her best in the weight throw, a 16.77m effort at the OUA Championships that catapulted her to the podium. Connell opens with the weight throw Thursday afternoon before launching the shot Friday night.
Also entered in the competition are pole vaulter Olivier Gauthier-Kwan and 600m runner Charlotte Gardner. Gauthier-Kwan, a fourth year medical student, enters the competition ranked 8th in the nation with a Gee Gee record clearance of 4.72m set last weekend in Ottawa. Gardner enters the competition with a best of 1:33.35 which ranks her ninth. She will compete in the semi final Thursday night at 9:30pm eastern.
You can catch all the CIS action live on Trackie.ca

*PLEASE NOTE* This event has been re-scheduled to the evening of Monday, March 17, 2014
The Ottawa Lions will host their Annual General Meeting on the evening of Monday, March 10, 2014 at 7:30pm. The meeting will take place at École Secondaire Louis-Riel. All members are invited to attend.
Details
Annual General Meeting
École Secondaire Louis-Riel
1655 Bearbrook CH, Gloucester, ON
7:30pm
March 10, 2014

It was a day to remember for Claire Smith as she pulled on her first Team Canada singlet today at the NACAC Cross Country Championships in Mount Irvine, Tobago before running her way to a bronze medal. Despite being two years younger than the majority of her competitors, the grade 11 student at Glebe Collegiate completed the 4km course in 13 minutes, 43.27 seconds to help Canada complete a sweep of the podium in the junior women’s category. In addition to individual bronze, Smith and her Canadian teammates captured the team title with just 16 points, six ahead of the United States.
In other action today, Ottawa Lions athletes picked up another three medals on day two of the OUA Track and Field Championships. Kicking things off was Ashley Connell in the weight throw. Competing for the University of Guelph, the freshman set a new personal best of 16.77m to capture bronze. Connell has had a break through month, having added more than two metres to her lifetime best in February and has moved into the top 8 in the CIS rankings ahead of the upcoming national championships.
Also picking up an individual medal was University of Ottawa freshman Yvan Ntivumbura in the high jump with a clearance of 1.98m. Yvan had tied for the second highest clearance, but was relegated to bronze based on a miss at his opening height of 1.92m. Rounding out the medal winners was the 4x400m relay team of Isaiah Moses, Devin Biocchi, Wade Embury and Gabriel Tesfaye who also finished in third despite dipping under the 21 year old OUA record with a 3:17.51 clocking.
In Moncton, Scott Donald also picked up a bronze, finishing 3rd in the 1500m final at the AUS Championships. Donald finished in 4:05.42.
 
 
 
 
 

It was a successful day one at the OUA Track and Field Championships for Ottawa Lions athletes as they captured three medals. First to get on the podium was Sekou Kaba in the men’s 60m hurdles. Despite failing to regain the provincial gold he claimed silver in a new personal best and University of Ottawa record of 7.80 seconds.
In the men’s 1000m, Mohamed Souleiman entered the competition as the top seed and came away with a silver medal in a tight tactical race. Moh crossed the line in 2:26.46, a mere tenth of a second behind champion Alex Ullman of Windsor.
The final medal of  evening came from Wade Embury who is finishing his first year at the University of Ottawa. Competing in the 300m, Embury won his heat in 35.13 but ended up finishing third in the timed final format. Teammate Gabriel Tesfaye finished 5th with a time of 35.27.
Some other notable performances from Day 1 include a fourth place finish in the shot put by Ashley Connell who had a best throw of 13.24m. Alex Wilkie, a freshman at Queen’s University, finished 8th in the men’s 3000m, with a time of 8:28.23 while pole vaulter Felicite Kokoron set a new personal best of 3.22m to finish 11th.  As well, Brandyn Martineau and Sarah de Carufel both advanced to today’s 60m semi-finals.