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Ottawa. – Cuba’s defending champion Yorgelis Rodriguez and Yordani Garcia are the overnight leaders of the 2^nd Pan American Combined Events Cup, which draws athletes from 12 countries at Ottawa’s Terry Fox Athletic Facility.
Rachel Machin and Patrick Arbour are Canada’s top ranked in seventh and tenth, respectively.
Two-time Olympian Garcia opened with 10.78 in 100m and kept the lead throughout the hot and humid day. The 24-year old ended Day1 of the Decathlon with the fastest 400m (49.47) to total 4224 points, ahead of USA’s Gray Horn (4108) and Cuba’s defending champion Jose A. Mendieta (4052).
“I felt very well, especially in the Long Jump. I had not jumped this far in a long while. It is a good meet to start the season. I look forward to a good second day,” said Garcia.
Ottawa Lions Patrick Arbour scored his second best Day 1 with 3646 to rank tenth. “I ran a PB in 100m and struggled a bit in the Shot Put, but stayed consistent. I had my second best (result) in the High Jump, but ran my worst 400m in three years. I went out too fast and blew up with 100m to go. My strongest events are on Day 2: 110m Hurdles, Discus and Javelin,” commented Arbour, who was nominated to represent Canada at the World University Games in Kazan this summer.
In the Heptathlon, World Junior gold medallist Rodriguez performed in a similar fashion, running a personal best of 13.68 in 100m Hurdles. She cleared 1.83 in the High Jump and dominated the Shot Put with 13.17. The 18-year old ended the first day with another personal best (24.29 in 200m) to take his tally to 3732.
Her training partner and 2011 World Youth Champion Yusleidys Mendieta (3584) and USA’s Lindsay Schwartz (3427) are trailing in second and third.
In only her third heptathlon, the first one competing for Team Canada, 21-year old Rachel Machin led the Canadian trio in seventh place with 3307 points, ahead of 2012 Pan American Combined Events Cup bronze medallist Jennifer Cotton (3258) and fellow University of Calgary athlete and Canadian Interuniversity indoor champion Rachel McIntosh (3205).
“This is my first heptathlon with team Canada. I ran a PB in 100m Hurdles (14.07) and I was very happy with my PB in the High Jump (1.86). I had three good events, but need to work on the Shot Put. I want to thank my coach Les Gramantik for my progress. I am excited about the Long Jump and Javelintomorrow,” said 21-year old Machin.
Organized by the Association of Pan American Athletics (APA) Athletics Canada and Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club, the Pan American Combined Events Cup is viewed by many federations as a great opportunity to develop up and coming athletes in the current cycle leading up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
For full results, please go to http://ottlliveresults.x10.mx/Pan-Am/

Ottawa. – Brazil’s Powerade Team became the first squad to arrive here for the 2^nd Pan American Combined Events Cup, to be held this weekend at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility in Canada’s capital city.
Nineteen-year old athletes Kerindê Hilario de Souza Brites da Silva and Karen Maria Cerqueira Lopes will have their first international experience in an event that expects the participation of close to 60 athletes from 12 countries.
“Our goal is to prepare these athletes to make the Olympic standard in combined or individual events for Rio 2016 or the 2020 (Olympic) Games,” said team manager José Luiz Bello after the duo’s first training session on Monday.
“We would like to offer them here the opportunity to compete at a higher level. We believe it is very important in their evolution as athletes,” he added.
The Rio de Janeiro-based team are the only Brazilian representatives for the continental event.
Led by defending champions Jose A. Mendieta and Yorgelis Rodriguez, the 8-member Cuban squad is expected to arrive on Wednesday. The team also includes two-time Olympian Yordanis Garcia, who boasts the highest score among all registered decathletes with a personal best of 8496.
In the women’s event, 2012 World Junior champion Rodriguez will be joined by 2011 World Youth gold medallist Yusleidys Mendieta.
Canada’s hopes are centered on Jennifer Cotton and Ottawa Lions’ Patrick Arbour. Cotton aims to improve her bronze medal from 2012. Fifth a year ago, Arbour looks forward to bettering his performance after posting a personal best of 7593 in early April. The Ottawa Lions athlete was nominated to represent Canada at the World University Games in Kazan this summer.
Canadian Interuniversity indoor champion Rachael McIntosh is also registered.
The nine-member USA team is led Gray Horn, third at the 2012 National Championships with a personal best of 7954, and Aisha Adams (5861), who hopes for better luck after failing to finish her Heptathlon in Ottawa in 2012.
Athletes from Aruba, Belize, Costa Rica, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay and Puerto Rico are also expected to arrive over the next two days before the start of the competition on Saturday.
Victor Lopez, president of the Association of Pan American Athletics (APA), will arrive in Ottawa on Wednesday and will address the technical meeting on Friday.
Organized by APA, Athletics Canada and Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club, the Pan American Combined Events Cup is viewed by many federations as a great opportunity to develop up and coming athletes in the current cycle leading up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
For more information, please go to http://www.americasathletics.org/ and http://ottawalions.com/.

After handily winning her preliminary heat in the 800m last night in Austin, Texas, Samantha Murphy returned to Mike A. Myers Stadium and did it all over again. Not even a three hour rain delay seemed to throw Murphy off her game as she claimed victory again in her quarterfinal heat with a new personal best time 2:03.88. Sam’s time was also the fastest time laid down on the wet track tonight.
With the NCAA Championships set for two weeks time in Eugene, Oregon, Murphy will be undoubtedly be looking to improve upon both her new personal best and her fourth place finish from March’s indoor championships. Sam will toe the line in the semi-final on Wednesday, June 6 at 7:30pm eastern. The final is scheduled for Friday, June 8 at 8:20pm eastern.
Competing tomorrow at the NCAA Division III Championships, in LaCrosse, Wisconsin is triple jumper Divya Biswal. The sophomore at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY is scheduled to jump at 4:20pm eastern. Biswal, who was a silver medalist at the indoor championships in March, is coming off a seasonal best effort last week at the East Coast Athletic Conference Championships where she bounded out to 12.01m.
Stay tuned to ottawalions.com and @OttawaLionsTFC for updates

The Ottawa Lions are pleased to announce three club members have been nominated by Athletics Canada to represent Canada at the upcoming World University Games (FISU) in Kazan, Russia, July 6 to 17.
 
Headlining the list are 2012 London Olympians Melissa Bishop and Oluwasegun Makinde. This will be Bishop’s first time representing Canada at FISU, after narrowly missing out on qualification for the 2010 Games. This year, the Eganville native has produced a best time 2:01.54 for 800m in winning last Friday’s Ponce Invitational Grand Prix in Puerto Rico. Back in April, she led a Canadian record setting 4x800m team at the Penn Relays. Prior to heading to Russia, Melissa is scheduled to race at the Toronto International Track and Field Games June 11th as well as the Canadian Championships in Moncton, June 20 to 23.
 
For Makinde, this will be his second time attending the FISU Championships as the University of Ottawa student finished fifth in the 200m in 2010. An alternate on last year’s Olympic 4x100m relay team, Makinde will be looking to replicate the performance level he showed two years ago in Shenzhen, China where he recorded three personal bests on his way to the final. The Colonel By grad’s has recorded a best time this year of 20.78 seconds, set two weeks ago in North Carolina.
 
Rounding out the Lions contingent is decathlete Patrick Arbour who has been nominated to his first world championship team. Arbour is having a breakthrough season in the decathlon after opening up with a 500 plus point personal best at a competition in Tucson last month. His early season score of 7593 points currently ranks him tenth all-time in Canada. In preparation for Kazan, Arbour will be representing Canada at next weekend’s Panamerican Combined Events Cup here in Ottawa before heading to Nationals next month.
 
Also named to the Canadian team were two former Lions members, Alicia Brown in the 400m and Tim Nedow in the shot put.

On day 1 on the NCAA West Regional in Austin, Texas the Ottawa Lions were represented by two standout athletes, Adam Palamar in the 1500m and Samantha Murphy in the 800m.
Palamar, a freshman at the University of Tulsa, failed to advance to the NCAA quarterfinals despite producing his second best effort with a time of 3:49.13. The defending Canadian Junior Champion came out on the short end of a tight finish. With the top five advancing to the quarters, Palamar ended up in the dreaded 6th place. His time was just 0.04 seconds off of 5th and 0.09 from 3rd as the top seven runners were separated by less than four tenths.
In the women’s 800m, Samantha Murphy looked in complete control of her heat. Letting her competitors take the lead through the first 400m, Murphy began to create space from the field as she hit the bell. She wouldn’t look back, running to a 10m victory in 2:04.86. The time is a new outdoor best for Illinois junior who finished 4th at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March. Next up for Murphy is the quarterfinals Friday night scheduled for 8pm eastern.

As Lions athletes competed across five states this past weekend, a number of news worthy performances were put forth. Headlining the list was Samantha Murphy’s Big 10 Championship victory in the 800m. Murphy, who is finishing her junior year at Illinois, won the tactical race in 2:06.62.  Next up for the Perth native is the NCAA preliminary championships taking place in Austin, Texas, May 23-25th, where she will need to finish among the top 12 competitors to qualify for the NCAA finals in early June. 
 
The other Lion runner to pick up a conference medal over the weekend was 1500m runner, Adam Palamar. The freshman at the University of Tulsa dropped more than five seconds off his personal best, running 3:45.41 to capture Conference USA silver at Rice University in Houston. The performance also meets the qualification standard for this summer’s Panamerican Junior Championships set for late August in Medellin, Colombia.
 
In North Carolina, a small group of sprinters rounded out  a two-week tour of the eastern United States that included six meets in fourteen days. Sprint hurdler Devyani Biswal continued the great start to her season with another two personal best performances, one Friday night in Raleigh (14.16) followed by a 14.06 clocking in Durham on Sunday. The time now moves Biswal into a tie for number eight on the club’s all-time performance list. Already in this short season, Devyani has dropped nearly a second off her PB.
 
Other strong performances in North Carolina came from Oluwasegun Makinde who showed he’s ready to make a push for Canada’s World Championship team this summer with winning performances in the 200m of 20.87 in Durham and 20.78 in Raleigh. Both times also exceed the Athletics Canada’s standards for qualification to the World University Games (FISU) in Kazan, Russia in July. Makinde was a fifth place finisher at the event in 2011. Also dipping under a FISU standard was 400m sprinter Michael Robertson who completed one lap in 46.75 seconds on Friday night in Raleigh.
 
The final contingent of athletes was competing at the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville. The combined event athletes kicked the competition off with Michele Krech posting personal best performances in the long jump and 800m on her way to posting a second best ever score of 4832 points in the heptathlon. Training partner Mark Chenery was less fortunate as an ankle injury forced him to withdraw from the competition midway through day two.
 
In the individual events, Mohammed Souleiman hit a bit of a breakthrough in the 1500m as he finally cracked the 3:50 mark, with a 3:48.90 clocking. The time surpassed his previous best by nearly four and a half seconds. In the women’s race, CIS rookie of the year, Emma Galbraith, ran 4:28.36, her third best ever performance at the distance. Finally, javelin thrower Brandon Heroux unleashed the javelin out to 69.18m. It was an impressive performance for Heroux who has spent the past eight months working on Wall Street as an analyst for J.P. Morgan and had not touched a javelin since competing at last year’s NACAC U23 Championship.

It was a successful night on the track in Grand Cayman last night for two of Ottawa’s elite athletes. For 800m runner Melissa Bishop and 100m hurdler Ashlea Maddex, the weather sure was warm with temperatures above 30 degrees and feeling like 41 Celsius with the humidex.
 
Maddex, kicked things off with a new personal best performance in the 100m hurdles as she crossed the line in 13.34 seconds. The Rockland native was positive about the event and the time saying, “ In this one meet alone, I’ve realized the benefit of being calm and collected yet aggressive enough to do what I needed to do.” This was the second straight personal best performance by Maddex, who had run 13.40 seconds less than two weeks ago at Cornell University.
 
The women’s 800m must have felt a little like running at home in late summer for Olympian Melissa Bishop with the humidex and two other compatriots featured in the field of four runners. Nonetheless, took the lead through 400m and didn’t let go in the next lap crossing the line first in 2:02.83. Following her race, Bishop posted on her twitter feed, “I love competing here. Lots to look forward to this season, but I still to put in some work.” The Eganville native will face her next test on May 18th as she competes at the Ponce Invitational in Puerto Rico.

Ottawa – Just one month remains until some of the best athletes in the Americas descend on the nation’s capital to do battle over two days of competition at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility at Mooney’s Bay. On June 1st and 2nd, the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club will play host to the Panamerican Combined Events Cup, an event which aims to bring together the best decathletes and heptathletes among the Panamerican nations.
With at least 13 countries expected to participate in the event this year’s field is already proving to be strong with teams from Cuba, Brazil and the United States already having confirmed their attendance. Among the confirmed attendees on the men’s side are the defending champion Jose Angel Mendieta and his compatriot Yordani Garcia. Garcia, who holds a personal best of 8496 pts, has been a fixture on the international stage for many years, having a competed at every major international event since the 2005 World Youth Championships where he captured gold. Most recently Garcia finished 14th at the Olympic Games in London.
It is also expected that Ottawa decathlete Patrick Arbour, who moved into tenth on Canada’s all-time list last month, will be chosen to wear the red and white. This would be Arbour’s second consecutive appearance at the Panamerican Cup. At last year’s event, Arbour finished in fifth place behind training partner Mark Chenery. Together the pair captured the team title for Canada over the United States and Mexico. Chenery could be named to team Canada as well provided he can prove fitness at a competition next weekend in Virginia.
Leading the women’s field is defending Yorgelis Rodriguez of Cuba. Following her victory in Ottawa last season, Rodriguez went on to capture the World Junior title in Barcelona. “I have sweet memories from Canada last year. It was my first international win and a great boost in my preparation for the Junior Worlds. I look forward to competing again in Ottawa in June,” said Rodriguez. Also headlining the women’s field will be Rodriguez’s teammate, Yusleidys Mendieta, who is the defending World Youth champion.
With no admission fee for the Panamerican Cup, organizers encourage the public and track enthusiasts to make their way to Mooney’s Bay on June 1st at 10am to cheer on these great athletes. Stay tuned to ottawalions.com for more information on the event as it becomes available.

It was a successful weekend for the Ottawa Lions with a five athletes representing Canada at the historical Penn Relays on Saturday in Philadelphia while a larger group participated in the Big Red Invite in Ithaca, New York on Sunday.
Headlining the performances from the weekend was Melissa Bishop who led Canada to a fifth place finish in the “USA vs The World” women’s 4x800m event at the Penn Relays in Canadian record time of 8:14.85. Bishop, who posted the team’s fastest split of 2:02.2, ran lead off for Team Canada as they shaved nearly 14 seconds off the previous record.
On the men’s 4x400m team, Ottawa Lions runners comprised half the team with Devin Biocchi and Gordon Frenke running the final two legs. The Canadian quartet crossed the line in 3:07.99 to finish 8th. The time was the fastest by a Canadian team since the 2011 Panamerican Games. Rounding out the Lions contingent in Philadelphia was Michael Robertson who ran as part of the Canadian distance medley relay team which finished 7th in a time 9:29.15. Robertson completed is 400m leg in 46.0 seconds.
In Ithaca, two new all-time top 10 performances headlined the list of achievements. Sprint hurdler Ashlea Maddex set a new personal best of 13.40 seconds on her way to capturing victory in the 100m hurdles as she improved on her second place ranking in club history. The time also broke her own facility record set back in 2011. The other top ten performance came from discus thrower Katie Klatt who unleashed a sizeable personal best throw to move up to tenth in the all-time club rankings with a throw of 40.59m.
Other notable performances from Cornell came from hurdlers Sekou Kaba and Devyani Biswal. Kaba, last year’s national silver medalist, posted a swift time of 14.02 seconds in the 110m hurdles to finish second behind former NCAA champion Jarrett Eaton. Kaba’s time currently ranks him third in Canada. For Biswal, her time of 14.32 seconds removed more than two tenth’s of a second from her previous personal best and now ranks her ninth in Canada.
A small contingent of Lions athletes will be competing Wednesday night at the Liberty Twilight Qualifier on Wednesday night in Lynchburg, Virginia. Live results will be available at here.