In Toronto at last weekend’s Athletics Ontario’s annual awards banquet two Lions athletes were recognized for their successful 2012 seasons. Sultana Frizell was named the top senior female thrower in the province, while Emma Galbraith was named the top female junior distance runner in Ontario.
For Frizell, this marks the fifth straight year she has received the distinction of top thrower in Ontario. The two time Olympian kicked her season off in fine fashion, extending her personal best to 75.04m – good enough for a new Canadian and North American record. She would also capture a silver medal at the national championships in June before finishing 14th in her qualifying group at the Olympic Games in London. “It’s always an honour to be recognized as the best in the province with some many other very talented competitors,” said Frizell of her award. “I just finished my competition season a couple weeks ago, so this is certainly a nice way to kick start my off-season. I look forward to a great season in 2013, including the World Championships in Moscow, and hopefully another one of these awards.”
For Emma Galbraith, a three time nominee for an Athletics Ontario award, this marked her victory as top distance runner. The graduate of Franco-Ouest had a fantastic season highlighted by her first national championship as well as completing the OFSAA double at 800m and 1500m. In addition to the gold medals, Galbraith drastically lowered her personal bests in each of the 8 and 15, dropping more than four and a half seconds from the 800m, down to 2:06.42. She also cut more than twelve seconds from her best 1500m time, running 4:25.23.
Other nominees from the club included Olympian Melissa Bishop in the senior women’s distance category, who became only the third woman in Canadian history to run a sub two minute 800m, clocking 1:59.82 in June. Midget jumper Hannah Kelsey-Smith was nominated for her efforts in the horizontal jumps after claiming gold in the long and triple jump at both the Athletics Ontario Youth Championships and OFSAA high school championships. In the combined events category, Patrick Arbour and Emery Terrell were nominated for their successes in the decathlon and heptathlon respectively. Arbour was a bronze medalist at this year’s Olympic Trials, while Terrell was the second ranked junior heptathlete in Ontario this past season.
