2023_NCAA_Qualifiers

Robertson and Christie-Galloway secure spots at NCAA Championship

by linkinbioUniversity

Everything is bigger in Texas, or so the saying goes. For Kevin Robertson and Keira Christie-Galloway, they’ll find out first hand if there’s any truth to the rumour as they head to Austin to compete in the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships next month. Both Kevin and Keira qualified for the national collegiate championship by way of their finishing at this weekend’s East and West Preliminary Meets.

Robertson was the first to punch his ticket to Austin, winning his quarterfinal of the 3000 metre steeplechase in Jacksonville, Florida on Friday night. The Syracuse junior entered the competition with the 13th fastest time in the nation and lived up to his top billing with his winning run of 8 minutes and 47.69 seconds. 

In what was a tightly contested race, Robertson hit the bell in fourth place – two and a half seconds behind the leader.  As the lead back approached the final water jump, Robertson dropped the hammer, leaving the rest of the field with only the back of his head to look at. By the corner the lead was already five plus metres, and the computer engineering student just continued to accelerate from there as he closed in a speedy 62.75 seconds.

For Christie-Galloway, a pair of second place finishes was all she needed to earn a trip back to the NCAA Championships – her first since earning Second Team All-American honours at the 2019 championship. Coming on the heels of a personal best effort of 13.01 seconds for the 100 metre hurdles at the WAC Championship, the Grand Canyon University student laid down back to back times of 13.08 seconds to finish second in both her heat and quarterfinal. Both performances were the second fastest of her career and earned her the Big Q to advance to Austin. 

The NCAA Championships will begin Wednesday, June 7 at the University of Texas’ Mike Myers Stadium with Robertson scheduled to run the steeplechase semi-finals at 8:02 pm eastern. Christie-Galloway will run the 100 metre hurdle semi-finals the following day at 9:32 pm eastern.

(York, Canada---12 June 2022) Thomas Nedow competing in the hammer throw at the Athletics Ontario U20/Open/Para Track and Field Championships at the Toronto Track and Field Centre. 2022 Copyright Sean Burges / Mundo Sport Images

Nedow finishes collegiate career with big finish

by linkinbioUniversity

This past weekend marked the start of the conference championship schedule south of the border. For the two Lions in action, the stories represented both ends of the spectrum. For Tommy Nedow, it was his final collegiate championship while Emily Brennan was running in her first.

Nedow finished off his career at Southeastern Louisiana University with a trio of top-five finishes at the Southland Conference Championship in Commerce, TX. Starting the Championship in the hammer throw, Nedow unleashed a massive lifetime best of 56.34 metres to place fourth. Making the performance more impressive is that It was his first hammer competition of the season. 

Nedow also added a fourth place finish in the discus, where he hurled the two kilogram platter out to 50.93 metres. The graduate student rounded out the championship with a 16.38 metre throw in the shot put to place fifth. 

For Brennan, this past weekend marked her first North Coast Athletic Conference championship after missing the indoor season due to injury. The Denison University freshman just off the podium in the 400 metre hurdles after running a seasonal best of 1 minute and 8.72 seconds. Brennan also helped Denison to a pair of bronze medals in both the 4×100 and 4×400 metre relays.

Oregon was the scene of a pair of Twilight Meets for a small contingent of Lions senior athletes. Opening the weekend Friday night at the Oregon Twilight in Eugene, Victoria McIntrye extended her early season winning streak to three by taking top spot in the 200 metres. The 27-year-old broke the tape in 24.91 seconds. 

Alexandra Telford also found her way onto the podium at Hayward Field, crossing the line in the 400 metres with a time of 55.46 seconds to claim second place.

A day later in Portland, McIntyre again took top spot in both the 100 and 200 metre events. Also reaching the top of the podium were Bertwin Ben-Smith and Telford, who won the 400 metre and 400 metre hurdles respectively. 

For updated club rankings, please visit https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/

Meet results can be found on our website, https://ottawalions.com/results/2023-results/

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Lions have roaring success on track

by InternationallinkinbioUniversity

While the outdoor season may be nearly a month old, it wasn’t too late for a few firsts for Lions athletes. For veteran 800 metre runner Stephen Evans, this weekend marked the first time he tried his hand at the 1500 metres. 

Since his debut with the Lions more than 12 years ago, Evans has run every distance between 60 and 1000 metres;  however, Friday marked the debut in the metric mile for the 26-year-old. Toeing the line at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational at the University of Florida, Evans completed three and three quarter laps in an impressive 3 minutes and 45.04 seconds. The time was good enough for eighth in the race and moved Evans to 16th on the Club’s all-time list. 

In a rare outdoor mile opportunity, Kevin Robertson made the most of it at the Friar Invitational in Rhode Island. The Syracuse junior placed fourth in a personal best time of 4 minutes and 2.08 seconds. Robertson had set his previous best of 4:06.28 in February. 

On the west coast, Keira Christie-Galloway continued her strong season at the Mt Sac Relays. The Grand Canyon University grad student placed fourth in the 100 metre hurdles with a time of 13.36 seconds on Friday. Keira currently ranks 26th on the NCAA Division I Outdoor performance list.

Joining Christie-Galloway at Mt Sac was fellow sprint hurdler David Adeleye who made his outdoor debut with a 14.30 second effort to finish 11th. Adeleye followed up on Friday’s effort with a 14.47 clocking the following day at the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University where he placed seventh.

At his final home meet, Southeastern Louisiana graduate student Tommy Nedow took home top honours in the discus at the Strawberry Relays. Nedow’s top throw of 51.81 metres bested the rest of the field by more than six metres. 

Rounding out the Lions in action on the track were Joe Fast and Emily Brennan. Fast made his outdoor debut after pulling out of the 1000 metre final at the Ivy League indoor championship. The Princeton junior placed 28th in the 1500 metres at the Larry Ellis Invitational in 4:03.27. 

Brennan, who missed most of the indoor season due to injury, helped her Denison University teammates to a gold medal in the 4×400 metres at the Division III All-Ohio Championship.

Updated Club rankings can be found at https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/

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Christie-Galloway runs to school record in Austin

by linkinbioUniversity

After spending the entire indoor season re-writing the record book at Grand Canyon University, Keira Christie-Galloway has continued to rip out those old pages and pen new ones of her just a couple weekends into the outdoor campaign. Running at the Texas Relays in Austin over the weekend, the MBA student posted the fifth fastest time of her career over the 100 metre hurdles finishing in 13.23 seconds. The time placed her sixth overall in the biggest meet of the early NCAA season.

While Saturday’s performance was also a new school record, it wasn’t the fastest time of the weekend for Christie-Galloway. The 23-year-old ran an all-conditions best in the preliminaries, crossing the line in 13.08 seconds. However, the wind measured in at a blustery 6.6 metres per second, well over the allowable limit of 2.0. 

Joining Keira in Austin was fellow graduate student Sharelle Samuel. The Harvard graduate is now studying at UCLA and posted a time of 1:03.50 in the 400 metre hurdles. 

Competing at the Southern Miss Invitational in Hattiesburg, Mississippi Tommy Nedow took top spot in both the shot put and discus throw. Nedow, also a graduate student, launched the 16 pound shot put out to a seasonal best of 16.99 metres to best the host school’s Piers Cameron by over two feet. It was a similar battle in the discus as Nedow hurled the two kilogram platter out to 51.26 metres leaving him more than four metres clear of Cameron. 

For updated Club rankings, please visit https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/

Photo: Graham Baird

Robertson breaks U23 record in season opener

by linkinbioUniversity

With the NCAA outdoor season fully kicking off last weekend, a number of Lions athletes competing south of the border wasted no time in showing they are here to play this spring. Leading the charge was Syracuse junior Kevin Robertson, who made his season debut with a record setting performance in the 3000 metre steeplechase.

The Club’s current under-23 record holder in the steeplechase took a giant axe to his previous mark as he placed fourth at last weekend’s Raleigh Relays in North Carolina with an eye popping time of 8 minutes and 37.26 seconds. Robertson’s previous U23 mark of 8:46.98 had been set last spring at the Virginia Challenge.

With last week’s time, Robertson finds himself third in the early season NCAA Division 1 outdoor rankings. 

Keira Christie-Galloway also finds herself near the top of the NCAA rankings after competing last weekend. The graduate student at Grand Canyon University placed second in the 100 metre hurdles at the Willie Williams Classic in Tucson, Arizona with a time of 13.33 seconds. In addition to being a new Grand Canyon school record, the performance currently ranks Christie-Galloway 12th in the sprint hurdles. 

In addition to her splendid hurdle running, Christie-Galloway also posted a personal best performance in the 200 metres with a time of 24.67 seconds. Her previous best was set in 2017.

At the Battle on the Bayou in Baton Rouge, Tommy Nedow took second spot in the shot put with a best throw of 16.28 metres. Nedow also finished sixth in the discus after hurling the two kilogram platter out to a distance of 52.08 metres. 

Rounding out the competitors last weekend, Sharelle Samuel opened up her outdoor season for the UCLA Bruins. Competing at home, the graduate student placed fourth in the 400 metres hurdles with a time of 1:02.67.  

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Senechal-Becker ascends national podium

by linkinbioNationalUniversity

Despite a new personal best and school record of 2.17 metres, it was clear University of Ottawa Gee-Gees high jumper Thomas Senechal-Becker was left yearning for gold following the OUA Championships. However, at the USports Championships in Saskatoon this past weekend the second year student got exactly what he was yearning for – a national title. 

The road to the top of the podium did not go nearly as smoothly as originally envisioned as Senechal-Becker came down with what he believes was a severe stomach flu three days before Friday night’s high jump final. The ailment forced Senechal-Becker to alter his game day routines to conserve energy, and thankfully making first attempt clearances on all of his heights helped as he made it over 2.14 metres to take top spot. The performance ranks as his second best in a Gee-Gees uniform.

Garnering her first USports medal was Vanessa Lu Langley. The third year chemical engineering student at McGill University ran third leg on the Martlet’s 4×200 metre team as they finished second in a time of 1:41.47. It was the first nationals medal in the event for the Montreal based school

Elsewhere on the track, David Adeleye found himself just off the podium in the 60 metre hurdles. The third year student at the University of Toronto left a trail of barriers in his pathway as he finished fourth in a time of 8.18 seconds. Leewinchell Jean, competing for the Windsor Lancers, just missed out on a spot in the final – finishing 10th in a time of 8.33 seconds. 

Competing in one of the most gruelling events of the weekend, Audrey Goddard placed seventh in the five event pentathlon with a score of 3458 points. The OUA Rookie of the Year was the highest finishing first year student in the event. 

The weekend ended on a high note for Carleton’s Adam Nuraddeen in the triple jump. Qualifying by virtue of his victory at the RSEQ Championships, Nuraddeen entered Saturday’s event as the lowest seed with a best performance of 13.61 metres. However, the fourth year psychology student popped a massive 29 centimetre personal best to break the sand at 13.90 metres. The jump would push the Ravens record holder to a new school record and an eighth place finish in his first USports Championship. 

Other results for Lions athletes from the weekend included:

Gillian Porter and Elizabeth Vroom (Queen’s) 4x800m – 9:11.40 9th

Katie Manor (uOttawa) 60m – 7.66 11th

David Moulongou, Fabrice Nonez,Thomas Kukla-Colby, Lucas Zanetti (uOttawa) 4x400m – 3:23.39 10th

Katie Manor, Doyin Ogunremi, Brooklyn McCormick, Kennedy Banton-Lindsay (uOttawa) 4x400m – 3:56.37 12th

For full results from the USports Championship, visit our results page.

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Nuraddeen’s gold leads five medal haul for Ravens at RSEQ Championship

by linkinbioUniversity

Eight years. That was the length of time between competitions in a Lions uniform for Adam Nuraddeen. The fourth year psychology student at Carleton University returned to the sport in earnest last summer, competing in the annual Twilight Series of meets before donning the black singlet of the Ravens this past fall. In the time since, he has re-written the school record book in the triple jump and last Friday, he jumped his way to an RSEQ Conference championship and a spot in the national university championships. 

In Friday’s competition, Nuraddeen led the Ravens to a 1-3 finish in the triple jump – the first time it’s happened in school history. Although falling short of his one week old school record, the Glebe Collegiate graduate’s leap of 13.31 metres was good enough to best the rest of the field by more than a metre and earn himself an automatic bid into the USports Championship next week as the conference champion. 

Joining Nuraddeen on the podium Friday was teammate Samuel Chilima, who placed third. The first year student extended his personal best by more than a quarter of a metre to land out at 12.06 metres.

The men’s triple jump medals were part of a four medal haul for the Ravens on day one of the Championship.

Getting it done in the field was another first year student, Connor Fraser, in the men’s shot put. Fraser, heaved the 16 pound shot put out to a personal best 14.43 metres to take home the bronze. Fraser’s effort fell just short of the Raven’s record of 14.55 set by last year’sRSEQ silver medalist Alec Jeffrey.

Rounding out day one was a bronze medal effort in the 4×200 metres by the team of Michael Pinnock, Samuel Chilima, Kanique Thomas, and Lachlan Mahan. The quartet got the stick around to finish in a time of 1 minute and 36.10 seconds, just ahead of the University of Sherbrooke. 

The only medal on day two for the Ravens came in the very first event as first year student Kendal Williams took home the bronze in the women’s weight throw on her birthday. Williams’ best throw of the day measured 10.58 metres.

In addition to the Ravens’ medal haul, Lion Vanessa Lu Langley picked up a silver and bronze. Running on the McGill 4×200 metre relay team on Friday, Lu Langley helped the Martlets to a bronze medal before running a personal best of 9.09 seconds the next morning in the 60 metre hurdles to claim silver. It was Lu Langley’s second straight RSEQ silver in the hurdles.

For complete results from the RSEQ Championship: https://ottawalions.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023_RSEQ_Track_Results.pdf

For updated Ravens rankings, visit: https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ravenstf_rankings

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Senechal-Becker shines at OUA Championship with yet another Gee-Gees record

by linkinbioUniversity

It was a high jump battle for the ages Saturday afternoon in Windsor. With the 4×4 relays wrapped up on the track, the focus turned to the infield of the Dennis Fairall Fieldhouse where the University of Ottawa’s Thomas Senechal-Becker and Toronto’s Aiden Grout put on what could be considered the greatest OUA Championship battle of the century. Unfortunately for Senechal-Becker, not even a third school record in as many weeks was good to secure the gold medal. 

Despite a miss at his opening height, Senechal-Becker’s first attempt clearance at 2.05 metres put the second year health sciences student in the competition’s driver’s seat. With a virtually clean sheet, Thomas would ride the lead right through a new lifetime best clearance of 2.17 metres on his first try. It was at this point things got interesting as Grout, still in second, passed to 2.20 metres for a shot to repeat as OUA champion. 

Despite some strong attempts at 2.20, Senechal-Becker could only watch as Grout pulled out a third attempt clearance for a new lifetime best of his own as the men re-took their same spots on the medal stand from the year before. 

The next highest finish for the Gee-Gees also came from a second year student – Vienna Courteau. Competing in just her second pentathlon, Courteau was firing on all cylinders as she strung together five fine performances, led by an eight centimetre personal best in the high jump, to score a personal best 3226 points and finish fourth overall. 

Just one rung up on the pentathlon leader board was fellow Lion Audrey Goddard, competing for Western University. The first year student recorded a lifetime best of 3564 points on her way to bronze as she secured her spot in the upcoming USports Championship in Saskatoon in just under two weeks. 

In Friday’s 4×800 relay, Lions Gillian Porter and Elizabeth Vroom ran the final two legs for Queen’s University to help propel the Gaels to bronze. Porter took the stick in fifth place and proceeded to run the fastest 800 metres of her life to move Queen’s to fourth before Vroom followed suit with a similar performance to narrowly pass McMaster and find a way on to the podium. 

The pair followed up their relay podium with a pair of personal bests in Saturday’s 1500 metre final. Vroom covered the seven and a half laps in 4 minutes and 35.31 seconds on her way to a fifth place finish. Porter was 13th in 4:42.18.

In the men’s 60 metre hurdles, Club U23 record holder David Adeleye just missed out on the podium. Running for the University of Toronto, the third year human kinetics student ran the third fastest time of his life, 7.97 seconds, to place fourth – just four hundredths off the podium. 

Other notable finishes from the weekend included:

Brianna Asiamah (4th – Shot Put)
Katie Manor (7th – 60m)
Jackson Colquhoun (7th – Triple Jump)
Doyin Ogunremi (8th – 300m)
David Moulongou (8th – 600m)
Katie Manor, Brooklyn McCormik, Kennedy Banton-Lindsay, Doyin Ogunremi (7th – 4x200m)
Katie Manor, Brooklyn McCormik, Kennedy Banton-Lindsay, Doyin Ogunremi (8th – 4x400m)
Fabrice Nonez, Thomas Kukla-Colby, Lucas Zanetti, David Moulongou (8th – 4x400m)

(Canton, United States---03 December 2022) Thomas Senechal-Becker competing in the 2022 St Lawrence University Saints Holiday Relays. Photograph Copyright 2022 Miles Ryan / Mundo Sport Images. If posting to social media please tag @mundosportimages

Records set at Ravens Last Chance

by linkinbioUniversity

It’s all in the title. The Ravens Last Chance Meet Saturday at the Dome @ Louis-Riel was a final opportunity for university athletes to improve their position ahead of next weekend’s conference championships. For a number of our varsity athletes it was an opportunity well used as 41 new personal bests were achieved – including a new high jump record for the Gee-Gee’s Thomas Senechal-Becker. 

Coming off a new school record the week before, Senechal-Becker was looking for a couple more centimetres ahead of the Ontario University Athletics Championship heading into Saturday’s competition and he did not disappoint. The second year health sciences student had already upped the record with a third attempt clearance at 2.10 metres when he upped the ante by raising the bar to 2.15. 

Following a narrow miss on his first attempt, Senechal-Becker could be seen seeking out Head Coach Richard Johnston. While the rationale wasn’t clear at the moment, as soon as he stepped back onto the apron to attempt his second jump it was all quite evident. The Canada Games silver medalist removed his Gee-Gee split shorts to jump only in his half length tights. 

The shorts were all the drag that appeared to be holding him back as he sprung up over the bar that stood more than seven feet in height and returned to the mat with cheers of exuberance ringing throughout the south end of the facility. With his new school record, Thomas now sits second in the USports rankings, one centimetre behind the University of Toronto’s Aidan Grout. 

A trio of Gee-Gee relay teams also showed they were rounding in to form ahead of the championship season – recording seasonal bests on Saturday. The biggest changes came in the 4×400 metre relays with both the men and women dropping well over three seconds off their previous bests. 

The men’s team of Fabrice Nonez, Thomas Kukla-Colby, Lucas Zanetti, and David Moulongou dropped four and a half seconds off their season’s best as they took second spot in a time of 3:19.15. The mark was the fastest by a Gee-Gees team since the 2014 USports Championship. 

On the women’s side, Katie Manor, Doyin Ogunremi, Brooklyn McCormik, and Kennedy Banton-Lindsay set a new meet record with their winning time of 3 minutes and 54.50 seconds. The quartet’s time should be fast enough to put them in the fastest section for the OUA championships. 

On the Ravens side, a pair of records were set by Laura Cross and Adam Nuradeen. A first year Biochemistry student, Cross broke the school record in the women’s 600 metres with her time of 1 minute and 39.61 seconds. The previous record of 1:40.48 had been set by Miryam Yakub Aga in 2018. For Mr. Nuradeen, it was his second record in as many weeks as the triple jumper added 19 centimetres to his previous best to land at 13.61 metres on Saturday. 

Both varsity programs return to action on Friday in their respective OUA and RSEQ Championships. 

For updated rankings, please visit the following links:

Lions Rankings – https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings

Gee Gee Rankings – https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/uottawatf_rankings

Ravens Rankings – https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ravenstf_rankings

OTTAWA - July 14, 2021: Stephen Evans competing at Ottawa Summer Twilight #11 at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility.

Evans leads record breaking showing for Lions in Boston

by linkinbioUniversity

The Track and Tennis Center on the campus of Boston University has become synonymous with fast running and breaking records. Living up to the moniker, the venue was the site of 20 new lifetime bests by Club athletes this past weekend at the annual Valentine Invitational. 

Headlining the list of performances was Stephen Evans as he ran his way into the record books with a new Club standard in the 1000 metres. The 26 year old Evans finished second in Saturday’s race in a time of 2 minutes and 21.39 seconds, more than a full second ahead of the previous Club best set by Mohamed Souleiman in 2014. Evans had narrowly missed the record by 0.13 seconds last month at McGill, when he won in 2:22.59.

Elizabeth Vroom ran her way to ninth on the Club’s all-time mile list Friday night as the first year Queen’s University student won her heat in a time of 4 minutes and 53.30 seconds. Vroom’s performance also ranks as the third fastest U20 performance at the distance for the Lions. 

Also in the mile, the University of Ottawa’s Nina Gunther continued her string of personal bests by running 4:56.54 – a near 20 second lifetime best. Gunther’s time moved her ahead of former USports medallist Madison Clarke and into second on the Gee-Gees all-time list. 

On the men’s side, Kevin Robertson improved his time in the mile with a 4:06.28 effort, while André Alie-Lamarche trimmed nearly six seconds off his previous best, running 4:15.14 to set a new Gee-Gee’s record.

The high jump produced another Gee-Gee record as second year student Thomas Senechal-Becker cleared 2.09 metres in a jump off to win in Boston. His clearance added one centimetre to the previous record set by the late Steve Nkusi in 2016. Senechal-Becker is currently ranked second within USports.

A final school record came from Carleton’s Adam Nuraddeen who bettered his own mark in the triple jump. The fourth-year psychology student bounded out to 13.42 metres to place 10th overall.