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Lions kick of March with strong start

by linkinbioProvincialUniversity

The fastest 600 in USports this season, seventh best 60 metre hurdles in Club history, and a pair of gold medals from the Ontario Championships. Seems as though the air outside wasn’t the only thing heating up on the first weekend in March.

After starting her season with a school record at 500 metres back in January, the University of Ottawa’s Sydney Smith has progressively lowered her best over 600 metres in three successive races this season. The latest effort, on Sunday at the Lancer Team Challenge in Windsor, saw her shave a second and a half off her previous best as she out leaned two-time Olympian Noelle Montcalm to win the 600 in a time of one minute and 30.47 seconds.  In the process, Smith also bested Clubmate Melissa-Bishop-Nriagu’s 12 year old meet record of 1:31.25.

“I’m really happy with the race and how I ran it – it feels good to kind of see everything start to come together,” said Smith of her USport Championship qualifying performance. However, she quickly affirmed her work is not done. “I know tomorrow [Coach] Normand and I will be back to work to get ready for the next few weeks coming up.”

Hurdler David Adeleye was also making big moves on the track Sunday – running his way into the Club’s all-time list. Also competing in Windsor, the second year University of Toronto kinesiology student dropped nearly two tenths off his 60 metre hurdles best in the prelims with an 8.14 second clocking. The time moves Adeleye to seventh on the Club’s all-time list and currently puts him fourth on the USport national rankings. David would go on to win the final in a time of 8.20 seconds.

Gee-Gee high jumper Thomas Senechal-Becker also found a spot on the top of the podium after a clearance of 2.05 metres. The height the moves the first year health sciences student into third on the USports national rankings, in a solid position to qualify for the national championships at the end of the month.

At the Ontario Indoor Championships in Toronto, the pair of Amelia Van Brabant and Oluwasegun Makinde each managed to capture provincial titles – the Club’s first at the Ontario indoor championships since 2003 when a young Stuart Pearson won the U16 tetrathlon.

After a fifth place finish in the 1500 metres on Saturday, Van Brabant added an indoor 3000 metre championship to the one she captured outdoors last summer. The grade 11 Earl of March student narrowly eked out the victory over Sarnia’s Gabby Jones by four hundredths of a second, crossing the line in 10:03.49.

The pair ran nearly in lock stop throughout the 15 lap race, creating a 16 second gap on the rest of the field by the time they went through 2000 metres. Jones had pulled ahead at the bell, 0.8 seconds in front of Van Brabant, for the largest lead of the day; however, a powerful kick home from Amelia saw her close in 36.1 for the narrow victory.

Makinde’s gold was far less dramatic, as he comfortably won the open 60 metre hurdles in 8.20 seconds – more than two tenths ahead of second. While many may know the two time Olympic relay team member for his flat speed prowess, Makinde has an impressive history in the hurdles that includes a national high school record, Canadian U20 title, and World U20 Championship semi-finals appearance. It was the 22nd gold medal he has won at an Ontario championship during his career.

The Lions will be back in action again this coming weekend with the varsity squads off to Montreal for the last chance meet and Lauren Gale as her sights set on setting a new Canadian record at 400 metres at the NCAA Championships in Alabama.

(Montreal, Canada---27 July 2019) Lauren Gale pulls away in the home straight to win the U20 400m at 2019 Canadian Track and Field Championships at the Claude Robillard Sports Centre in Montreal. 2019 Copyright Sean Burges / Mundo Sport Images.

Banner weekend for Lions at NCAA conference championships

by linkinbioUniversity

Conference championship weekend south of the border brought much success and accolades to the pride. The five competing athletes collected two Canadian records, two team titles, three individual conference titles, a relay title, a silver medal, and athlete of the meet accolades.

Lauren Gale continued to sizzle this season as her two victories in the 200 and 400 metres at the Mountain West Conference Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico helped lead the Rams to a nearly 40 point victory over San Diego State. The Colorado State senior won both her events in commanding, and Canadian record setting fashion.

After breezing through qualifying Friday night, the 2021 Olympian laid down one of the most impressive performances in Canadian indoor track and field history as she took down the national under-23 400 metre record in a time of 51.78 seconds and then followed it up an hour later by bettering her two week old Canadian record with a time of 23.00 seconds for 200 metres.

For Gale, she didn’t set out to set records on Saturday. “I was going to get points for my team mainly,” explained the 22 year old after the meet. “My coach didn’t taper me much for this meet, we are aiming more for nationals. I was running the 400 and knew I had a 200 and maybe a 4×400 left so the goal wasn’t to get any records but just make it to the end of the meet and get as many points for my team as I could!”

Gale’s entry to the NCAA indoor championships was confirmed today, where she will contest the 400 metres only. She is the first Lion to compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships since Adam Palamar placed fifth in the mile at the 2017 championships

In Birmingham, Alabama, the host site of the NCAA Championships, Tommy Nedow was busy throwing his way to a pair of medal performances. The Southeastern Louisiana student-athlete started the competition off with the second best performance of his life in the weight throw – hurling the 35 pound ball an impressive 17.87 metres. The mark was good enough for a bronze, seven spots higher than his 2021 performance.

 

Nedow rounded out the championship with a title of his own in the shot put. The 23 year-old heaved the 16 pound ball out to a seasonal best of 16.75 metres. Monday’s victory was the second straight for the Brockville native at the Southland Conference Indoor Championships.

 

At the Ivy League Championships in New York City, Sharelle Samuel helped the Crimson of Harvard to their first conference indoor title since 2017. Samuel ran the second leg of the Crimson’s winning 4×400 metre relay team and also placed seventh in the 500 metre final.

 

Elsewhere, Keira Christie-Galloway had the strongest performance of her indoor season at the Pac-12 Invitational in Seattle. The Arizona State student ran a seasonal best in the 60 metres and just missed her season’s best in the 60 metre hurdles with a time of 8.38 seconds to place fifth in the final. Meanwhile, Kevin Robertson ran the second fastest 3000 metres of his life, finishing 26th at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship in Blacksburg, Virginia. He also helped the Syracuse Orangemen to a ninth place finish in the distance medley relay, where he finished the final 1600 metre leg in 4:08.49.

 

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Lions set for conference championships south of the border

by linkinbioUniversity

It’s conference championship weekend south of the border. To help you keep track of what’s going on this weekend, we’ve amalgamated all the relevant information for you below.

Lauren Gale (Colorado State University)
Mountain West Conference Championship
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Events: 200m, 400m, 4x400m
PB: 23.08 (200m), 51.56 (400m)

Live Results: https://rt.trackscoreboard.com/meets/22522/events
Live Stream: https://themw.com/watch/ or Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV or Roku

Schedule

400m Heats – Friday 4:30pm Eastern
200m Heats – Friday 6:00pm Eastern
400m Final – Saturday 1:50pm Eastern (*pending qualification)
200m Final – Saturday 2:50pm Eastern (*pending qualification)
4x400m Final – Saturday 3:50pm Eastern

NOTES: Lauren is the two time defending MW Conference indoor 400m champion

Keira Christie-Galloway (Arizona State University)
Pac-12 Invitational
Seattle, Washington

Events: 60m, 60m Hurdles
PB:  8.07 (60m), 8.17 (60m Hurdles)

Live Results: https://live.pntfo.com/meets/10807
Live Stream: https://pac-12-indoor-invitational.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=14424&do=videos&video_id=321252#

Schedule
60m Hurdles Heats – Friday 7:30pm Eastern
60m Heats – Friday 8:00pm Eastern
60m Hurdles Final – Saturday 2:00pm Eastern (*pending qualification)
60m Final – Saturday 3:35pm Eastern (*pending qualification)

Tommy Nedow (Southeastern Louisiana)
Southland Conference Championships
Birmingham, Alabama

Events: Shot put, Weight throw
PB: 16.93m (Shot Put), 17.90m (Weight Throw)

Live Results: http://xpresstiming.com/Live/2022/Indoor/Southland/
Live Stream: http://southlanddigitialnetwork.com/

Schedule
Weight Throw: Sunday 7:00pm Eastern
Shot Put Final: Monday 2:00pm Eastern

Kevin Robertson (Syracuse)
Atlantic Coast Conference Championships
Blacksburg, Virginia

Events: 3000m, DMR
PB: 8:08.97 (3000m)

Live Results: https://results.flashresults.com/2022_02-24_ACC/index.htm
Live Stream: https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=7e6b90f8-2490-4ea6-94eb-1948fe276e4b (Saturday 12:55pm Eastern)

Schedule
DMR: 9th 9:53.64 (Kevin split 4:08.49 for 1600m)
3000m: Saturday 3:55pm Eastern

Sharelle Samuel (Harvard)
Ivy League Heptagonal Championships
New York, NY

Events: 500m, DMR
PB: 1:14.61 (500m)

Live Results: https://results.armorytrack.com/meets/11222
Live Stream: https://www.espn.com/espnplus/catalog/edb3a386-604c-341a-ba4a-b7b7e44d41a7/track-and-field#bucketId=29794&sourceCollection=Browse_By_Sport_New

Schedule

500m Heats: Saturday 12:45pm Eastern
500m Final: Sunday 12:00pm Eastern (*pending qualification)
DMR: Sunday 2:15pm Eastern

Note: Sharelle is the defending indoors Heps 500 metre silver medalist

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Telford leads Lions in Guelph Open

by linkinbioUniversity

Saturday’s Guelph Open was not your typical track and field meet. In fact, given the event offerenings, it was more likely to be referred to as a field and some track meet with the flat 60 metres and hurdles being the only events contested on the track. However, the abbreviated event line up didn’t stop the Lions sweeping the two sprint races and taking one of the hurdles titles as part of a four medal haul.

Running off a victory over 300 metres the night before in Toronto, Alexandra Telford continued her winning ways Saturday with the rare 60 metre/60 metre hurdle double. The Ravens runner sped her way to new lifetime bests in each of the events, posting times of 7.70 and 9.15 seconds in the flat 60 and hurdle events respectively. The 60 metre hurdles time is also another school record for Telford.

The other victory came from David Moulongou, who took top spot in the 60 metre event with a time of 7.26 seconds. Saturday’s performance was a personal best for the first year University of Ottawa student, who has run successive best’s in each competition of his three competitions this season.

The final podium performance came in the men’s shot put where Alec Jeffrey heaved the 16 pound ball out to a new personal best distance of 13.04 metres. Saturday’s performance also bested Stephen James’ Carleton University record of 12.64 metres set in 2017.

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Lions athletes win 11 medals at Hal Brown Last Chance

by linkinbioUniversity

Back on track in Toronto last night, the Gee-Gee and Ravens athletes had a fruitful visit to the provincial capital, capturing 11 medals including 3 gold.

André Alie-Lamarche was one of the three victors, taking top spot in the 1500 metres in a time of 3:59.54. Alie-Lamarche, who only ran his first metric mile since before the onset of the pandemic last week, admitted to feeling kind of nervous in returning to the event that is synonymous with tactical running. “However, under the coaching of Helen [Cooper] and great training partners, I feel like I’m getting back in the groove,” explains Alie-Lamarche who is now victorious in back-to-back races.

Another back-to-back winner was Alexandra Telford, taking the women’s 300 metres in a time of 39.67 seconds. Coming off a new Carleton University record last weekend, Telford was aiming for the USports standard of 39.23 seconds on the flat track at the University of Toronto, but was happy she’ll get a bump in the rankings due to the conversion.

The final gold medal performance came in the women’s 4×800 metres, where veteran Sydney Smith anchored the Gee Gee women to a run of nine minutes and 43.22 seconds. Smith also posted a top three finish in the 600 metres, where she ran a personal best time of 1:32.01 – her second PB in as many weeks. The graduate student’s performance will be converted to 1:30.91 based on running on the flat track, which will place her sixth in the current USports rankings.

Other medalists from Friday’s competition include:

SILVER

Men’s 300m – David Moulongou 36.79 (Gee-Gees)
Men’s 3000m- Jackson Roy 9:02.41 (Gee-Gees)
Women’s 4x200m – Emma Martins, Doyin Ogunremi, Coralie Ostertag, Kelly Brennan 1:52.27 (Gee-Gees)

BRONZE

Women’s 60m – Emma Martins 8.04 (Gee-Gees)
Women’s 300m – Doyin Ogunremi 42.31 (Gee-Gees)
Women’s 1000m – Hannah Frazer 3:04.88 (Gee-Gees)
Men’s 4x800m – André Alie-Lamarche, Jackson Roy, David Moulongou, Fabrice Nonez 8:37.86 (Gee-Gees)

For full results, click here.

Copyright Sean Burges/Mundo Sport Images

Gale sets Canadian record at 200m

by linkinbioUniversity

There is a new name in the Canadian record books this week and she goes by the name of Lauren Gale. However, it’s just not in the event you’re thinking it is. 

The 22 year old Gale sped to a third place finish in Friday night’s Don Kirby 200 metre event with blistering 23.08 second clocking. The previous standard of 23.32 by Angela Bailey was the second oldest mark on the Canadian record books – set 16 years before Gale’s birth in January 1984. Gale’s time has also moved her to 11th on the NCAA ranking list where the top-16 receive an invitation to the national meet scheduled for early March.

Originally, Gale had envisioned it would be Jillian Richardson’s national indoor 400 metre record of 51.69 she would be trying to better heading into the competition in New Mexico. The Colorado State senior had dipped under Richardson’s mark the week prior, but was not eligible for the record due to her performance taking place on an oversized 300 metre track. However, the morning after the 200, Gale and her coach made the decision to sit out the 400 due to some tightness in her hamstring. 

Gale will have this weekend off as she prepares for next weekend’s Mountain West Conference Championships back in Albuquerque. She will be looking for her third successive 400 metre conference title.

Staying south of the border, Stephen Evans may just move to Boston after he set his third straight indoor personal best at 800 metres at the Boston University Valentine Invite. Evans placed fourth among the field of more than two hundred runners with his 1:48.65 clocking. Prior to 2022, Evan’s best 800 metre performance indoors was a run of one minute and 49.24 seconds back in 2020 – also set at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center. 

Evans wasn’t the only Lion dropping PB’s in the Massachusetts’ capital. Syracuse junior Kevin Robertson may have finished 44th in the 3000 metres Saturday night, but his time of 8:08.97 was nearly 23 seconds faster than he had ever covered the distance before. It was Robertson’s third personal best in successive weeks, which also saw the 20-year-old trim more than nine seconds off his mile best across two efforts. 

The third year student explains the improvement has been part of continual progression since recovering from Lyme disease contracted during the summer of 2020, but acknowledged he’s made some changes away from the track as well. “In contrast to my freshman year, I’ve been handling my life outside of running better to help me be less stressed and more confident which I feel has made a difference for me,” explained Robertson. 

Closer to home the varsity programs at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University returned to action for the first time in 2022 at the York Open. Combined, athletes representing the two schools took home five victories over the two day competition.

Among the victors was Alexandra Telford, who topped the women’s 300 metre field with a personal best and Carleton record  time of 39.25 seconds. The architecture graduate student had set the previous record of 41.58 back in 2018 while she was completing her undergraduate degree. With the record breaking performance, Telford currently sits sixth in the national USports rankings. 

Telford, who also set a personal best in the 60 metres over the weekend, was pleased to see the progress she’s noticed in practice translate into some early season success in competition. “It’s good motivation to see how much faster we can get in the next few meets,” said Telford of her preparation for the RSEQ and Usports Championships coming up in the next two months. 

University of Ottawa first year student Katie Manor also found herself in the USports top ten after the first weekend of competition. The École secondaire catholique Paul-Desmarais graduate laid down a personal best time of 7.66 seconds in the 60 metre preliminaries last Friday, which currently ranks her tenth nationally. She would place fifth, just behind Telford, in the final with a time of 7.75 seconds. 

Other winners from the York Open included Sydney Smith, who topped the women’s 600m field with a 1:32.58 clocking. Yasser Riad won the men’s 1000 metres in 2:35.36 while Gee-Gees teammate Andre Alie-Lamarche finished three seconds ahead of the men’s 1500 metre field in 4:06.11. The final victory came from the field, where third year University of Ottawa student Jackson Colquhoun hopped, skipped, and jumped his way to 13.22 metres in the triple jump. 



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Evans wins in Boston; Robertson sets new best in New York

by linkinbioUniversity

It was a little quieter on the competition front with only three Lions in action this first weekend of February. However, while the numbers were small, the performances were quite large.

After such a good experience in Boston last weekend, Stephen Evans stuck around for a second go producing a new indoor best at 800 metres and walking away with the victory at the Scarlett and White Invitational. The 25-year-old led the field from start to finish, crossing the line in a time of one minute and 48.72 seconds. Evans’ previous indoor best was set last weekend at 1:49.09 and he holds an outdoor best of 1:48.28.

Also in Boston, Amelia Van Brabant made her season debut with a 5:02.87 effort in the mile. The grade 11 student placed 29th in the university dominated field of 83.

New York City was the scene of the another personal best time in the mile for Kevin Robertson.  The Syracuse junior placed fifth in the college section with a time of 4:06.50, shaving nearly four seconds of his previous best set last weekend in a win at Cornell. While Robertson had indicated he was hoping for a sub-4:05 effort at The Armory, he can take some solace in the fact he has now dropped nearly nine seconds off his personal best the last two weeks and has moved to 13th all-time in Club history.

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Record breaking weekend for Lions athletes

by linkinbioUniversity

With the largest number of competitors so far in 2022, the Lions closed out January with a bang. By the time the weekend had closed, a new Club record and University of Ottawa record were in the books as well as a number two all-time effort.

Sydney Smith set the tone for the weekend when she posted a speedy 1:13.36 clocking for 500 metres in her first race in nearly two years. The University of Ottawa graduate student was more excited than surprised at the new school record flashing on the scoreboard, besting the previous mark of 1:13.91 set by Charlotte Gardner in 2014.

“Although it’s been so long since I last competed, the last couple of years have been full of hard work, training, and just all around continued focus,” said Smith of her race. “I’m super excited about the record – it feels motivating especially because this was our season opener, so I’m really looking forward to see what else we can work towards!”

A day later, another woman would re-write the record book, with Olympian Lauren Gale taking top spot at the Colorado Invitational 400 metres in a new Club record 51.53 seconds. Gale’s time bested the previous standard of 51.70 set by Esther Akinsulie in 2009 and now gives her every 400 metre record in the Club from U16 on up.

“It feels SO AWESOME,” wrote Gale in a message about setting the new record. “The Lions have been one of my biggest supporters throughout literally my entire track career and being able to have my name attached to the Club in this way is awesome.”

Gale, who was a member of Canada’s 4×400 metre relay team in Tokyo last summer admits the title of Olympian has added a little pressure this season, with meet announcers regularly including the title in their introductions. However, the title also leaves her wanting to prove something. “It’s made me want to run faster!”

Faster she has gone, as the Colorado State University senior has been off to a speedy start to this indoor season, which includes a 23.52 clocking at 200 metres. However, she insists her and coach J.J. Riese haven’t made too many adjustments to her training this season. “I think just improving on what we’ve been doing, so like we’ve been working on starts and adjusting more each time or working on lactic and going faster paced each time or lifting the same type of lifts but heavier, it’s been the same style just working harder,” is how Gale described this year’s training.

She will continue to stay the course as she prepares for the Mountain West Conference Championships at the month where she will be looking for her third straight indoor 400 title and qualify for her first NCAA Indoor Championships. She is currently ranked first in the event across the NCAA.

Back in the eastern time zone, Tommy Nedow continued his undefeated season – sweeping both the shot put and weight throw at McNeese State in Louisiana. The Southeastern Louisiana student whirled the 35 pound weight out to 17.90 metres on his second effort of the competition to secure victory. The performance added nearly a metre and a half to his previous best set two weeks earlier and moves Nedow to number two in Club history behind former Canadian hammer throw champion James Fahie. Nedow also comfortably took top spot in the shot put with his throw of 16.66 metres – more than two metres further than second place.

Syracuse junior Kevin Robertson also found a spot on the “PB train” this weekend with his 4:10.15 effort to win the mile at the Kane Invitational hosted by Cornell University. Robertson led from the gun, constantly pushing the pace against what he deemed a weaker field and slower, flat track at Barton Hall. As the laps accumulated, so did the distance between him and the rest of the field – two seconds, four seconds, four seconds, eight seconds, eight seconds, ten seconds, and then finally twelve seconds for each of the final two laps.

Robertson will be back in the mile this coming weekend at The Armory in New York where he’s looking to ride the train again. “With more competition and a faster track, I think I’ll be able to run a lot faster,” he said. “Maybe under 4:05.”

The weekend culminated back where it started, in Boston. The Nor-Easter which blew through town and dropped more than two feet of snow in the Boston region pushed the second day of the competition to Sunday. However, the delay in running didn’t seem to affect Stephen Evans too much. Competiting in his speciality, the 800 metres, set a new indoor best of 1:49.09 to place third overall.

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Gale continues winning ways in 2022

by linkinbioUniversity

Only three full weeks in to the new year and it appears sprinter Lauren Gale is looking to make 2022 a year to remember. The fourth year student at Colorado State University won her second meet in as many weeks, topping the 400 metre field at the Air Force Academy Invitational with a time of 52.98 seconds.

Saturday victory was the fourth consecutive for Gale at the annual event in Colorado Springs. Each successive year has seemingly seen her margin of victory grow over the field from less than a second in her freshman year to 2.71 seconds yesterday.

Gale currently sits in 14th and 12th on the early season NCAA rankings for the 200 and 400 metres respectively. She and her CSU Rams teammates return to action next week at the Colorado Invitational in Boulder.

Elsewhere in the NCAA it was a quiet week for Lions members with Kevin Robertson (Syracuse), Shona McCulloch (Syracuse), Joe Fast (Princeton), Sharelle Samuel (Harvard), Tommy Nedow (Southeastern Louisiana) and Keira Christie-Galloway (Arizona State) all not competing.

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Nedow and Gale kick off 2022 season with NCAA victories

by InternationallinkinbioUniversity

The 2022 NCAA indoor season kicked off this weekend with a pair of Lions finding success on the track and in the field. Thrower Tommy Nedow and sprinter Lauren Gale were each victorious in their season debuts.

Nedow, competing for Southeastern Louisiana University, swept both of the throws at the Purple Tiger meet at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge on Friday. The fourth year athletic therapy student kicked off the competition with a new lifetime best of 16.57 metres in the weight throw. The distance was more than a full metre ahead of the second place finisher and added 69 centimetres to his previous best in the event. Nedow took an even more commanding victory in the shot put as he defended his Purple Tiger title from a year ago. His best throw of 16.26 metres outdistanced the competition by nearly three metres.

On the west coast, Olympian Lauren Gale kicked off her season in style with a new indoor personal best over 200 metres. Competing at the Potts Invitational on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, Gale dominated the seventh and final heat of the 200, winning easily in 23.52 seconds. The performance moved her to third on Colorado State University’s all-time list and equaled Canada’s number two all-time U23 performance. However, as the facility in Boulder is an oversized track (300m) the performance could not count for Canadian record purposes.

The NCAA season continues next weekend with Gale’s CSU Rams headed to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, while we may see hurdler Keira Christie-Galloway open her season for the Arizona State Sun Devils at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.