(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/

(Canton, USA---29 April 2023) Victoria Mcintyre runs to win the 100m in a meet record 12.28 seconds (-0.7) at the 2023 St Lawrence University Twilight Meet. Copyright 2023 Sean Burges / Mundo Sport Images.

Lions re-write record books at St Lawrence Twilight

by linkinbio

Conditions were far from ideal Saturday afternoon for the small contingent of Lions athletes that headed south to St Lawrence University to open their outdoor season, but that didn’t stop them from taking home some meet records and more than a few wins to open up their outdoor season.

A total of 10 Lions were in action at the SLU Intercollegiate Athletics Twilight Meeting, taking home four golds, a silver and a pair of bronze medals.

Victoria McIntyre dominated the fields in both the women’s 100 and 200 metres as she set new meet records in each event. On the straightaway, McIntyre was the class of the field, speeding her way to a time of 12.28 seconds – her fastest performance since 2013. The effort was so dominating, teammate Kennedy Banton-Lindsay took home the silver more than a second back of McIntyre. 

The 200 metres produced a similar story line for McIntyre, with her winning time of 25.27 seconds again being her fastest in a decade as a combination of nagging injuries and the pandemic have kept the University of Toronto graduate off the track for much of that time. Banton-Lindsay fell a spot on the podium, taking third in 27.83.

Triple jump produced another victory and meet record for the Lions. Heather Grandy was  commanding in her victory, leaping out to 10.78 metres almost a metre and a half clear of the field. Grandy’s jump added more than 20 centimetres to the previous meet record set in 2018.

For the men, Bertwin Ben-Smith picked up the only victory on the day. The University of Guelph graduate was first across the line of the 200 metres, stopping the clock in a time of 22.31 seconds, a half-second under the previous meet record. Teammate Michael Pinnock finished just off the podium in 22.90.

Fabrice Nonez opened his season with the best performance of his life. Known more for his hurdling, Nonez placed third in the flat 400 metres with a time of 51.39 seconds – more than a second faster than his previous best. 

At the Limestone Race Weekend in Kingston, André Alie-Lamarche took second spot in the Saturday night’s 10k in a tightly contested battle with Queen’s University’s Roman Mironov. Alie-Lamarche crossed the line in a personal best of 31 minutes 55.88 seconds – 1.2 seconds back of Mironov. 

On Sunday morning, Cameron Bruce took top spot in the half-marathon, finishing in a time of 1 hour, 20 minutes and 0.15 seconds. Daniel Cova placed second overall in the 5km race with a time of 16:08.83.

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

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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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Lions end March Break with personal bests in Myrtle Beach

by High Schoollinkinbio

With another March Break having drawn to a close, a number of Lions athletes have returned home from the sun and warmth of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with more than some new tan lines. More than 30 athletes and coaches from the Club ventured south for a week of training culminating in the annual Shamrock Invitational to kick off the outdoor season. Over the two day competition Lions athletes recorded a total of 20 new personal bests.

Among those to set a new personal best was Nicolas Belan. The Canterbury High School student broke the two minute barrier for 800 metres for the first time while also beating a full field of collegiate runners to win in 1 minute and 59.85 seconds. Belan’s previous best was a 2:07 clocking last summer. Matias del Rio Reategui was seventh in 2:05.40.

For the second year in a row, Louise Stonham topped the women’s 3000 metre steeplechase field – finishing in 11 minutes and 23.09 seconds. While short of her personal best, Stonham dominated the field with a 27 second gap between her and the second place runner. 

Lauren Alexander narrowly missed the top spot in the women’s 800 metres, finishing second to James Madison’s Sinead Sargeant. Alexander did manage to record her fastest opener ever, speeding her way to a time of 2 minutes and 20.76 seconds. 

Friday’s 400 metre races were a battle against the clock as well as the wind. While gusts hovered around 20 miles per hour for most of the day, they were not enough to keep Zachary Jeggo off the podium. The grade 10 student at École secondaire Louis-Riel sprinted his way to a new personal best of 51.92 seconds as he took third spot in the open section. Club mate Zach Theodore also posted a lifetime best, running 53.32 for seventh. 

Picking up the final medal of the weekend for the Lions was Madeleine Seaby. The grade 12 student from Carleton Place posted a time of 10 minutes and 25.74 seconds for 3000 metres as she finished in the bronze medal position. 

For full results from Myrtle Beach, please visit

https://www.tfrrs.org/results/75548/Alan_Connie_Shamrock_Invitational

For updated Club rankings, please visit

https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_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. 

(Canton, United States---03 December 2022) Sydney Smith 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

Fast times in Boston; Masters rake in medals at provincial championship

by linkinbioProvincialUniversity

Just two weeks removed from the second fastest 1000 metre performance in Club history, Stephen Evans returned to his favourite indoor venue to lay down his fastest indoor 800 metre time ever. Evans took top spot at the Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational on the notoriously fast Boston University track in a blistering time of 1 minute and 48.31 seconds.  

It was a bit of a come from behind effort for Evans who spent the first three laps of the 200 metre track back in fourth place. Entering the bell lap, the University of Ottawa graduate was able to maintain his pace over the final 200 metres and turn an eight tenths of a second deficit into a nearly two tenths of a second margin of victory.

Like Evans, Sydney Smith also produced an indoor career best 800 as she took third in her heat with a time of 2 minutes and 6.59 seconds. The performance ranks third for Smith regardless of venue and was good enough for 13th place overall in the field of 66.

At the Jud Logan Giver Open in Ashland, Ohio, Leewinchell Jean gave’r as he ran his way to a personal best of 8.22 seconds in the 60 metre hurdles to place fourth in the final. With the performance, the University of Windsor student sits in ninth place on the Club’s U23 rankings and 12th overall. Jean also posted an indoor best of 50.15 seconds in the 400 metres to place 16th. 

The York Open in Toronto featured three Lions in combined events action. In the women’s pentathlon, Audrey Goddard (Western) placed second with a score of 3379 points while Charlotte Murchison (York) scored a personal best of 2804 points for fifth. Murchison’s score moves her to eighth on the Club’s U20 list. 

On the men’s side, Leo Wallner appeared poised to set a new personal best in the heptathlon before he was forced to pull out during the final event – the 1000 metres. Before withdrawing, the first year Western University student did manage a new best of 3.70 metres in the pole vault.

Finally, the weekend wrapped up with the Ontario Masters Indoor Championships where Lions athletes captured a total eight medals including six gold. The ageless leaper, Stan Seitz picked up gold and silver respectively in the M75 pole vault and high jump. The medals bump up Stan’s career take from the Championship to 12. 

The middle distance crew put on an impressive performance as well, pulling in four golds at 800 metres followed by a gold and silver at 1500. The 800 metre victors were Fritzlor Auguste (M30), Michael Conway (M35), Gilles Frenette (M45), and Kimberley Howitt (W35). At 1500 metres, Jay Sneddon (M30) won in his masters debut, while Mike McInerney took silver in the M55 race.

To view updated Club rankings and medal totals, visit https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/

(Ottawa, Canada---08 June 2022) David Adeleye racing in the 110m hurdles competing at Ottawa Summer Twilight Series Meet Three. 2022 Copyright Sean Burges / Mundo Sport Images

Adeleye’s U23 Club record highlights 17 medal haul at Kane Invite

by linkinbioUniversity

Along David Adeleye’s relatively short career as hurdler, his progression has been marked by continuous small improvements – the kind more likely to be found in the hundredths rather than the tenths of a second. The third year student at the University of Toronto knocked a few more hundredths of a second off his 60 metre hurdles best Saturday afternoon on his way to setting a new Club Under-23 record . 

Racing at the Kane Invitational in Ithaca, New York, Adeleye bested the field with a 7.91 second clocking to edge past the previous standard of 7.92 seconds set by Sekou Kaba in 2012 when he won the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (now USports) Championship. Now sitting third on the Club’s all-time list, David will undoubtedly turn his attention towards Kaba’s 7.77 second best and Charles Allen’s Club record of 7.70.

Adeleye’s victory was 1 of 17 medals on the day for the Lions family, including four other golds. Gee-Gee athletes were responsible for the remaining victories.

David Moulongou took top spot in the 600 metres with a time of 1:22.85. The second year student was joined on the podium by teammate Lucas Zanetti who finished a half second back to take third. 

High jumper Thomas Senechal-Becker continued his strong season, picking up his third victory. The Canada Games silver medalist cleared 2.06 metres for the second week in a row as he was unchallenged by second place finisher Smith Charles of Cornell who finished 14 centimetres back. 

It was a sweep for both the men’s and women’s 4×400 metre relays teams on Saturday. The men’s quartet of Fabrice Nonez, Thomas Kukla-Colby, Lucas Zanetti, and David Moulongou enjoyed a comfortable 14 second margin of victory, finishing in a time of 3:26.17 – their second fastest time of the season.  The women’s team of Sia Mahajan, Brooklyn McCormik, Doyin Oguremi, and Kennedy Banton-Lindsay enjoyed a similar dominating performance as the won in 4:04.44 – exactly 13 seconds ahead of second place Binghamton. 

Below is a full list of the remaining medalists from the Kane Invitational.

Silver

Paulina Procyk (UofT) – 200m (26.04)
Doyin Ogunemi – 300m (40.60)
Brooklyn McCormik – 600m (1:38.50 PB)
Vienna Courteau – Long Jump (5.41m PB)

Bronze

Laura Cross – 600m (1:42.62 PB)
Pippa Norman – 3000m (10:49.22 PB)
Paulina Procyk (UofT) – 60m Hurdles (8.81)
Elizabeth Moreland – High Jump (1.48m)
Ella Lalonde – High Jump (1.48m)
Michael Pinnock – 300m (36.21)
Jackson Colquhoun – Triple Jump (13.57m PB)

(Langley, British Columbia ---23 June 2022) Audrey Goddard competing on day two of the Canadian Track and Field Championships at McLeod Athletic Park. Photograph 2022 Copyright Miles Ryan Rowat / Mundo Sport Images ******* EDITORIAL USE ONLY ******* ******* EDITORIAL USE ONLY ******* ******* EDITORIAL USE ONLY *******

Goddard and Adeleye open season with a bang

by linkinbioUniversity

What better way to kick off your university career than with a personal best and the fifth best performance in Club history. That’s exactly how first year Western University student Audrey Goddard started things off Friday at the Saginaw Valley State Holiday Open as she led the Mustangs to a sweep of the podium in the pentathlon with an impressive 3526 points total. 

Goddard’s new Club U20 record was fuelled by a pair of victories in both the 60 metres hurdles (8.77) and long jump (5.34m). In fact, the Merivale High School graduate never finished lower than third in the other three events – high jump, shot put, 800 metres – producing four individual bests in total.

However, Goddard was not the only Lion storming out the gate on the opening weekend of the indoor season. David Adeleye, who took home Canada Games silver in the 110 metre hurdles last we saw, broke through the 8 second barrier in the 60 metre hurdles at the Greg Page Relays in Ithaca, New York. A third year kinesiology student at the University of Toronto, Adeleye set a new best of 8.05 seconds before finding another gear in the final and crossing the line in 7.98 seconds. Adeleye was second behind Syracuse’s Anthony Vazquez in 7.95.

The Ashbury College graduate is currently ranked first among USports 60 metre hurdlers, and moves to third in Club history. The only two men in the Club to run faster are 2004 Olympic finalist Charles Allen and 2016 Olympian Sekou Kaba. 

Other notable performances from the weekend included Joe Fast opening his season with a victory at 1000 metres in New York City. The third year Princeton student posted a 2:32.06 opener to take The College of New Jersey Winter Open by 10 seconds. At the Clemson Opener in South Carolina, Keira Christie-Galloway started her season with a 8.39 second clocking to take top spot in the 60 metre hurdles. Christie-Galloway is competing for Grand Canyon University where she is pursuing a Master in Business Administration degree after graduating from Arizona State earlier this year. 

For updated Club rankings and stats following the first week of indoor competition, please visit ottawalions.com/awards-and-records.