Posts tagged: NCAA

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.

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. 

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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/

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.