Copyright Miles Ryan Rowat

Bishop-Nriagu smashes Club record in 1500 metres

by InternationallinkinbioUniversity

Melissa Bishop-Nriagu concluded her US tour of meets on a high note Saturday, running a blazing time of four minutes and 4.42 seconds for 1500 metres at the Sound Running Track Meet in Irvine, California, to smash her personal best and Club record. The time was nearly a full five second improvement on her previous record of 4:09.36, set in 2019 and equaled earlier this spring, as well as being just 22 hundredths off the Olympic standard for the event.

The two time Olympian looked at home in Saturday’s race despite only running the distance six times over her career. As the gun went off, Bishop-Nriagu pushed right to the lead pack as they made their way around the oval at Crean Lutheren High School. With the field hitting the bell lap in about three minutes flat, the Eganville native found herself about eight tenths back in ninth place. However, she put her 800 metre speed to great use, producing the third fastest final lap, 63.51 seconds, to navigate her way up to fifth to finish just behind 2017 steeplechase World Champion, Emma Coburn.

On the collegiate side of things, Lauren Gale continued her winning ways in the 400 metres at the Mountain West Conference Championship. Fresh off Friday night’s Club record at 200 metres, the Colorado State junior put some of that speed to great use in the one lap race, running to a personal best 52.22 seconds. This was Gale’s fourth straight Mountain West title at 400 metres, having swept the indoor and outdoor titles as a freshman, and taking the victory indoors in 2020. Due to COVID-19, the conference did not host an outdoor championship in 2020 or an indoor championship in 2021. In her 200 metre final, Gale produced the third fastest time of her career, 23.77 seconds, to place sixth overall.

In other conference championship action, Tommy Nedow placed fourth in the Southland Conference shot put with a best of 16.16 metres. Nedow will wrap up his championship today with the discus throw, where he enters ranked second. At the PAC-12 Championships in Los Angeles, Keira Christie-Galloway just missed a spot in the 100 metre hurdle final, finishing ninth overall in 13.75 seconds.

Copyright Sean Burges/Mundo Sport Images

Gale sets 200 metre record at Mountain West Championships

by linkinbioUniversity

Conference championship weekend south of the border has gotten off to a blazing start for Lauren Gale. The Colorado State junior laid down a blistering time of 23.15 seconds to take second place in her 200 metre semi-final. The time eclipses Farah Jacques Club record of 23.21 seconds set five years ago and also betters Ashley Purnell’s Club Under 23 mark of 23.28 seconds set at the 2002 World U20 Championships. Gale’s also broke the Colorado State record with her performance.

Running out of lane six, in the second of three semi-final heats, Gale shot out of the blocks, overtaking the two runners to her outside runners by the time they hit 60 metres. As she entered the straight-away, University of Nevada Las Vegas senior Cassondra Hall had a couple metres on Gale. Hall would hold to victory with Gale narrowing the gap as the pair hit the line.

In Gale’s other semi-final run, the 400 metres, the contest wasn’t remotely as close. As a three time conference champion indoors and outdoors as well as holding the top time in the conference, Gale’s victory was not a surprise. However, the authority with which she dominated the race was impressive. Running in lane seven, she made up the stagger within 15 steps and was nearly 15 metres clear of the field at the 150 metre mark. After hitting the 200 metre mark in 24.6 seconds, she would cross the line in 52.73, more than two and a half seconds up on second place.

Gale will have a busy final day with the finals of both the 200 (11:45pm eastern) and 400 (10:10pm eastern), but she is also slated to run on both the 4×100 and 4×400 metre relays for the Rams. You can watch all the action live on Mountain West TV.

At the Southland Conference Championships in Humble, Texas Tommy Nedow posted a top five performance in the hammer throw to garner four valuable points for his Southeastern Louisiana Lions. The Brockville native whipped the 16 pound hammer out to 54.61 metres Friday, just shy of his personal best set two weeks ago. Nedow will be back in action Saturday when he competes in the shot put where he will no doubt be looking repeat his victory from the indoor championship. He’ll wrap up his weekend with the discus throw Sunday.

Thursday night at the Atlantic Coast Conference championship in Raleigh, North Carolina, Syracuse sophomore Kevin Robertson ran a personal best 3:50.60 to finish 27th overall. Robertson, who focused on the steeplechase in high school, has made great strides in the 1500 metres this season, dropping nearly six seconds from his best.

 

(Montreal, Canada---26 July 2019) Melissa Bishop-Nriagu running in the 800m semi-finals at 2019 Canadian Track and Field Championships at the Claude Robillard Sports Centre in Montreal. 2019 Copyright Sean Burges / Mundo Sport Images.

Bishop-Nriagu hits standard; Nedow sets new discus best

by InternationallinkinbioNationalUniversity

A big weekend on the track and in the field produced a number of marks to celebrate for the Lions, highlighted by Melissa Bishop-Nriagu hitting the Olympic standard in the 800 metres and Tommy Nedow adding nearly two metres to his discus best.

After a disappointing race in Oregon two weeks prior, Melissa Bishop-Nriagu stepped onto the track in Chula Vista, California Sunday aiming to do one thing that had eluded her since stepping away three years ago to give birth to daughter Corinne – break two minutes for 800 metres. Beneath the two minute barrier was also the Olympic standard of 1:59.50 – a necessary step on the path to returning to the Olympic final and running for a medal. Bishop-Nriagu smashed both barriers, stopping the clock in a time of one minute and 59.04 seconds on her way to victory.

Pacing Sunday night’s race was 2019 World 1500 metre finalist Nikki Hiltz, who carried the pack through 600 metres in a speedy 1:27. From there, Bishop-Nriagu told CBC Sports, “it was about focusing on finishing strong and getting to that line in under 1:59.50.” Despite bettering the standard, the Eganville native’s ticket to Tokyo hasn’t been printed yet. “We still have a (potential) National Championship coming up where I will need to qualify. The depth in our women’s 800m in Canada is as strong as ever and we can only send three spots. This is not a given, this has to be worked for still,” she told followers on Instagram.
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Competing in a final tune up meet ahead of the Southland Conference Championships, scheduled for May 14-16, Tommy Nedow unleashed some big throws to move him to the top of the conference rankings. The Brockville native had a big break through in his primary event, the discus, whirling the two kilogram disc out to 53.74 metres to place second. Nedow’s throw added nearly two metres to his previous best set in 2019. Nedow also chalked up a personal best in the hammer throw, adding four metres to his previous best to finish third with 54.87 metres. He rounded out the competition of a 16.26 metre heave to place third in the shot put.

At the University of Kansas, Lauren Gale continued her winning ways in the 400 metres, crossing in 53.84 seconds. The Colorado State University junior battled some unusually strong winds, registering peaks of 8.1 metres per second in the adjacent triple jump, to stay undefeated in the one lap race this outdoor season.  She will look to continue the streak at the Mountain West Championships May 14-16, where she will also be looking to pick up her fourth conference 400 metre title in as many tries.

In other competitions, Stephen Evans placed fifth over 800 metres at the Kansas City Qualifier in 1:50.11. Down in Louisiana, Farah Jacques took ninth in the 100 metres hurdles at the LSU Alumni Invite with a 13.90 second clocking. Out west, fellow hurdler Keira Christie-Galloway finished fourth at the Desert Heat Classic in Tucson, Arizona with a time of 13.75 seconds.

 

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Bishop-Nriagu finishes fourth at Oregon Relays

by InternationallinkinbioUniversity

What was intended to be a fast race, with runners aiming for the Olympic standard of 1:59.50, quickly turned into a tactical effort Saturday in the 800 metres at the Oregon Relays Grand Prix Event. It wasn’t the race Melissa Bishop-Nriagu was hoping for, but what she got was a fourth place finish, three tenths behind 2019 world silver medalist Raevyn Rogers, in two minutes and 4.18 seconds. With the mercury hovering around 14 degrees celsius and the rain falling down on the brand new Hayward Field, the field was quite content to let the pace setter run away from as they hit the bell in 62.6 seconds. As the medalists began to pull slightly ahead of Bishop-Nriagu in the final 200 metres, the Canadian record holder was not able to match their surge.

“I’m fuming after that display of a race,” she posted to Instagram afterwards. Her takeaway from Saturday’s effort boiled down to one word – trust. “I could list a handful of thing that I trust in this sport and at the top of the list is me. I have to trust me.”

At the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa it was a mixed bag for the brothers Tommy and Tim Nedow. Tommy, the younger of the two competed, recorded a seasonal best in the discus by hurling  the two kilogram platter out to 51.06 metres – just missing out on the final by one spot.  However, the shot put was not as kind to either of the Nedow men as they each failed to record a mark – Tommy in Friday’s university section and Tim in Saturday’s invitational section.

Elsewhere, sprint hurdler Keira Christie-Galloway placed fourth at a race in Phoenix, Arizona while Stephen Evans finished fifth in Atlanta. Christie-Galloway, a junior at Arizona State University, stopped the clock at 13.86 seconds in her first race back from injury while Evans clocked in at one minute and 52.48 seconds for 800 metres.

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Nedow hits Olympic Standard; Gale sets new bests

by InternationallinkinbioNationalUniversity

Just under two years ago, shot putter Tim Nedow heaved a 16 pound iron ball beyond the Olympic Qualifying standard of 21.10 metres at a competition in California. Unfortunately for the DePaul University graduate, the massive throw came 11 days before the start of the qualification period for the Tokyo games. Nedow rectified the situation this past Saturday afternoon at a competition in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania where he once again surpassed the Olympic Standard with his winning throw of 21.11 metres. The effort all but secures a spot for the 2019 World finalist to compete in Japan this August.

Another athlete vying for a spot in Tokyo this summer is sprinter Lauren Gale. The Colorado State University junior has been setting lifetime bests all over the track this season, picking up another two this past Saturday. Competing at the Colorado University Invitational in Boulder, Gale set new bests in both the 100 and 200 metre events en-route to victory. Gale led a Colorado State sweep of the 100 metre medals with her winning time of 11.67 seconds besting her previous best set back in 2018 by over four tenths of a second. Similarly, Gale trimmed nearly four tenths off her outdoor best over 200 metres with a winning time of 23.61 seconds. Both marks come on the heel of Gale’s school record performance of 52.24 seconds last week over 400 metres Her recent marks now put the 21 year old at #5, #4, and #2 in Club history for the 100, 200, and 400 metres respectively.

Also moving up in the Club’s all-time rankings was decathlete Ryan Thomsen who won the Hillsdale Invitational in Michigan with a score of 6486 points – moving to seventh in Club history. With top marks in both the long jump and shot put, Thomsen finished among the top three in nine of the ten events. For his efforts, Thomsen was named the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Track athlete of the week and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division II Championships.

Rounding out the weekend’s top performances was Tommy Nedow who captured gold in the discus and silver in the shot put at the Strawberry Relays in Louisiana. The Southeastern Louisiana University student’s best throws measured 50.33 metres in the discus and 16.20 metres in the shot put.

(Guelph, Canada---07 June 2019) Melissa Bishop-Nriagu competing in the 800m at the 2019 Speed River Inferno Track and Field Festival held at Alumni Stadium at the University of Guelph. This race was Bishop-Nriagu's first 800m after a two year break to have a baby. Copyright image 2019 Sean W Burges / Mundo Sport Images

Lions kick off outdoor season with record and personal bests

by linkinbioNationalUniversity

It’s not often we have athletes lacing up their shoes for outdoor competition in the second week of March, but these times are far from normal. Melissa Bishop-Nriagu and Tommy Nedow each put their opportunity to good use, walking away with personal best performances on the day.

For Bishop-Nriagu, Saturday night’s season debut at 1500 metres was the first competitive step to finding her way on to her third Olympic team, and it was a very good step. The Eganville native crossed the line in four minutes and 9.36 seconds to finish second at the Vic City Elite event behind Lucia Stafford’s 4:06.86. The time equaled Bishop-Nriagu’s own Club record set in 2019. The former world medalist, who temporarily moved to Victoria earlier this year to train with coach Trent Stellingwerf, indicated after the reace she had been bothered by an achy Achilles.

“But I feel good now. Things are going well,”  she told the Victoria Times-Columnist.

For thrower Tommy Nedow, his fourth place finish in the shot put at Friday’s South Alabama Invite in Mobile was second straight personal best effort for the Southeastern Louisiana junior. Nedow’s best mark of 16.93 metres was a single centimetre better than the distance he threw to capture the Southland Conference indoor title two weeks prior. The Brockville native showed strong form in the discus, taking second place with a heave of 51.02 metres.

Nedow’s older brother Tim opened up his 2021 season at the Athletics Ontario High Performance Meet at York University. The 2019 world finalist had a very consistent effort in the shot put, with all his throws landing within 15 centimetres of each other. Nedow’s winning mark of 20.12 metres came on his six and final throw.

 

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Weekend Update

by linkinbioUniversity

With the first weekend of February upon us, Lions athletes competing for their NCAA schools are another week closer to championship meets and this weekend’s results showed they are rounding in to form.

Staying undefeated this season was Colorado State junior Lauren Gale. The 400 metre specialist stepped down in distance as she took victory in the seldom run 55 metres at the Power Meet in Laramie, Wyoming. Gale’s winning time of 6.94 seconds ranks her fourth all-time in Colorado State history. Gale now holds top five school marks in four events indoors, including records in both the 400 metres and 4×400 metre relay.

Further east, at the Arkansas Qualifier, Keira Christie-Galloway continued to find her rhythm in the 60 metre hurdles. The Arizona State junior turned in a seasonal best performance of 8.31 seconds to finish fifth. The mark was a narrow improvement on her 8.32 clocking from a week ago. Christie-Galloway currently sits in 27th on the NCAA top list for this indoor season. As the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor championships have been cancelled this year, the Glebe Collegiate grad will have one final meet next weekend at Texas Tech to post a top 16 performance if she is to qualify for March’s NCAA Championship. Currently, that cut-off is 8.21 seconds.

Rounding out the weekend’s participants was Kevin Robertson, who ran his first competitive mile at the Virginia Tech Elite meet in Blacksburg. The Syracuse University sophomore was fifth in his section with a time of four minutes and 15.86 seconds and placed 14th overall.

 

(Ottawa, Canada---08 July 2017) Katarina Vlahovic, Keira Christie-Galloway competing in the U20 100m hurdle final at the 2017 Canadian Track and Field Championships. (Photo by Sean W Burges / Mundo Sport Images).

Nedow and Christie-Galloway land on podium in NCAA competition

by linkinbioUniversity

It was a small but successful contingent of Lions athletes competing this weekend south of the border with both Tommy Nedow and Keira Christie-Galloway finding their way to the podium after seasonal best performances in their respective events.

Nedow, competing for Southeastern Louisiana University, took top spot in the shot put at the LSU Louisiana Invite. It was the second straight victory for the Brockville native in the early season action. Nedow’s best throw landed 16.47 metres from the circle, a mere four centimetres off his lifetime best set in 2019 at the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships. All four of his measured throws exceeded that of the second place finisher, with the winning toss producing a more than one metre margin of victory.

Also, for the second time in two weeks, Nedow increased his personal best in the weight throw. This time, the fourth year student heaved the 35 pound ball out to 15.78 metres, adding 30 centimetres to the mark set back on the 16th.

In Lubbock at the Texas Tech Invitational, Keira Christie-Galloway knocked a few hundredths off her seasonal best in the 60 metre hurdles on her way to a bronze medal finish. The Arizona State University junior led all qualifiers with an 8.32 second clocking in the heats. The time moved the Glebe Collegiate graduate in to a tie for 23rd on NCAA top list. She recorded a time of 8.38 seconds in the final.

In a result we missed from last weekend, former USport Champion Stephen Evans opened up his 2021 campaign with a third place finish at the Orange Winter Classic #2 in Clermont, Florida. Evans posted a career best opener of one minute and 49.96 seconds.

OTTAWA, ON -- 07 July 2018: Thomas Nedow throws the shot put at the 2018 Athletics Canada National Track and Field Championships held at the Terry Fox Athletics Facility in Ottawa, Canada. (Photo by Sean Burges / Mundo Sport Images).

Lions have early success south of the border

by linkinbioUniversity

While facilities may be closed here in Canada, a small contingent of Lions athletes have opened up their competition season on the collegiate circuit south of the border with some solid performances and a few victories.

Thrower Tommy Nedow got off to a good start with a victory in the shot put at the LSU Purple Tiger Meet on January 16th. Nedow, a fourth year student at Southeastern Louisiana University, heaved the 16 pound ball out to 15.13 metres to win the competition. He followed that performance up with a sixth place finish in the weight throw and a lifetime best toss of 15.48 metres.

On the track, sprint hurdler Keira Christie-Galloway made her return to indoor competition after sitting out last season when she transferred to Arizona State University. The former Big 12 Champion placed third at the Ted Nelson Invitational in Lubbock, Texas with a time of 8.38 seconds. The mark had Christie-Galloway ranked 26th in the NCAA heading into this weekend’s competitions.

Also on the west coast, Colorado State junior, Lauren Gale was in fine early season form at the Air Force Invitational. The two time Mountain West Conference indoor 400 metre champion topped the 400 metre field with a time of 54.08 seconds. It was a dominating performance for Gale as her margin of victory was just under a second and a half. The Mountain West Conference has already cancelled their indoor championships, so Gale and her Ram teammates will compete in an abbreviated indoor campaign that takes them to Laramie, Wyoming next on February 6.

On the east coast, Kevin Robertson opened up his 2021 campaign with a 8:39.48 clocking at 3000 metres. The Syracuse University sophomore placed ninth at the Virginia Tech Invitational in Blacksburg in only the third race of his early collegiate career.

Check back soon for news and results from this weekend’s action in the NCAA.