(Canton, United States---03 December 2022) Nina Günther 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

Gee-Gees and Ravens set 29 personal bests in Sherbrooke

by linkinbioUniversity

The varsity programs at both the University of Ottawa and Carleton University kicked off the 2023 calendar this past weekend – competing at l‘Université de Sherbrooke Vert et Or Invitation. While most athletes had only just completed their first full week of training following the holidays, that did not stop the 43 athletes competing from setting 29 new personal bests during the competition. 

A pair of Gee-Gee athletes took home gold medals from Saturday’s trip to Quebec. On the track, Nina Gunther broke the three minute barrier for the first time in the 1000 metres, winning in 2 minutes and 57.39 seconds. The graduate student in Sport Management has had a strong season for the Gee-Gees after previously competing for the Carabins de l‘Université de Montréal as an undergraduate. Gunther had also opened the season with a victory in the mile at the Saints Holiday Relays before Christmas. 

Brianna Asiamah was the other Gee-Gee to ascend to podium Saturday, taking top spot in her speciality – the shot put. The third-year social work student pushed the 4 kilogram shot out to a distance of 12.53 metres to leave herself 22 centimetres clear of silver. The Holy Trinity graduate’s winning throw also surpassed her previous best of 12.51 metres set in December. 

Also picking up a medal in the shot put ring was first year Carleton student Connor Fraser. The Immaculate graduate who is more known for his success in the discus ring heaved the shot out to an impressive 13.73 metres. Fraser’s throw is a massive personal best in his first season with the senior implement and moves him to number two on the Raven’s all-time list. 

Staying with the field events, a trio of triple jumpers hopped, skipped and jumped their way on to the podium. Heather Grandy and Jackson Colquhoun took silver in the women’s and men’s competitions respectively. Grandy, who is currently pursuing a masters degree in biomedical engineering, leapt to a personal best distance of 11.14 metres, while Colquhoun’s leap of 13.39 metres was the third best of his career. Elizabeth Moreland also added a bronze in the women’s triple jump with a best of 10.47 metres.

Back on the track, Fabrice Nonez set a personal best for the second meet row enroute to a silver in the 60 metre hurdles. Nonez lowered his best to 8.64 seconds in Saturday’s heats before crossing the line in 8.65 seconds in the final.

Gee-Gee’s Sia Mahajan, Katie Manor, Courtney Cenac, and Doyin Oguremi teammed up for bronze in the 4×400 metre relay. The quartet finished in a time of 4 minutes and 9.45 seconds.

Saturday’s competition also featured a masters section to complement the University/Open races. Michael Conway took top spot in the 600 metres with a winning time of 1:31.13. Teammate Gilles Frenette finished 10 seconds back in second. Mike McInerney was the top finisher in the 1000 metres with a time of 3:14.97

For full results from Saturday’s competition, please visit ottawalions.com/results/2023-results

(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 and Procyk run to podium in Toronto

by linkinbioUniversity

With the new year just nine days old, the first competition of the season is already in the rear view mirror. Saturday’s Sharon Anderson Memorial at the University of Toronto was an opportunity to bust some rust after the holidays for a small contingent of Lions athletes attending university in the GTA. 

Hurdler David Adeleye continued the strong running we saw from him before the holidays as he topped the 60 metre hurdles in a speedy 8.00 seconds. The third year kinesiology student was the class of the field winning by more than three tenths over University of Toronto teammate Adam Exley. 

Without the hurdles in his way Adeleye put up a personal best performance in the flat 60. David was first across the line in the “B” final in a time of 7.06 seconds as he placed ninth overall. His previous best of 7.10 seconds was set in January 2020. 

Paulina Procyk, also running in the blue and white of Toronto, had two of the speediest performances of her life Saturday. Coming off a personal best of 7.78 seconds in the flat 60 at the Greg Page Relays in December, Procyk laid down a 7.82 second clocking in the heats before finishing ninth in the final with a time of 7.89. 

Over the 60 metre hurdles, Procyk placed third in a time of 9.07 seconds – just shy of her lifetime best of 9.00. Millie Cameron, who attends York University, finished 12th overall in a time of 10.93. 

The return to competition will be back in full swing this coming weekend as the both varsity programs and the Lions head to Sherbrooke for the Vert et Or Invitational. 

(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.

(Canton, United States---03 December 2022) David Moulongou 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

Lions athletes break records at season opener in New York

by ClublinkinbioUniversity

Arriving on the campus of St. Lawrence University Saturday morning the unseasonably warm weather may have had a few people wondering if they were competing outdoors, but the Lions and both varsity programs were in town to kick off the 2022-23 indoor campaign. This was the first time making the familiar drive down the 416 and across the border to our Northern New York neighbours since 2019 and the athletes were eager to make up for lost time as they set six meet records, including two facility records. 

University of Ottawa sophomore David Moulongou was the first to etch their name into the record books as he ran away from teammate Lucas Zanetti in the final lap of the 600 metres to win in 1 minute and 25.26 seconds. Zanetti held a near 10 metre lead as the pair heard the bell for the final lap before Moulongou shifted into another gear and ran his way to victory over the final 200 metres. The previous meet and facility record of 1:25.42 belonged to Lion Zachary Meredith and were set in 2019. 

Fellow second year uOttawa student Bianca Borgella was next to rewrite the record books with her 60 metre winning time of 7.78 seconds equalling the mark of Gee-Gee alum Sarah de Carufel from 2014. Borgella dominated the field, opening an eight metre gap by the halfway point and winning by a half second over teammate Kennedy Banton-Lindsay. Borgella’s mark time moves her to 12th on Club’s U20 list and she is 9th in the early season USports rankings. 

Training partners Sydney Smith and Stephen Evans each produced dominating results in their respective 1000 metre events. Evans went first, trimming more than a second off his own meet record with his winning time of 2:28.20. While Evan’s margin of victory was sizable (15.78 seconds), Smith’s complete domination of the women’s field took it to another level as she lapped all but one runner to win in a new facility record of 2:49.80. The reigning Ontario 800 metre champion bested the 18 year old facility record by more than two and a half seconds and moved to number 16 on the Club’s all-time list. 

The 300 metres also produced a pair of meet records for Club athletes. The University of Ottawa’s Doyin Ogunremi took down her old standard by nearly half a second with her winning time of 41.70 seconds. Jay Yetman shaved 14 hundredths off the three year old meet record with his winning time of 36.01 seconds. The performance was also a new personal best for the grade 12 student at Glebe Collegiate.

For a full list of results from Holiday Relays as well as photos from the event, please visit our results page.

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Pedersen and Beauregard top finishers at Bayfront Open

by linkinbioProvincialUniversity

Friday marked a return to action for the Club’s harriers. Varsity runners from both the University of Ottawa and Carleton University and the Lions took to the starting line of the McMaster Bayfront Open along the shore of Burlington Bay in Hamilton. 

Running as the sole Lion in the Open 8km race, Nico Pedersen posted a top three finish in his final prep race before next month’s Ontario Championship. The 22-year-old averaged 3:17 kilometres as he crossed the line in a time of 26 minutes and 17.7 seconds – 23 seconds behind winner Brent Smalley.

It was as close to a championship field as you could get ahead of the OUA Championships with just the Windsor Lancers missing from the starting line. For the Gee-Gees, first year athlete and fourth year student, Noemie Beauregard continued to lead the team as she placed 12th in 8km race in a time of 29 minutes and 34.8 seconds. 

Teammate Nina Gunther also found a place in the top-30 with her 28th place finish in 31:08.2. The top woman for the Ravens was fourth year journalism student Pippa Norman who crossed the line in 63rd place. 

Elizabeth Vroom and Gillian Porter, both first year students at Queen’s University, placed 21st and 32nd respectively. 

On the men’s side, André Alie-Lamarche was the top Gee-Gee in 28th. Teammate Jackson Roy was 2.4 seconds back in 26:00.6 to place 31st. With three more Gee-Gees placing within the top 50, the team finished 7th with 180 points. 

Ravens rookie David Birinberg was the top finisher for Carleton, crossing the line in 29 minutes and 23.4 seconds for 106th. 

Varsity runners will return to action on the final weekend of the month with the OUA Championships set for the 29th in London and the RSEQ Championships going the day after in Rawdon, Quebec.

(Toronto, Canada---18 March 2022) David Adeleye of the University of Toronto competing on day one of the OUA Track and Field Championships at the Toronto Track and Field Centre on the campus of York University. Photograph 2022 Copyright Miles Ryan Rowat / Mundo Sport Images

Adeleye and Telford bring home bronze from USports Championship

by linkinbioNationalUniversity

The 41st edition of the USports Track and Field Championships wrapped up Saturday at the Irving Oil Fieldhouse in St. John, New Brunswick with much to celebrate. While the championship marked the return of the national event after a one year hiatus due to pandemic restrictions, it was also the first time the event had ever been held on Canada’s east coast. With a pair of bronze medals and another two fourth place finishes, it was a successful weekend for the Lions athletes.

Taking home the first medal of the weekend was David Adeleye in the 60 metre hurdles. The second year student at the University of Toronto, posted a time of 8.15 seconds in the final to narrowly edge out the next three finishers, who all crossed the line with four hundreds of a second of David. 

In the heats, Adeleye posted the fastest time of his career – a blazing 8.07 seconds. The time makes the Ashbury graduate the sixth fastest in Club history. 

A five time relay medalist at Canadian age class championships, Alexandra Telford snagged her first individual medal on the national stage with a bronze in the 300 metres. Running a Carleton University record of 38.69 seconds in the slow section of the timed final, Telford had to wait a few minutes for the fast section to go before her spot on the podium was confirmed. 

Thomas Senechal-Becker had his eyes on a podium spot heading into Friday night’s high jump final, but would settle for fourth place. The first year student at the University of Ottawa entered ranked third with a best of 2.05 metres, but struggled with misses at his early heights and was able to go no higher than 2.02 metres on the day. 

Similarly to Senechal-Becker, Sydney Smith narrowly missed the podium as well. The OUA 600 metre champion finished an agonizing four hundredths of a second out of third. Smith sat in second, with a narrow lead over eventual champion Sadie-Jane Hickson of Guelph at the bell before quickly pushing to the lead on the backstretch. She would maintain the lead through most of the final corner before it appears she is bumped and ends up swinging wide out into lane two as she enters the straightaway. Fighting for the line, Smith was out leaned in the final metre for bronze. 

Smith’s meet was not over, as she would finish the Championship by helping the Gee-Gees 4×400 metre relay team to a seventh place finish. The quartet, which also included Doyin Ogunremi, Frédérique Bell, and Hannah Frazer posted a time of 3:54.71 – their second fastest of the season. 

The final top eight finish came from shot putter Brianna Asiamah. The third year student at the University of Ottawa managed a best throw of 12.31 metres to place eighth in her first USports Championship. 

Other Lions results from the Championship include:

Paulina Procyk & Helena Jovic (Toronto) 4x200m – 9th 1:44.74
Vanessa Lu Langley & Audrey Gilmour (McGill) 4x200m – 11th 1:57.53
Will Cox (Dalhousie) 3000m – 12th 8:37.96
Robert Mitchell (Calgary) 4×800 – 11th 7:56.68
Helena Jovic (Toronto) 4x400m – 5th 3:53.20

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USports Championships kick off today with 14 Lions in action

by linkinbioNationalUniversity

For the first time in two years, Canada’s best university athletes are gathering in New Brunswick for national bragging rights and some glittering hardware. The USports Track and Field Championships start today in St. John at the recently built Irving Oil Fieldhouse and continues through Saturday.

A total of seven Lions varsity athletes representing the University of Ottawa and Carleton have made the trip out east for the Championship where they will be joined by seven other Club members representing their respective universities.

The University of Ottawa is led by OUA Champion Sydney Smith who looks to add national champion to her running resume in the 600 metres and will also run anchor on the Gee-Gees 4×400 metre relay team. Smith enters the heats of the 600, which take place today at 6:30pm eastern, as the top seed.

Joining the medal hunt for the Gee-Gees is Thomas Sénéchal-Becker in the high jump. The first year accounting student boasts a best of 2.05 metres this season, which ranks him third in the country heading into this weekend’s competition. The OUA silver medalist jumps for gold Friday night at 4pm.

Brianna Asiamah enters Friday night’s shot put competition ranked 10th in the country. The third year social work student will be pushing for a spot in the final when action goes Friday night at 6pm.

The Gee-Gees 4×400 metre relay team will be running in the fast section of the timed final Saturday afternoon. The quartet of Doyin Ogunremi, Frédérique Bell, Hannah Frazer, and Sydney Smith just missed out on a medal at the OUA championships and are eager to show the country just how fast they can go when the gun goes off at 3pm on Saturday.

Carleton University’s lone entry in this year’s championship is Alexandra Telford. The architecture graduate student is among the medal favourites when competition in the 300 metres gets underway on Friday – having posted the third fastest time in the country while winning the RSEQ Championships two weeks ago.

Telford had qualified in the 60m hurdles as well, but dropped the event to focus on the 300, as the hurdles are also scheduled for Friday. It will be a tight turnaround for the 300 metre field with the heats scheduled for 4:50pm and the final set to go just 110 minutes later at 7:40.

A trio of Lions will be representing the Varsity Blues of Toronto this weekend. David Adeleye will contest the 60 metre hurdles, where he enters with the sixth fastest time. The duo of Paulina Procyk and Helena Jovic will run on the Blues 4×200 metre squad, with Jovic also featuring on the 4×4 team as well.

Leewinchell Jean, a third year student at the University of Windsor, will line up for his second USports Championships this weekend. A finalist in the 60 metre hurdles two years ago, Jean will only contest the 4×400 metre relay this weekend for the Lancers as an injury hampered early season preparation in his marquee event.

In tonight’s 4×200 metre relay heats, Vanessa Lu-Langley will pass the baton to clubmate Audrey Gilmour as the pair represent McGill University. The Martlets enter the championship with the sixth fastest time in the country this season.

Rounding out the field of Lions is Will Cox, representing Dalhousie University. Cox will run the 3000 metres for the Tigers Friday night at 5:50pm. The AUS Champion enters the championship ranked 13th.

Lions Schedule

Thursday, March 31

Sydney Smith (uOttawa) 600m Heat 2 6:30pm
Paulina Procyk & Helena Jovic (Toronto) 4x200m Heat 3 7:20pm
Vanessa Lu Langley & Audrey Gilmour (McGill) 4x200m Heat 3 7:20pm

Friday, April 1

David Adeleye (Toronto) 60mH Heat 1 3:45pm
Thomas Sénéchal-Becker (uOttawa) High Jump Final 4:00pm
David Adeleye (Toronto) 60mH Final 4:40pm*
Alexandra Telford (Carleton) 300m Heat 1 4:50pm
Will Cox (Dalhousie) 3000m Final 5:50pm
Brianna Asiamah (uOttawa) Shot Put Final 6:00pm
Alexandra Telford (Carleton) 300m Final 6:40pm*

Saturday, April 2

Sydney Smith (uOttawa) 600m Final 12:15pm*
Paulina Procyk & Helena Jovic (Toronto) 4x200m Final 1:15pm*
Vanessa Lu Langley & Audrey Gilmour (McGill) 4x200m Final 1:15pm*
Helena Jovic (Toronto) 4x400m Final 3:00pm
Doyin Ogunremi, Frédérique Bell, Hannah Frazer, Sydney Smith (uOttawa) 4x400m Final 3:00pm

Live Results can be found at https://www.windsortiming.com/LiveResults/2022/USport/index.php

All the action will be streamed live on CBC.ca/sports

Sydney-Smith-OUA-Champion

Smith and Telford golden at conference championships

by linkinbioProvincialUniversity

We expect there was a good amount celebrating at the Smith/Telford residence Sunday night following a golden weekend at their respective university conference championships for the two Lions varsity athletes.Roommates Sydney Smith and Alexandra Telford combined for a trio of gold medals this past weekend at the OUA and RSEQ Championships and did so in rather impressive fashion.

First to the podium was Smith who executed her 600m race strategy to absolute perfection. Biding her time for the first two laps, Smith surged past Guelph’s Sadie-Jane Hickson on the bell lap to capture her first OUA title in a personal best time of 1:30.37. The performance ranks as the sixth fastest in Club history.

The human kinetics graduate student nearly picked up a second medal in the 4×400 metre relay as her speedy anchor leg of 54.64 seconds took the Gee-Gees to within half a second of bronze. However, with their time of 3:51.66, the team of Doyin Ogunremi, Hannah Frazer, Frédérique Bell, and Smith will qualify for the USports Championship in two weeks time.

For Telford, her victories came fast and furious on day two of the Quebec conference championship. The Carleton graduate student began with a personal best effort to take the 60 metre hurdle title in 8.97 seconds. It was part of an Ottawa sweep of the podium, as silver went to fellow Lion Vanessa Lu Langley who is studying at McGill, while bronze went to recent University of Ottawa graduate Stéphanie Lapolice, who is completing graduate work in health promotion at Université Laval.

Less than an hour after her hurdles triumph, Telford was back on the track for the final of the 300 metres and another personal best performance. Her winning time of 38.74 seconds was more than a full second clear of the second place runner. Telford’s time moves her into fifth on the Club’s all-time list as she jumps ahead of two-time Olympian Alicia Brown.

Carleton’s Alec Jeffrey also found his way onto the podium at the RSEQ Championship. The school record holder in the shot put, Jeffrey heaved the shot out to 13.33 metres to claim the silver medal.

Picking up a silver medal at the OUA Championships was the University of Ottawa’s Thomas Senechal-Becker. The first year student cleared 2.02 metres in the high jump.

Another noteworthy performance included Emma Martins’ fifth place finish in the 60 metre final with a personal best time of 7.77 seconds. As well, David Adeleye, running for the University of Toronto, was just off his lifetime best, placing 6th in the 60 metre hurdles in 8.22 seconds, while Jenna Gervais (Western) set a personal best of 9.02 to qualify for the final of the women’s hurdles event, where she would place seventh overall. Finally, Brianna Asiamah just missed her lifetime best by three centimetres in the shot put with a 12.45 metre heave to place seventh.

22-NCAA-Gale

Gale Breaks 30 Year Old Canadian Indoor 400m Record

by linkinbioNationalUniversity

While it may not be fair to expect records every meet, that seems to be what Lauren Gale keeps wanting to give. For the fourth competition in a row Gale broke a record – this time at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Alabama. Gale’s time of 51.64 seconds in the 400 metre final eclipsed , this time taking out Jillian Richardson’s 30 year old Canadian indoor 400 metre mark.

Gale earned her spot in Saturday’s final with a second place finish in her heat Friday night. Coming off the cut in in an unfamiliar third place, the fourth year student maintained her composure and comfortably moved into second as they entered the final turn – closing in 52.17.

Entering her first NCAA final, Gale was calm in her approach. “I’m going to run my race how I usually do, split my normal times and hold on at the end,” remarked the Tokyo Olympian.

Running in the second of two final heats, Gale found herself in possibly the tightest women’s 400 metre battle in NCAA history. While she ultimately placed fourth in her heat, forced to the back of the pack after the cut-in, Gale would place eighth overall – just fifteen hundredths off the podium.

“She was a little frustrated that she couldn’t run her second lap like she wanted to, but she was in the back and had a lot of traffic,” said CSU sprints coach J.J. Riese of Gale’s performance. “That’s how it goes though sometimes, and it is nothing to be ashamed about. Overall, she had a good run and set a record for her home country which is nothing to take lightly.”

Closer to home the both varsity programs wrapped up an expedited regular season at the Redbirds Last Chance meet in Montréal. Combined, the varsity programs garnered 14 podium performances including seven victories.

Alexandra Telford led the haul with a pair of victories in both the 60 metre hurdles and 300 metre events. The Carleton University graduate student also picked up a pair of school records along the way. First was the hurdles, where she fended off strong runs by Club mate Vanessa Lu Langley (McGill) and former Gee-Gee Stephanie Lapolice (Laval) to win in a time of 9.10 seconds – five hundredths better than her previous record. Over 300 metres, Telford bested the field by nearly a second as she ran under 39 seconds for the first time. She is currently ranked first in both events heading into this coming weekend’s RSEQ Championship.

Another Carleton Record came from Alec Jeffrey who took second place in the shot put. The software engineering student heaved the 16 pound ball out to 14.55 metres, besting his previous record by nearly a metre and a half. Jeffrey is now ranked second heading into the Quebec conference championships this weekend, and 11th nationally.

The full list of other medal winners is included below:

GOLD

Sydney Smith – 600m (1:32.91)
Emma Dobson-Takoff – Triple Jump (10.75m)
Elizabeth Moreland – High Jump (1.58m)
Brianna Asiamah – Shot Put (11.60m)
Thomas Senechal-Becker – High Jump (2.02m)

SILVER

Hannah Frazer – 600m (1:37.52)
Elizabeth Moreland – Triple Jump (10.46m)
Vienna Courteau – Long Jump (5.14m)
Jackson Colquhoun – Triple Jump (13.30m)

BRONZE

Stephanie Leask, Hannah Frazer, Sia Mahajan, Skye Pellerin – 4x400m (4:09.32)
Fabrice Nonez, Dillon Landon, David Moulongou, Adam Davidson – 4x200m (1:35.18)

 

Complete results are available: https://ottawalions.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022_Redbird_Last_Chance_Results.pdf

Photos of the competition are available: https://www.mundosportimages.com/gallery/2022-McGill-Last-Chance-Qualifier/G0000L4snPxdnHmM/C000035fRIETKojQ

 

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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.