(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

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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.

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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

 

Sydney-Smith-Feature-Image

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.

SB20220219GuelpOpen100

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.

BAY18070720_Canadian_Championships

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. 



Brampton, Ontario ---2017-07-30--- Katie Newlove of Ottawa Lions T.F.C. and Jordyn Bartolomucci of Timmins Porcupine Track & Field compete at the AO BMY Championships in Brampton, Ontario, July 30, 2017. GEOFF ROBINS/ Mundo Sport Images

Cox and Newlove produce top finishes at USports XC Championship

by linkinbioNationalUniversity

The university cross country season concluded Saturday at the 2021 USports Championships hosted by the Laval Rouge et Or in Quebec City. Running on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City. The field of nearly 260 athletes included six Lions’ runners.

Will Cox was the top placing Lion, finishing 30th in the men’s race. The Atlantic University Sport bronze medalist completed the eight kilometre course in 25 minutes and 43.7 seconds. His performance helped his Dalhousie Tigers to a seventh place finish and he was named Dalhousie Male Athlete of the Week for his efforts.

Finishing five seconds back of Cox was Robbie Mitchell in 37th. The University of Calgary graduate student helped the Dinos to a ninth place finish.

Adrian Fournier of the University of Ottawa placed 61st overall in a time of 26 minutes and 27.1 seconds. His performance was the highest finish by Gee-Gee male since Alex Berhe’s 58th place finish at the 2016 championships on the same course. Cameron Bruce of Carleton placed 126th.

Second year University of British Columbia student, Katie Newlove produced the top finish on the women’s side, placing 43rd in a time 30 minutes and 49.2 seconds. Newlove and her Thunderbird teammates just missed the podium, finishing five points behind Guelph’s 119 points to place fourth.

Fellow second year runner, Skye Pellerin finished 110th in her first USports Championship. The University of Ottawa Gee-Gee runner crossed the line in 33 minutes and 13.0 seconds.

Copyright Brian Rouble/Shuttered Moments

Cassidy fifth at Boston Marathon; XC competes in Sherbrooke

by InternationallinkinbioUniversity

The world’s oldest marathon race returned to the streets of Boston Monday morning with a familiar face near the top of the leader board. Canadian record holder Joshua Cassidy placed fifth with a time of 1:28:56 – his fastest marathon since the 2017 edition of Boston.

Traditionally held on Patriots Day, the third Monday in April, the 125th edition of the BAA Boston Marathon was pushed to the October date as a result of COVID restrictions following its cancellation in 2020.

Monday’s event almost didn’t happen for Cassidy, who almost pulled out of the event in September after losing two and a half weeks of training due to a sinus infection. Despite the break, the three time Paralympian held tight to the front of the pack throughout the race. Cassidy battled for third with South African Ernst Van Dyk all the way up Heartbreak Hill, a 600 metre ascent between the 32 and 34 kilometre marks. Continuing the battle towards the finish, Van Dyk narrowly pulled away, while Cassidy nipped at the line by American Aaron Pike, who finish one second ahead.

Cassidy, who is also awaiting the birth of his first child with partner Laiken appeared content with the result, writing on Instagram “not bad, needed a bit more quality training, but so happy to be out there, happy to be home again, and grateful for everyone with the Boston Marathon team.”

Back in Canada, a small collection of Lion, Gee-Gees, and Ravens took part in the the Vert et Or Invitation cross country race on the campus of the University of Sherbrooke on Sunday. Nico Pedersen was the winner of the open men’s eight kilometre race with a time of 25 minutes and 49.4 seconds. Nathan Meraw of the Gee-Gees was the top male in the university section, placing 43rd in 27:58.8. The top female honour went to Kylee Fowler, a first year student with the Gee-Gees, who placed 42nd in 34:02.3. Carleton’s Sophy Wood was the top Raven in 46th.

Complete results from the Vert et Or Invitation can be found on the FQA website.