The National Track and Field Tour rolled its way into southwestern Ontario for its third stop on Sunday at the Bob Vigars Classic in London. The largest outing of the early outdoor season for the Lions saw 20 athletes compete at Western University’s Alumni Stadium – pulling in a number of personal bests and six podium performances.
Rachael Burrows captured the three Lions victoires Sunday, sweeping all three sprint events. The Paralympian rolled her way to victories over 100, 200, and 400 metres in times of 23.61, 46.75, and 1:34.52 respectively.
Also on the sprint straightaway, Kathryn Manor and Bertwin Ben-Smith each produced lifetime bests to earn spots in their respective 100 metre elite finals.
Manor, who just wrapped up her first year at the University of Ottawa, dipped under the 12-second barrier for the first time in her career in the heats to claim the eighth spot in the final with a time of 11.96 seconds. The time makes Manor the fourth fastest U20 woman in Club history. She would place eighth in the final with a time of 12.12.
Ben-Smith trimmed one one-hundredth of a second off his best in the heats as clocked in at 10.72 seconds. The University of Guelph graduate followed up in the final with an all-conditions equaling best of 10.68 seconds to finish sixth.
David Moulongou and Sydney Smith, competing at 400 metres, also found their way on to the “PB train”. Moulongou trimmed five hundredths of a second off his best, crossing the line in 49.60 seconds on his way to a second place finish in the open section. Smith showed she was nothing if not consistent in her fourth place finish in the elite section. The University of Ottawa graduate student matched her best of 55.59 seconds set just two weeks prior in Ottawa.
The other medal on the track came from Helena Jovic as she took home the bronze in the 400 metre hurdles. The University of Toronto student crossed the line in 1:03.55.
In the field, Emma Dobson-Takoff produced a best leap of 11.01 metres, just three centimetres off her best, in the triple jump to place third. Also in the horizontal jumps, Maria Okwechime exceeded her lifetime best with a windy 5.70 metre leap to finish just off the podium in fourth.