A successful weekend for the Western Mustangs track and field team: the athletes secured 23 gold, 12 silver, and 7 bronze place finishes at the Season’s Opener Meet at Thompson Arena on Saturday. The Stangs hosted schools from across North America at the one-day meet, and placed in the top three for 22 out of the 36 total events.
On the track,
Alicia Smith sprinted to a second-place finish in the women’s 60m dash with an 8.02 second time. Teammates
Tia Semplonius and
Vanessa Brathwaite were close behind in the same category, scoring 8.10 seconds each. The event was lead for the fifth consecutive year by Miana Griffiths with a 7.46 time – 3/100ths behind the Opener record she set at last season’s meet.
Miguel Wason worked up the ranks in the men’s 60m dash, placing third and second in the preliminary and semi-final rounds before winning the overall event in 6.88 seconds.
In the 200m sprint,
Rebecca Gray won the women’s division in 27.25 seconds, and teammate
Rajiv Naidoo followed up in the men’s round with a 23.20 second win. The ladies then swept the 300m dash podium with Cassandra McCraig on top (40.73s), followed by
Brenna Thomson and Rachel Muma in second and third place, with 40.76 and 41.60 respective times.
Brent Bates owned the 300m men’s dash with a 36.79 score.
Drew Mackay-Timmerman and
Pat Hartman both represented the Stangs in the long-distance events, and won the men’s 600m and 1000m runs, respectively.
The Stangs were also victorious in the hurdle events in both the women’s and men’s divisions:
Shaylyn Kowalchuk captured the best 60m hurdle time (9.11s), and
Matt Morden (8.63s), Isoken Ogieva (8.63s), and Bates swept the men’s podium in the 60m event.
Two teams competed in the women’s 4x200m relay event and again came out on top with first and second place finishes. The men’s team followed up to win the 4x200m relay event, in addition to their 4x400m long-distance relay win.
On the field, Ruthie Aiden jumped 1.55m in the women’s high jump event, the best in the event.
Chris Robertson and
Chris Cauley both jumped 1.85m to place second in the men’s high jump round.
Caroline Ehrhardt leapt 5.50m – the longest distance, scoring first place – in the women’s long jump, and teammates
Thomas Bednarik and
Jose Belfast-Kum scored 6.96m and 6.55m respectively to place second and third in the men’s long jump round. In triple jump,
Emily Goad,
Kelly Bedek, and
Katie Kaiser carried the women’s top spots with 11.12m, 11.05m, and 10.99m jump distances.
Next, the Mustangs took on the field throwing competition.
Lydia Foley won the women’s 4kg shot put with an 11.84m score, and close behind was teammate
Julie Sleeth with an 11.37m throw in the same event. Janine McCutcheon scored 15.00m in the 20lb throw, the best of the field in the women’s division.
Josh Archer secured second place on the men’s side with a 15.16m toss in the 35lb weight throw - a great way to finish the Stangs' successful day at Thompson Arena.
Next, the track and field team travels to Windsor for the two-day Can Am Meet on January 13 and 14, 2012.