MONTREAL – The Western Mustangs track and field team took to the road this weekend, heading for two days of competition at the 18th Annual McGill Team Challenge in Montreal. The Mustangs fared well at Canada’s largest indoor track meet, placing third in the women’s competition and fourth in the men’s out of the 27 university teams in attendance.
For the third straight week a Western record was broken as
Brenna Thomson broke Jessica Zelinka’s 12 year old record in the 300m, finishing with a time of 39.06 to finish in second place.
Zelinka’s record wasn’t the only one Thomson broke, as the runner posted a 24.3 second lead off time in the 4 X 200m, also a school record. Thomson’s start helped the team, including
Cassandra McCaig,
Jen Barbon, and
Lauren Clancy, take first place in 1:40.74, holding off the Toronto Varsity Blues by 1/100th of a second.
Scott Leitch had a strong weekend on the men’s side, anchoring the men’s 4 X 800m team to a gold medal and the third fastest time in Western history. Running the first three legs of the race were
Matt Muldoon,
Triphon Moodie, and
Ryan Armstrong.
Leitch also won gold in individual competition, claiming first place in the 600m after taking the lead on the final lap to finish in 1:18.67, just one-tenth of a second off his personal best time.
Jen Pitman posted a personal best in the meet, jumping 1.73m in the high jump, the first time she’s eclipsed the 1.70m mark. The jump was good for fourth place in Montreal, and moves Pitman into ninth on the all-time Western records.
Additional medals were won by
Shaylyn Kowalchuk, third in the 60m hurdles with a season's best of 8.89,
Robin Bone third in the pole vault at 3.90m,
Matt Brisson, third in the 60m hurdles, and
Payam Saboni and
Chris Cauley finished tied for third at 1.90m in the high jump.
Top eight and finishing in the points for the women were;
Emily Goad, fourth in the triple jump at 11.00m;
Sharon Michalak, fourth in the pole vault at 3.60m; the 4 X 400m relay team of Rachel Muma,
Jen Pitman,
Genny Cyrenne and
Samantha Mathialagan took fourth in 4:02.38;
Melissa Caruso placed fifth and seventh in the 1000m (2:56.57) and 1500m (4:35.77) respectively;
Sam Gordon finished seventh in the 60m hurdles in 9.23;
Mila Simulik took seventh in the long jump with a jump of 5.33m;
Jodian Daley placed eighth in the long jump with 5.28m;
Kristen Gibson came in at eighth in the triple jump at 10.69m; and rounding out the top eight were
Sharon Michalak (3.60m),
Emma Crombeen (3.40m) and Gesthika Kaltsadis (3.20m) in the pole vault finishing fourth, sixth and eighth respectively.
Top eight and finishing in the points for the men were:
Ike Omoruna in fifth in the 60m at 7.05;
Ehis Adada took fifth in the long jump at 6.85m;
Morley Willoughby finished fifth in the pole vault with 4.05m;
Keith Cyrus placed fifth in the 60m hurdles in 8.46;
Ryan Armstrong took seventh in the 1500m in 3:54.77; Isoken Ogieva placed seventh in the high jump at 1.90m; and
Brent Bates took eighth in the 60m hurdles in 8.57.
Next week the Mustangs will take their top middle distance group, top horizontal jumpers as well as a men's 4 X 400m team to race at the Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame while the rest of the team will travel to York for the York Open.
