WINNIPEG (CIS) – For the first time in school history, the Western Mustangs men’s track and field team earned a CIS championship on Saturday, moving from fifth place all the way to the No. 1 spot on the final day of competition.

“Our guys never gave up and used the momentum from event to event to carry us to the victory,” said Western head coach Vickie Croley, who was named CIS men’s coach of the year. “It is pretty emotional as Western has a lot of history. I was really proud of the whole effort and team spirit displayed all weekend.”

The Western men finished with 90 points, 13 ahead of second-place Guelph for the title. The Mustangs started adding up the points when Scott Leitch captured the 600m event to open Day 3 of the championships. Matt Diston finished second in the pole vault, while Drew Welch earned a silver medal in the shot put event.

Western was second in the 4 x 400m relay and third in the 4 x 200m relay. The Mustangs also received points from Jose Belfast-Kum and Carl Shen, who were fourth and fifth place, respectively, in the triple jump.

Western’s women’s team, meanwhile, finished with a bronze medal at this year’s CIS championships. Caroline Ehrhardt won an individual gold medal in the women’s triple jump with a leap of 12.56m.

The Windsor Lancers four-peat for the women’s title at the 2012 championships, extending their CIS record for the most team championships to 11 women’s titles in 32 years. The Lancers completed the three day meet with 87 points while the Guelph Gryphons placed second with 82 and Western University was third at 60.

CHAMPIONSHIP AWARDS

Women

Outstanding athlete of the meet: Kimberly Hyacinthe, UQAM
Coach of the year (Sue Wise Award): Dennis Fairall, Windsor

Men

Outstanding athlete of the meet (George Gemer Award): Dontae Richards-Kwok, York
Coach of the year (Bob Boucher Award): Vickie Croley, Western

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

Women

1. Windsor,  87 points
2. Guelph, 82
3. Western, 60
4. Toronto, 53
5. Saskatchewan, 51
6. Calgary, 49
7. Alberta, 37
8. York, 35
9. McMaster, 33
10. Sherbrooke, 25
11. Victoria, 23
12. Manitoba, 22
13. UQAM, 20
13. Ottawa, 20
15. Trinity Western, 16
16. McGill, 12
16. Regina, 12
18. Laval, 11
19. Dalhousie, 8
20. Montreal, 3
21. St. Francis Xavier, 1

Men

1. Western, 90
2. Guelph, 77
3. Windsor, 73.5
4. York, 72
5. Ottawa, 63
6. Dalhousie, 40
7. Laval, 38
8. Saskatchewan, 37
9. Regina, 34
10. Victoria, 29
11. Toronto, 26
12. Sherbrooke, 24
13. Alberta, 11
14. Manitoba, 10.5
15. Calgary, 9
15. Trinity Western, 9
17. Lakehead, 8
18. Lethbridge, 5
19. Queen's, 3
20. McMaster, 2
21. Waterloo, 1
21. Saint Mary's, 1

INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS: DAY 3

Triple Jump (W)
1. Caroline Ehrhardt, Western, 12.56
2. Julia Wallace, Guelph, 12.48
3. Jaideene Lowe, Windsor, 12.15

Pole Vault (M)
1. Lane Britnell, Saskatchewan, 4.95
2. Matt Diston, Western, 4.90
3. Townsend Benard, Toronto, 4.75

600m (W)
1. Rachel Francois, Victoria, 1:30.19
2. Rachel Aubry, Guelph, 1:30.35
3. Jennifer Perrault, Ottawa, 1:30.68

600m (M)
1. Scott Leitch, Western, 1:18.57
2. Adam Gaudes, Victoria, 1:19.05
3. Michael Trnkus, Toronto, 1:19.15

4X200m (W)
1. Calgary, 1:39.55
(Jenn Zimmer, Kelsey Lotwin, Lacey Miller, Mariah Hensel)
2.Western, 1:39.61
3. Manitoba, 1:41.59
(Sade Ogungbemi, Lisa Wong, Leah Harpelle, Kimberly-Ann Bordun)

4X200m (M)
1. Ottawa, 1:25.65 - CIS CHAMP RECORD
(Oluwasegun Makinde, Michael Robertson, Devin Biocchi, Toluwalope Makinde)
2. York, 1:26.74
(Dontae Richards-Kwok, Tyrone Halstead, Olu Ogunde, David Mayer)
3. Western, 1:27.90
(Elias Granillo, Brayden Bullen, Dan Goddard, Brent Bates)

Triple Jump (M)
1. Simon Watts, Dalhousie, 14.50
2. Patrick Dufresne, Guelph, 14.48
3. Cossy Nachilobe, Saskatchewan, 14.33

Shot Put (M)
1. Tim Hendry, Guelph, 18.31
2. Drew Welch, Western, 17.36
3. Chris Pickering, Regina, 17.32

1500m (W)
1. Tamara Jewett, Toronto, 4:25.97
2. Katie Anderson, McMaster, 4:29.24
3. Fiona Benson, Trinity Western, 4:29.35

1500m (M)
1. Matt Walters, Windsor, 3:47.58
2. Charles Philibert-Thibou, Laval, 3:48.07
3. Allan Brett, Guelph, 3:50.59

High Jump (W)
1. Emma Nuttall, Trinity Western, 1.82
2. Rachel Machin, Calgary, 1.79
3. Lindsey Bergevin, Alberta, 1.70

4X400m (W)
1. Toronto, 3:41.47 - CIS CHAMP RECORD
(Alicia Brown, Rachel Jewett, Fiona Callender, Sarah Wells)
2. Saskatchewan, 3:44.93
(Morgan Sawatzky, Sharai Siemens, Amanda Banks, Katrin Ritchie)
3. Windsor, 3:46.29
(Nicole Sassine, Emilie Halle, Andrina Slegers, Heather Kurpe)

4X400m (M)
1. Ottawa, 3:15.32
(Toluwalope Makinde, Devin Biocchi, Michael Robertson, Oluwasegun Makinde)
2. Western, 3:16.05
(Elias Granillo, Brent Bates, Scott Leitch, Drew Mackay-Timmermans)
3. Manitoba,  3:16.57
(Matthew Fitkowsky, Joel Vankoughnet, Dylan Ostberg, Zacharie Durand)

With files from Canadian Interuniversity Sport