The Western Mustangs travelled to Windsor this past weekend to compete in the Windsor Team Challenge, where the women's team placed second overall while the men's team placed third, with both team's earning nine medals a piece. Other members of the team competed at the Spire Division I invitational in Ohio with a number of personal bests and Top 20 finishes being recorded.

Once again Robin Bone took home a gold medal in the pole vault event, with her 4.36m result not only meeting CIS standard but also setting both a meet and CIS record. In the 60m hurdles, Western took up two spots on the podium with Shaylyn Kowalchuk (8.73s) and Joy Spear Chief-Morris (8.76s) taking home silver and bronze medals, respectively. Bone would finish just short of the podium in fourth with a time of 8.80s. Rachael Muma took home bronze in the 300m with a time of 40.30s, with Sarah Clancy (40.42s) and Jen Barbon (40.46) placing fourth and fifth, respectively.

 In the 4 x 200m, Western's Team 'A' , comprised of Spear Chief-Morris, Barbon, Clancy, and Muma, brought home silver with a CIS standard time of 1:40.00. Team 'B' – made up of Liz Barbon, Caroline Ehrhardt, Lauren Clancy, and Cassandra Pascal – placed sixth with a time of 1:44.33. Lauren Thomas and Kowalchuk both had top eight finishes in the long jump, with a 5.30m and 5.20m jump for sixth and eighth place, respectively.  In the triple jump, Ehrhardt brought home another gold medal for the Mustangs after a jump of 12.84m – a CIS standard jump which also set a new meet record. Kristen Gibson and Fatou Bangoura would both place in the top eight with jumps of 10.93m and 10.72m, respectively.

Western earned two medals in the high jump, with Emilia Grala taking silver with a 1.70m height while Kaleigh Hole took bronze with a jump of 1.65m. Devyn McKenzie (1.60m) and Kowalchuk (1.55m) both made top eight. Kristen Bujnowski would add another medal to the Mustangs count, claiming bronze in the pentathlon with 3007 points. Brindley Jatnzi placed sixth in the weight throw with a 15.57m throw, while Brooke Hoxar took sixth in shot put with a result of 12.65m. Finally, in the 60m dash Ehrhardt and Pascal took fifth and sixth place, with times of 7.78s and 7.89s, respectively.

The men's team would see nine individuals take home medals at the event. In the 60m hurdles Izzy Ogieva took gold with a CIS standard time of 7.95m. Ogieva, along with Riley Bell, Chris Cauley, and Robbie Gallaugher would take silver in the 4 x 200m relay with a time of 1:29.37, also meeting CIS standard. In the 60m dash Bell would finish in eighth with a time of 7.02s.  In the 600m dash, Evan Porter claimed bronze with a time of 1:23.97. The Mustangs took home silver in the 4 x 400m after Chris Robertson, Robbie Deeks, Mac Campbell, and Travis More ran a time of 3:30.38.

In the long jump the Mustangs claimed two spots on the podium, with Gallaugher taking silver with a CIS standard 7.24m jump and Bell claiming third with a 7.07m result. Bell would earn silver in the triple jump after a 14.35m result, with Sanjeev Vijayakumar (13.93m), Payam Saboni (13/56m), Daniel Gayle (13/21m), and Madalitso Mchaina (13.10m) taking the fourth through seventh place spots. The high jump event saw four Mustangs record top-eight finishes, with Ogieva and Adam Devon tied for fourth after both jumping 1.95m, and Saboni and Roberston both jumping 1.85m.

Brian Choja would add another medal for the purple and white after a 4.55m result in the pole vault, while teammate Eric Cowan took fifth with 4.30m. Finally, in the pentathlon it was gold for the Mustangs as Cauley earned 3589 points to take first place, with Michael Paisley (3252) and Robertson (2789) in sixth and seventh place, respectively.

At the Spire Division I Invitational in Geneva, Ohio a number of Mustangs saw themselves set personal bests along with numerous individuals making Top 20 finishes. In the 600m Katie Bell (1:33.36) took 10^th, while Genny Cyrenne (1:34.11) placed 14^th with a personal best and Stephanie Truelove's personal best (1:35.33) saw her place 15^th. Melissa Caruso took 10^th in the 1000m with a time of 2:51.15. In the mile event, Amanda Truelove rounded out the Top 20 with a time of 4:53.53, while Bridget Pyke did the same in the 3000m with a personal record of 9:45.43. Triphon Moodie took 12^th in the men's 1000m with a time of 2:29.58 and placed 13^th in the 800m with a result of 1:51.80.

A number of personal bests were set in Ohio this past weekend, including Cyrenne's in the women's 400m (58.57s) and Ben Carson in the 600m (1:24.87). In the 800m event, five Mustangs set personal bests including Caruso (2:14.54), Kristina Popadich (2:17.23) and Stephanie Truelove (2:18.17) for the women, and Carson (1:56.90) and Shane Roberts (1:58.44) for the men. Popadich would set another best in the 1000m with a time of 2:57.63, while Roberts (2:31.61), Lewis Kent (2:32.49), and Andrew McColl (2:33.50) all saw personal bests in the men's 1000m.

Up next, about one third of the Mustangs will compete at the Guelph Last Chance meet on February 20 and 21, while the majority of the team will take time off to prepare for the upcoming OUA Championships. The OUA Championships, which will be hosted by York, will run February 27 and 28.