Windsor, ON – The Mustangs Track & Field team made program history this weekend winning both the Men's & Women's U SPORTS Championships banners in record fashion.
The Men's team finished with 139 points in the team standings, 54 points ahead of second place Guelph while the Women's team finished with 119 points, 34 points ahead of the Gryphons.
"I am absolutely speechless right now," said Mustangs Head Coach Vickie Croley at the conclusion of the event "This is such an incredible group of men and women that will go on and be very successful in life and I am so glad they got to experience what it is like to win a championship, they truly have earned this and it's been years in the making,"
The three-day event saw the Mustangs pick up 25 medals from individual and relay events en route to the gold medal performances for both teams.
"This feels incredible, it's a goal that has been left behind by the captains before me and I am so glad we were able to pull this off not only for us, but for the entire team but also the teams that came before us to bring it home like this," said Mustangs Men's team captain Seth Edwards "The culture runs deep with us, it always has and it always will and I hope this is just the start for our group and the younger members of the team can keep this momentum going,"
Head Coach Vickie Croley was also recognized for her outstanding leadership with the Dr. Bob Boucher Men's Coach of the Year AND Sue Wise Women's Coach of the Year award in the post event ceremony.
"It definitely feels great and is very special, but I truly feel it isn't an individual award, it goes to my entire coaching staff," said Croley "Many of our coaches are former Mustangs student-athletes themselves that are now coaching and the passion they bring to our team is one of the big reasons we had success this weekend so this award is really for them,"
EVENT RECAP
The highlight of day one of competition was the performance of the 60m sprints, which Western took top spot on both the Men's and Women's sides. Vivian Ogor solidified her spot on top of the podium with a blazing 7.23 second run in the event to give the Mustangs their first gold medal of the weekend.
"I felt really confident, we have so many meets on this track, so I definitely had some additional comfort there," said Ogor "There is obviously some nerves there but I wasn't too high or too low and I knew I had it at the end,"
Just mere minutes later, Immanuel Onyemah, who has battled injury all year long, absolutely flew in the Men's 60m and took gold with a time of 6.63m.
"I knew I had to get out to a quick start, I maybe dipped a little bit too early but we got the job done," said Onyemah " This is my first U SPORTS gold in my last competition, it's such an amazing feeling, I'm just so happy,"
This served as a launching point for the Mustangs performance to come.
"We said we just wanted to set the tone and we definitely did that tonight," said Mustangs Sprints Coach Taylor Ehrhardt. "Viv has been running incredibly well all season and definitely deserves to be at the top of the podium, we pulled Immanuel from the semis and finals at OUA's so he could rest his body and it definitely worked out, i'm just so happy for both of them,"
The opening day would also see Liv Sands take 3
rd in the Women's Weight Throw and Natalie Thirsk get gold in the Women's 60m T38 Ambulatory race.
Day two of the championship started with Hallee Knelsen winning a silver in the Women's 1000m.
In Men's Long Jump, Kenneth West set the U SPORTS record with a jump of 7.88m. He wasn't the only Mustang on the podium for the event as Arman Shahzadeh finished 2
nd with his best jump of 7.31m.
There were also a pair of Mustangs on the podium in the Men's Heptathlon as Jared Hendricks-Polack finished 2
nd with 5257 points after the seven event marathon while Emanuel Desilets finished just five points behind, with 5252 points to take third.
Liv Sands stepped into the Women's Shot Put and dominated the field. Her best throw was 16.40m on her fourth attempt of the event. She was 2.69m ahead of the second place finish.
In the Women's 3000m race Sophie Coutts took 2
nd place with a time of 9:26.45.
Natalie Thirsk got her second medal of the weekend, taking gold in the Women's 300m T38 Ambulatory race.
In the 300m races, Favour Okpali took silver in the Women's race while Aaron Thompson and Josh Duckman finished 1
st & 2
nd in the Men's race at 34.09 seconds & 34.21 seconds to give Western three more medals.
"I'm walking away from the weekend with three gold medals and two of them are relay and team medals and those are the ones that mean the most to me," said Thompson. "It's fun to win but it's more fun to win as a team."
Day two was rounded out with the Women's 4x800m team finishing 2
nd and the Men's team finishing 3
rd.
The final day of competition was fast and furious with Mustangs performances.
Men's team captain Seth Edwards started the day with a bronze medal in the Men's Shot Put. His best throw was 16.13m.
Emanuel Desilets followed up his Heptathlon performance with a silver medal in the Men's Pole Vault, his best clearance was 4.80m.
Favour Okpali dominated her main event, the Women's 600m, finishing in 1:27.71
The Men's Triple Jump brought Western two more medals, led by Kenneth West taking gold with a best jump of 16.04m. This was followed by rookie Banujan Kulainthiran who finished 3
rd with a best jump 15.02m.
"This is amazing, I don't know where to begin," said West. "The momentum continued all weekend long and we all just fed off each other and now to be known as one of the best teams in history is incredible,"
Back on the distance side, Chloe Coutts won silver in the Women's 1500m with a final time of 4:23.94.
The weekend would be rounded out with a series of relay races that saw the Mustangs finish 1
st in the Men's 4x200m and 3
rd in the Women's 4x400m.
Not only was this a historic performance for the Mustangs, it was also a fitting conclusion to the career of Head Coach Vickie Croley, who announced her retirement earlier this year.
"What an unbelievable career she has had and to cap it off like this is such a storybook ending," said Thompson
"We did do it for Vickie, finally!" said Ogor
"Even more profound gratitude for Vickie, she's been a pillar of the team for 32 years and in my life for the last six years, this has been an incredible weekend, I'm so elated that we were able to get this done for her and all of our coaches," Edwards
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
Men's Team Standings
| 1 |
Western |
139 |
| 2 |
Guelph |
85 |
| 3 |
Manitoba |
79 |
| 4 |
Windsor |
59 |
| 5 |
Alberta |
41 |
| 6 |
Toronto |
32 |
| 7 |
York |
22 |
| 8 |
McMaster |
21 |
| 9 |
Dalhousie |
19 |
| 10 |
Sherbrooke |
18 |
| 11 |
Trinity Western |
17 |
| 12 |
Queen's |
16 |
| 13 |
Calgary |
15 |
| 14 |
Laval |
13 |
| 14 |
Montreal |
13 |
| 16 |
Regina |
11 |
| 16 |
UNB |
11 |
| 18 |
Brock |
10 |
| 18 |
Victoria |
10 |
| 20 |
Saskatchewan |
9 |
| 21 |
St. Mary's |
8 |
| 22 |
Carleton |
7 |
| 23 |
McGill |
4 |
| 24 |
Ottawa |
3 |
| 25 |
Moncton |
1 |
Women's Team Standings
| 1 |
Western |
121 |
| 2 |
Guelph |
85 |
| 3 |
Saskatchewan |
74 |
| 4 |
Windsor |
59 |
| 5 |
Calgary |
48 |
| 6 |
Laval |
47 |
| 7 |
Manitoba |
34 |
| 8 |
Toronto |
33.5 |
| 9 |
Waterloo |
20 |
| 10 |
Dalhousie |
18 |
| 10 |
Regina |
18 |
| 12 |
Sherbrooke |
14 |
| 13 |
Lethbridge |
13 |
| 14 |
Alberta |
12 |
| 15 |
Victoria |
11 |
| 16 |
McGill |
8 |
| 17 |
Ottawa |
7 |
| 18 |
Montreal |
6 |
| 19 |
York |
5.5 |
| 20 |
UNB |
5 |
| 20 |
McMaster |
5 |
| 20 |
Lakehead |
5 |
| 23 |
St. FX |
4 |
| 23 |
Carleton |
4 |
| 25 |
Trinity Western |
3 |
| 26 |
UPEI |
2 |
| 27 |
Queen's |
1 |
MUSTANGS PODIUM FINISHES
Liv Sands – 3rd - Women's Weight Throw – 18.14m
Natalie Thirsk – 1st - Women 60m T38 Ambulatory – 8.79
Vivian Ogor – 1st – Women's 60m – 7.23
Immanuel Onyemah – 1st – Men's 60m – 6.63
Hallee Knelsen – 2nd – Women's 1000m - 2:47.80
Kenneth West – 1st – Men's Long Jump – 7.88m - U SPORTS RECORD
Arman Shahzadeh – 2nd – Men's Long Jump – 7.31m
Jared Hendricks-Polack – 2nd – Men's Heptathlon – 5257 points
Emanuel Desilets – 3rd - Men's Heptathlon – 5252 points
Sophie Coutts – 2nd – Women's 3000m - 9:26.45
Liv Sands – 1st - Women's Shot Put – 16.40m
Natalie Thirsk – 1st - Women 300m T38 Ambulatory – 48.50
Favour Okpali – 2nd – Women's 300m – 37.78
Aaron Thompson – 1st – Men's 300m – 34.09
Josh Duckman – 2nd – Men's 300m – 34.21
Seth Edwards – 3rd – Men's Shot Put – 16.13m
Emanuel Desilets – 2nd – Men's Pole Vault – 4.80m
Favour Okpali – 1st - Women's 600m – 1:27.71
Kenneth West - 1st – Men's Triple Jump – 16.04m
Banujan Kulainthiran – 3rd – Men's Triple Jump – 15.02m
Chloe Coutts – 2nd – Women's 1500m - 4:23.94
Women's 4x800m – 2nd - 8:51.77 (Ella Bottomley, Sophie Coutts, Chloe Coutts & Hallee Knelsen)
Men's 4x800m – 3rd - 7:36.51 (Tom Boers, Alexander Warren, Justin Sanders & Ben Fox)
Men 4x200m – 1st - 1:26.90 (Aaron Thompson, Josh Duckman, Robbie Menzies & Ayden Blain)
Women 4x400m – 3rd - 3:42.76 (Cora McQuinn, Tieghan Wallace, Hallee Knelsen & Favour Okpali)
CLICK HERE for full event details.
