Winnipeg, MB – The Mustangs Men's Track & Field team are back-to-back U SPORTS Track & Field Champions after three days of intense competition at the University of Manitoba this weekend.

The Men's team finished with 64 points, just 3.5 points clear of the Alberta Golden Bears. The Women's team battled hard and finished 4^th with 66 points.



Head Coach Caroline Ehrhardt was named the winner of the Bob Boucher Award as Men's Team Coach of the Year.

"At the beginning of the year we knew the men's team would be a strong one, but with a few injuries and mishaps throughout the season, we ended up being ranked 4th heading into the championships, a significant margin from 1st," said Ehrhardt "In our pre meet I told them we were chasing nothing but the shadow of opportunity being cast by our own potential. We weren't chasing others, but simply trying to do our absolute best. By the end of day 3 everyone was crunching the numbers and it was getting more and more real that we were in it. Definitely an unforgettable day of people stepping up, using the momentum we were generating, and the stars aligning for us."




EVENT RECAP

Day 1
The Mustangs kicked off day one of the U SPORTS championships in Winnipeg with some fantastic performances.
In the field, the women opened the meet in the weight throw with some outstanding performances. Liv Sands earned a silver medal with a massive throw of 18.98m, while Molly Anderson finished 6^th (17.38m). Julia King followed this up in the women's pole vault with an impressive jump of 3.80m, finishing in the fourth-place position.



On the track, Hallee Knelsen had a great run of 1:32.08 in the women's 600m, finishing 8^th overall. In the relays, both Western squads had excellent qualifying rounds. The women's team placed 8^th overall, scoring a spot in the final. The men's team dominated their preliminary round, qualifying 1^st with a new school record of 1:26.84. This team's roster included Aaron Thompson, Thomas Helland, Deandre Williams, and Ayden Blain.

The women's pentathlon saw Robin Selkirk finish 8^th (3569 points), followed by Riley Hopley in 10^th (3258 points). After the first day of the men's heptathlon, Jackson Mackay sits in 1^st place with 3246 points, with Emmanuel Desilets currently 5^th and Leo Wallner rounding out the group in 10^th position heading into the final events tomorrow.
 
Day 2

The Men's heptathlon finished off their final three events of the competition. Mackay took 1st place in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.04 (U SPORTS record), Wallner finished 2nd at 8.58 and Desilets was 3rd at 8.59. Mackay & Desilets would tie for first in the Pole Vault, each clearing 4.60m, Wallner was 8th at 4.10m. In the final event, the 1000m, Desilets finished 5th, Wallner was 6th and Mackay was 10th. Mackay took the gold medal for the overall event, finishing with a new U SPORTS record of 5607 points. Desilets finished 3rd with 5188 points and Wallner was 9th with 4834 points. 



Hallee Knelsen placed 4^th with a time of 2:47.00, followed by Juliana Hendrikx finishing 11^th. Following suit, the Mustangs delivered an outstanding performance in the women's 3000m. Sophie Coutts led the field, capturing gold in 9:55.66, while Maria Linton was close behind finishing in silver medal position (9:58.12), giving Western a 1-2 finish in the event.



The men's hurdles included 3 mustangs in the final, where David Adeleye captured a silver medal finishing with a time of 7.84, breaking the previous school record in the process. Teammates Jackson Mackay and Ayden Blain finished 5^th (7.93) and 8^th (8.17), respectively.

"I wasn't even sure if I was going to do this season until late December and for me I feel it's a reflection of the hundreds of hours I spent dedicated to rehabbing myself as much as I could." said Adeleye. "In a way I've shown myself that I'm capable of bouncing back from any obstacles life throws at me, but overall I feel a huge sense of relief."



In the field, Arman Shahzadeh produced one of the most dramatic moments of the day in the men's long jump. Sitting in 2^nd place entering the sixth and final round, Shahzadeh improved from 7.29m to 7.56m, leaping into first place and securing the national title. Zach Courtney followed suit with a 4^th place finish (7.11m).



Liv Sands added another national title with a dominant performance in the women's shot put, throwing a school record of 17.67m to claim gold, while Anij Sparenberg finished 7^th (12.93m).

"Ending my U SPORTS career with a record and a couple of medals is really special. I'm proud of the performance, but what means the most to me is the team that stood behind me every step of the way," said Sands. "I've been lucky to have such an amazing family of support here, and that's something I'm going to miss as I move forward in my athletics career."


 
Day 3
Saturday marked the third and final day of the U SPORTS Track and Field Championships, where the Mustangs continued their momentum on both the track and field.

On the track, the relay teams contributed valuable points. The men's 4x200m relay followed up their school record performance in the preliminary round with a third-place finish in the final (1:27.26). The result came after a nearly two-hour review of the race, which saw the Guelph Gryphons get disqualified after one of their athletes interfered with a Mustangs runner on the final exchange of the race.

"On Monday night, I said to the men's team, Pack your podium outfits because we are taking third place from Manitoba," said Men's team co-captain Ayden Blain. "Again, Wednesday in my speech to the team, I concluded that we were going to make up the 1.75 points and steal 3rd. Little did I know we would earn 10 more than projected. This year I witnessed the most consistent and level-headed competition I've seen from a Mustangs men's track team."



The women's 4x200m relay would line up in the final and place 8^th overall. The women's 4x400m team would also contribute points with a 5^th place finish in 3:49.55.

In the women's 1500m, Sophie Coutts capped off her championship weekend with a 4^th place finish (4:25.18), while Maria Linton placed 7^th (4:27.71).
On the field, Emmanuel Desilets and Jackson Mackay would both compete in the pole vault competition, just one day after completing their heptathlon. They finished 5^th (4.70m) and 7^th (4.60m) respectively. In the men's shot put, Sam Morrow threw 15.61m, earning himself a 7^th place finish in the event. Banujan Kulainthiran narrowly missed the podium in the men's triple jump, finishing 4^th with a mark of 14.81m.

The final day closed out the championship weekend for the Mustangs. The men captured the national team title with a point total of 64, while the women secured a strong fourth-place finish.

"I'm incredibly proud of the grit. This is a close-knit, scrappy team that will fight until the very end for one another. There's no telling what a team can't do when their source of motivation is one another," said Ehrhardt. "That's a longstanding culture I'm lucky to have walked into, but also very intentional and deliberate about sustaining. I'm proud of the finishes, but most proud of the sideline stuff and the way we all came together."

TEAM SCORES

Men

Place	Team	Points
1	Western	64
2	Alberta	60.5
3	Guelph	56
4	Manitoba	55
5	York	53
6	Windsor	48.5
7	Calgary	40
8	Toronto	38
9	Laval	34
10	McGill	33
11	Ottawa	23
12	Queen's	20
12	UNB	20
14	Sherbrooke	17
15	McMaster	15
16	Dalhousie	14
17	Trinity Western	13
18	Montreal	12
18	Saskatchewan	12
20	Brock	10
21	Regina	8
22	Lethbridge	6
23	Victoria	5
24	Concordia	1

 
Women 

Place	Team	Points
1	Guelph	105
2	Saskatchewan	79
3	Windsor	70
4	Western	66
5	Alberta	33
5	Calgary	33
7	Montreal	32
8	Toronto	29
9	Laval	24
9	Lethbridge	24
11	St. FX	22
12	Manitoba	20
12	Sherbrooke	20
14	Dalhousie	17
14	Regina	17
16	UNB	13
17	York	12
18	Brock	9
19	Victoria	8
20	Ottawa	6
20	McGill	6
22	Moncton	5
23	ETS Montreal	4
24	Queen's	2
25	Trinity Western	1