The Windsor Lancers Women's Track and Field team turned in a spectacular performance as they captured the 2010 CIS Track and Field Women's National Championship at the St. Denis Centre on Saturday.
On the men's side, the Lancer men were edged out by the Guelph Gryphons for the national championship in the final event of the competition. The Lancers finished one spot out of the top two in the Men's 4x400m relay to lose the overall team title by a single point to the Gryphons.
On Saturday, the Lancer Women put on a dominating performance from day one as the amassed 114 points to clinch the team title.
Jaideene Lowe started the day off capturing a gold medal in the women’s triple jump. Lowe secured herself the gold medal on her last jump of the day soaring to 12.73 metres. Rounding out the top three were Western’s Alicia Smith and Mila Simulik who jumped 12.35 and 12.17 respectively.
As expected the battle for the top of the men's podium was between the Windsor Lancers and Guelph Gryphons.
In the final race of the competion, the Calgary Dinos set the pace of 3:18.53 in the first heat of the Men's 4x400 metre relay, setting up a thrilling finish to determine the top of the men's standings.
The number one ranked Windsor Lancers team needed to finish first or second to claim the overall team title. After a extremely tight race, the Lancers finished with a time of 3:19.00, good enough to win the bronze, however falling short of the pace leaving them one point behind Guelph in the overall men`s standings.
Western captured the gold posting a time of 3:18.17, followed up by the Calgary Dino`s lead by stand out Sam Effah with their time of 3:18.53.
In the first track event of the day Melissa Bishop continued to dominate as she won her third gold medal of the weekend. In the 600 metre race Bishop paced herself perfectly to win the gold with a time of 1:30.48. Celia Peters of Dalhousie captured the silver posting a time of 1:31.55 and better her 7th place finish from 2009. Grabbing the bronze medal was Toronto’s Sarah Wells with her time of 1:32.20.
On the men’s side, the Windsor Lancer’s pulled off a dramatic finish as anchor Shayne Rice timed his lean perfectly to edge out Regina and sneak into the bronze medal position with a time of 1:29.09. York University repeated as gold medalists breaking the tape with a time of 1:27.34, while Western’s time of 1:27.86 was good enough for silver.
In the men’s 600 metre, a tight race between Western’s Scott Lietch and Calgary’s Mike Saizew saw Lietch bettered his 4th place performance from last year to win the gold with a time of 1:19.55. Saizew finished just behind the pace with his time of 1:19.66. Rounding out the top three was Jaden Ostapowich of Alberta with his time of 1:20.18.
In the men’s first event of the day Saskatchewan’s Andrew Smith captured the gold in men’s shot put with an impressive throw of 17.94 metres. Windsor’s Mike Miller did his part to help the Lancers get to the top of the team standings by grabbing the silver medal with his throw of 16.75 metres. Guelph’s Tim Hendry captured the bronze, as he just edged Windsor’s Cole Bloxam with his throw of 16.27 metres.
In the women`s 4x400 metre relay, the University of Calgary set a new facility record posting their time of 3:46.30 to win the gold medal. University of Toronto finished right on their heels finishing with an impressive time of 3:46.30 good enough for the silver in a tight race. Western closed out the top three to capture the bronze with a time of 3:48.48.
The men’s pole vault saw Toronto’s Jason Wurster improve on his silver medal from last year as he vaulted his way to the gold on a 5.40 metre jump. Saskatchewan cleaned up the rest of the podium as Taylor and Dillon Petrucha finished second and third vaulting 5.20 and 4.95 metres respectively.
The Women's high jump saw a repeat of last year`s top two results as Sarah Boyle of Toronto, and Lindsey Bergevin repeated as gold and silver medalists. Boyle captured the gold with her 1.80 metres slightly improving on her 2009 numbers.
Bergevin won her second silver in as many years with her jump of 1.72 metres. Grabbing the bronze was Boyle`s team mate Laura Maessen who jumped 1.69 metres to edge Guelph`s Shaneista Haye.
CHAMPIONSHIP AWARDS
CIS Female Athlete of the Meet: Jen Cotten, Western
CIS Male Athlete of the Meet: Sam Effah, Calgary
CIS Coach of the year (women): Dennis Fairall, Windsor
CIS Coach of the year (men): Dave Scott-Thomas, Guelph
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
Women
1. Windsor, 114 points
2. Toronto, 73
3. Western, 63
4. Guelph, 59
5. Saskatchewan, 56
6. Calgary, 42.5
7. York,40
8. Sherbrooke, 30
9. Alberta, 25
10. Dalhousie, 22
11. McGill, 20
12. Montreal, 19
13. Manitoba, 18.5
14.Victoria, 18
15.Regina, 14
16. Laval 13
17. Queens 11
18. St. Mary’s 8
Men
1.Guelph, 86
2. Windsor, 85
3. Western, 76
4. Saskatchewan, 58
5. York 48
6. Calgary, 42
7. Regina, 41
8. Ottawa, 38
9. Toronto 30
10. Queens, 28
11 Manitoba, 23
12. Sherbrooke, 21
13. McGill, 20
14. Victoria, 16
15. Dalhousie, 14
16. Laval, 13
17. Waterloo, 10
18. Lethbridge, 6
18. Alberta, 6
20. St. Mary’s, 2