Guelph women, York men look to repeat in Windsor at 2015 CIS track & field championships

OTTAWA (CIS) – The University of Guelph women and York University men will look to defend the team banners this week at the 2015 CIS indoor track and field championships, in Windsor.

The three-day event, hosted by the University of Windsor for the first time since 2010, gets underway Thursday at 11:30 a.m. with the season awards luncheon at the Holiday Inn & Suites (1855 Huron Church Road).

The first final of the national meet, the women's weight throw, follows shortly after – at 2 p.m. - at the St. Denis Centre. The championships conclude Saturday afternoon with the always exciting 4x400m relays (complete schedule included below). Selected events will be webcast live daily at www.CIS-SIC.tv.

In women's competition, Guelph became the third different program in three years to claim the team title last winter, after Calgary in 2013 and Windsor, which had a remarkable four-year championship run from 2009 to 2012. The Gryphons had captured their lone previous CIS banner in 2008.

On the men's side, the game of musical chairs continued for the fourth consecutive season in 2014 as York, which had previously been crowned in 1983 and 1984, took over from Guelph (2013), Western (2012) and Windsor (2011). The last men's team to successfully defend the CIS banner was Windsor back in 2004.

If the latest national rankings are an indication of things to come, the Gryphon women are in tough to repeat as they head into the national meet as the fifth-seeded team behind Toronto, Trinity Western, York and Western. For their part, the reigning champion Lions hold the third spot in the current men's rankings, trailing OUA rivals Windsor and Toronto.

At the conference championships two weeks ago, the women's titles went to Toronto (OUA), Trinity Western (Canada West), Sherbrooke (RSEQ) and Dalhousie (AUS), while Guelph (OUA), Calgary (Canada West), Laval (RSEQ) and Dalhousie (AUS) topped the men's standings.

It marked the first triumph since 2004 for the Toronto women, while the Dalhousie women extended their mind-boggling championship streak to 26 years.

"Both our men and women's teams have had an outstanding season," said U of T coach Carl Georgevski. "Our coaches have done an exceptional job with this group of talented student athletes. Our goal for the weekend is for everyone to run, jump and throw a personal best. The track and field programs in CIS are amazingly strong and we will have to be at our best to be on the podium."

"We had a very strong conference championship and now I'm hoping I didn't peak our girls too early," said TWU coach Laurier Primeau. "We're going to lose Emma Nuttall in the high jump for our national championships and that's going to hurt a little bit. Having said that, we consider ourselves to be a pretty deep team and between the pole vault, the long jump and the triple jump and the way Mark Bomba has got our endurance girls going, we have lots of strengths in a variety of events."

Guelph coach Dave Scott-Thomas has high hopes for both his women's and men's squads.

"Our men have a good shot at winning their fourth national title since 2008, but it is going to be tough. Our women are hoping to be back on the podium once again this year. We are coming off of a great performance at the OUA championships where both our teams were near perfect. We had great showings from a lot of our young athletes and rookie talent, and we're fired up for this week and the future."

The Laval and Dalhousie coaches are also optimistic heading into the CIS meet.

"Our men just claimed their second straight RSEQ title and their fourth in five years, and our objective is a top-five finish. Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, who claimed gold on 1,500 metres and silver in the 3,000 a year ago, hopes to wrap up his university career by sweeping the 1,000, 1,500 and 3,000," said Laval's Félix-Antoine Lapointe. "On the women's side, Laurence Côté has dominated the 1,000 each of the past three years in Quebec and hopes to reach the national podium this week."

"Both our men's and women's teams have been competing at an extremely high level this year," said Dalhousie's Rich Lehman. "Starting at the McGill Team Challenge where we had both teams in the top five all the way through to two dominant performances at the AUS championships, we have been improving at every meet. I expect Rebecca Haworth, Jordan Bruce, Chas Smith and Sarah Taplin to be in the medal hunt next weekend."

Below are the top-ranked athletes in all events going into the national meet, as well as a complete list of CIS championship records.

NOTES: The list of CIS season awards (female & male) which will be handed out at Thursday's luncheon includes: athletes of the year in track events and field events, rookies of the year, student-athlete community service awards... More individual honours will come on Saturday following the championships, including female and male meet MVPs, as well as coaches of the year in women's and men's competition... The coaches of the year receive the Sue Wise Award (women) and Bob Boucher Award (men), while the male championship MVP merits the George Gemer Award...

TOP-RANKED ATHLETES GOING INTO CIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Complete CIS individual & team rankings: http://www.trackie.com/CIS/TNF/Rankings/?lang=fr

WOMEN

60m: Khamica Bingham, York (7.23)
300m: Maggie Hanlon, Toronto (39.60)
600m: Rachel François, Victoria (1:30.11)
1000m: Sasha Gollish, Toronto (2:41.45)
1500m: Gabriela Stafford, Toronto (4:16.76)
3000m: Sara Inglis, TWU (9:19.44)
60m Hurdles: Hayley Warren, Toronto (8.12)
4x200m: York (1:39.79)
4x400m: Toronto (3:46.17)
4x800m: Toronto (8:43.15)
High Jump: Emma Nuttall, TWU (1.82)
Long Jump: Claudette Allen, TWU (6.22)
Triple Jump: Caroline Ehrhardt, Western (13.04)
Pole Vault: Robin Bone, Western (4.36)
Shot Put: Brittany Crew, York (16.11)
Weight Throw: Brittany Crew, York (18.69)
Pentathlon: Niki Oudenaarden, Calgary (3981)

MEN

60m: Tevaughn Campbell, Regina (6.78)
300m: Gregory MacNeill, Toronto (34.23)
600m: Alex Ullman, Windsor (1:18.42)
1000m: Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, Laval (2:22.97)
1500m: Thomas Riva, Victoria (3:43.94)
3000m: Ross Proudfoot, Guelph (7:58.53)
60m Hurdles: Greg MacNeill, Toronto (7.79)
4x200m: Trinity Western (1:29.06)
4x400m: Toronto (3:16.28)
4x800m: Windsor (7:35.42)
High Jump: Alhaji Mansaray, Manitoba (2.17)
Long Jump: Robbie Gallaugher, Western (7.31)
Triple Jump: Aaron Hernandez, Lethbridge (15.50)
Pole Vault: David McKay, York (5.05)
Shot Put: Eric Brathwaite, York (17.56)
Weight Throw: Eric Brathwaite (19.65)
Pentathlon: James Turner, Toronto (4090)

CIS TEAM CHAMPIONS (last 10 years)

Women
2013-14 Guelph
2012-13 Calgary
2011-12 Windsor
2010-11 Windsor
2009-10 Windsor
2008-09 Windsor
2007-08 Guelph
2006-07 Calgary
2005-06 Windsor
2004-05 Saskatchewan
Complete list: PAST CIS CHAMPIONS

Men
2013-14 York
2012-13 Guelph
2011-12 Western
2010-11 Windsor
2009-10 Guelph
2008-09 Windsor
2007-08 Guelph
2006-07 Sherbrooke
2005-06 Windsor
2004-05 Saskatchewan
Complete list: PAST CIS CHAMPIONS

CIS CHAMPIONSHIP RECORDS

WOMEN

60m: Khamica Bingham, York, 7.26 (2014)
300m: Adrienne Power, Dalhousie, 37.35 (2005)
600m: Camille Cato, York, 1:27.63 (1984)
1000m: Paula Schnurr, McMaster, 2:42.81 (1988)
1500m: Paula Schnurr, McMaster, 4:16.41 (1988)
3000m: Brenda Shackleton, Victoria, 9:04.88 (1988)
60m Hurdles: Sonia Paquette, Sherbrooke, 8.23 (1997)
High Jump: Emma Nuttall, Trinity Western, 1.88 (2014)
Long Jump: Jocelyn Adu-Gyamfi, Toronto, 6.24 (2001)
Triple Jump: Kelly Dinsmore, Windsor, 13.01 (1993)
Pole Vault: Heather Hamilton, York, 4.23 (2010)
Shot Put (4 kg): Taryn Suttie, Saskatchewan, 16.38 (2014)
Weight Throw (9.08 kg): Kate Forbes, Lethbridge, 19.66 (2005)
Pentathlon: Jessica Zelinka, Calgary, 4380 (2007)
4x200m: Toronto, 1:36.53 (2013)
4x400m: Toronto, 3:41.47 (2012)
4x800m: Victoria, 8:41.66 (1988)

MEN

60m: Sam Effah, Calgary, 6.57 (2010)
300m: Alexandre Marchand, Sherbrooke, 33.40 (1999)
600m: Byron Goodwin, Manitoba, 1:16.10 (1995)
1000m: Tommy Lecours, Guelph, 2:22.09 (2012)
1500m: Allan Klassen, UBC, 3:46.85 (1990)
3000m: Jeff Schiebler, UBC, 7:59.29 (1996)
60m Hurdles: Sekou Kaba, Ottawa, 7.79 (2014)
High Jump: Alex Zaliaskas, Toronto, 2.24 (1993)
Long Jump: Christopher Greenway, Ottawa, 7.88 (2010)
Triple Jump: Olivier Huet, Sherbrooke, 15.81 (2013)
Pole Vault: Doug Wood, York, 5.65 (1992)
Shot Put (7.26 kg): Andrew Smith, Saskatchewan, 18.48 (2011)
Weight Throw (15.88 kg): Jim Steacy, Lethbridge, 24.08 (2009)
Pentathlon: Chris Crossley, Saskatchewan, 4126 (2010)
4x200m: Ottawa, 1:25.65 (2012)
4x400m: Calgary, 3:14.12 (2008)
4x800m: Windsor, 7:27.94 (2014)

2015 CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE (selected events webcast daily at www.CIS-SIC.tv)

Thursday, March 12
14:00   Weight Throw (W) Final
15:15   60m Hurdles (W) Pentathlon
15:45   60m Hurdles (M) Pentathlon
16:00   High Jump (W) Pentathlon
16:30   Long Jump (M) Pentathlon
18:00   Shot Put (M) Pentathlon
18:00   60m (W) Heats
18:15   60m (M) Heats
18:30   600m (W) Heats
18:45   600m (M) Heats
19:00   Shot Put (W) Pentathlon
19:00   60m (W) Final
19:10   60m (M) Final
19:20   60m Ambulatory (W) Exhibition Final
19:30   60m Ambulatory (M) Exhibition Final
19:30   High Jump (M) Pentathlon
20:00   Long Jump (W) Pentathlon
20:00   4x200m Relay (W) Heats
20:20   4x200m Relay (M) Heats
21:00   800m (W) Pentathlon
21:15   1000m (M) Pentathlon

Friday, March 13
15:00   Weight Throw (M) Final
16:25   Long Jump (W) Final
16:30   High Jump (M) Final
16:30   60m Hurdles (W) Heats
16:45   60m Hurdles (M) Heats
16:50   Pole Vault (W) Final
17:00   1000m (W) Final
17:10   1000m (M) Final
17:30   60m Hurdles (M) Final
17:40   60m Hurdles (W) Final
17:50   300m (W) Heats
18:05   300m (M) Heats
18:25   Long Jump (M) Final
18:30   3000m (W) Final
18:40   Shot Put (W) Final
18:50   3000m (M) Final
19:50   300m (W) Final
20:00   300m (M) Final
20:15   4x800m Relay (W) Final
20:30   4x800m Relay (M) Final

Saturday, March 14
12:30   Triple Jump (W) Final
12:35   Shot Put (M) Final
13:00   Pole Vault (M) Final
13:15   600m (W) Final
13:30   600m (M) Final
14:15   4x200m Relay (W) Final
14:25   4x200m Relay (M) Final
14:30   High Jump (W) Final
14:35   Triple Jump (M) Final
14:45   1500m (W) Final
15:00   1500m (M) Final
15:45   4x400m Relay (W) Final
16:00   4x400m Relay (M) Final