Windsor men, Toronto women claim team banners at CIS track & field championships

WINDSOR, Ont. (CIS) – The 2015 CIS track and field championships came to an end on Saturday at the University of Windsor's St. Denis Centre, with the host Lancers claiming the ninth men's team banner in program history - and their first since 2011 - and the Toronto Varsity Blues finishing atop the women's standings for the first time since 1998 and the fourth time overall.
 
The U of T women dominated the three-day meet finishing with 131.5 points, compared to 79 for second-place Trinity Western and 73 for York. The Varsity Blues earned a total of 15 medals, including five gold.
 
"All we wanted to do is come in and do our personal best and we accomplished that," said U of T's Carl Georgevski, who earned the Sue Wise award as the CIS women's coach of the year. "We had athletes ranked 12th that ended up fifth. We're extremely happy with everyone's performances."
 
Fourth-year Blues veteran Sasha Gollish was named the outstanding female athlete of the meet as she came up with another multi-medal performance on Day 3. The Toronto native earned the silver medal in the 600m final, crossing the finish line in a school-record time of 1:29.71. Teammate Rachel Jewett was right behind her in third with a time of 1:30.16.
 
Gollish also placed second in the 1500m (4:18.75), with teammate Gabriella Stafford earning the bronze medal in 4:20.86. Gollish ended the meet with gold medals in the 1000m and 3000m, silver in the 600m and 1500m, as well as a relay title and Canadian record in the 4x800 event.
 
"I wanted to give it my all to help us win the banner," said an elated Gollish, who had been named the CIS female athlete of the year in track event before the start of the competition. "The 4x800 was a last minute call and I'm so glad to have been a part of that team. My favourite slogan is stronger together. We had a great time. Everyone did their best. People out performed how they were expected to perform. It was great."
 
Fiona Callender catapulted Toronto's 4x400 relay team from third to first with an outstanding third leg. Callender, along with Ellie Hirst, Honor Walmsley and Jewett claimed the gold medal in a time of 3:48.33.
 
Fourth-year U of T veteran Julia Stille garnered her first career CIS medal, claiming the silver medal in the women's triple jump with a distance of 12.61m, while teammate Danielle Delage, who placed second in the women's pentathlon on Thursday, claimed the bronze medal in the women's high jump (1.76m).
 
Western's Caroline Ehrhardt secured her spot in the CIS championship record book with a record-breaking performance in the triple jump and high jump. Ehrhardt jump of 13.16m broke a 22-year old standard set by Kelly Dinsmore of Windsor in 1993 to win the gold medal in event. Stille placed second (12.61m), while Trinity Western's Sabrina Nettey took home the bronze medal (12.47m).

On the men's side, the Lancers team total of 101 points was good enough to edge out their rivals from Guelph, who finished second with 92 points. York claimed the bronze medal in the team competition with 73 points.

On Saturday, Windsor and Guelph dueled down the stretch with the CIS team title up for grabs heading into the final event of the competition, the 4x400 meter relay. Windsor's team of Jesse Drennan, Corey Bellemore, Chris Kramer and Alex Ullman secured the victory with a first-place finish in a time of 3:17.79.

Windsor's Ullman and Bellemore both had big performances on Saturday including second and fourth-place finishes respectively in the men's 600 metres. Victoria's Adam Paul-Morris earned the gold in the 600m in a time of 1:18.33 while Ullman picked up silver in 1:18.52. Garrett King of Calgary was third in a time of 1:1856 while Bellemore rounded out the top four in a time of 1:19.11.

The Gryphons were able to stay alive in the team competition thanks to a strong performance in the men's 1500 metres. Guelph's Ross Proudfoot, who was also the CIS male athlete of the meet, won gold in a time of 3:47.84 while Victoria's Thomas Riva picked up the silver in a time of 3:48.08. Alex Wilkie from Queen's won the bronze in 3:49.03 while Guelph claimed the fourth and fifth spots as Kyle Grieve and Aaron Hendrikx finished in 3:49.32 and 3:50.03.

In the day's other relay, the York Lions captured gold in the men's 4x200m relay in a time of 1:27.97. That time edged out the University of Regina who finished second in a time of 1:28.39 and the University of Saskatchewan who won the bronze in a time of 1:28.93.

In the field events, the Lancers once again got a number of strong performances which helped to clinch the men's team title. Windsor finished third and fourth in the pole vault as Milos Savic captured a bronze medal with a vault of 4.92m and Chris Waugh finished fourth with a best of 4.82m. York's David McKay won the pole vault in convincing fashion as he finished with a winning vault of 5.20m to easily win the event. Nathan Fillpak from Alberta finished second at 4.92m.

In the men's shot put, Peter Millman from Lethbridge narrowly edged out Marc-Antoine Lafrenaye with a best throw of 17.18m.  Lafrenaye finished second at 17.17m. Windsor's Eli Pawliw threw a personal best of 16.60m to finish a surprise third and earn a bronze medal for the Lancers.

Over in the triple jump, Aaron Hernandez of Lethbridge claimed the gold medal with a best jump of 15.33 metres. Jordan Bruce from Dalhousie finished second with a best of 14.91m and Chas Smith also of Dalhousie won the bronze with a leap of 14.85m. Windsor's Angelo Bortolin who earlier in the week won CIS rookie of the year honours, finished fifth with a jump of 14.59 metres.
 
Guelph student-athlete Ross Proudfoot was named the CIS male athlete of the meet following a pair of gold medal performances in both the 1500 and 3000 metres.
 
University of Windsor Lancers coach Dennis Fairall won the Bob Boucher Award as the CIS men's track and field coach of the year. In what has been a truly remarkable coaching career, Fairall earned his 20th CIS track and field title and 25 overall CIS national championship with the victory on Saturday.
 
"I'm really proud of our team today, it was a total team effort this weekend," said Fairall. "We were able to get points from a variety of events and had a number of athletes come up with big performances when it counted. It feels great to win our 20th CIS track and field team title at home in Windsor in front of our fans, alumni and supporters in our house."

 
CHAMPIONSHIP AWARDS
 
Women
Outstanding athlete of the meet: Sasha Gollish, Toronto
Coach of the year (Sue Wise Award): Carl Georgevski, Toronto
 
Men
Outstanding athlete of the meet (George Gemer Award): Ross Proudfoot, Guelph
Coach of the year (Bob Boucher Award): Dennis Fairall, Windsor

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

Women

1. Toronto, 131.50 points
2. Trinity Western, 79
3. York, 73
4. Guelph, 68
5. Western, 59
6. Saskatchewan, 39
7. Victoria, 33
8. Windsor, 28
9. Alberta, 27
9. Calgary, 27
11. Sherbrooke, 22
12. Regina, 18
13. Manitoba, 16
14. Dalhousie, 12.50
15. Ottawa, 11
16. Waterloo, 7
17. Laval, 6
18. Moncton, 3
19. St. Francis Xavier, 2

Men

1. Windsor, 101 points
2. Guelph, 92
3. York, 73
4. Laval, 44
4. Victoria, 44
6. Toronto, 42
7. Trinity Western, 41
8. Western, 38.33
9. Sherbrooke, 29
10. Lethbridge, 26
11. Regina, 25
12. Dalhousie, 22
13. Manitoba, 19
14. Calgary, 17
15. McGill, 14.33
16. Alberta, 13.33
17. Saskatchewan, 13
18. Queen's, 6
19. Ottawa, 2

INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS: DAY 3
 
Triple Jump (W)
1. Caroline Ehrhardt, Western, 13.16m (CIS Record)
2. Julia Stille, Toronto, 12.61m
3. Sabrina Nettey, Trinity Western 12.47m
 
Pole Vault (M)
1. David McKay, York, 5.20m
2. Nathan Filipek, Alberta, 4.92m
3. Milos Savic, Windsor, 4.92m
 
600m (W)
1. Rachel Francois, Victoria, 1:29.17
2. Sasha Gollish, Toronto, 1:29.71
3. Rachel Jewett, Toronto, 1:30. 16
 
600m (M)
1. Adam Paul-Morris, Victoria, 1:18.33
2. Alex Ullman, Windsor, 1:18.52
3. Garrett King, Calgary, 1:18.56
4X200m (W)
1. York, 1:37.98
(Khamica Bingham, Sheereen Harris, Shania Payne, Mikeisha Bobb)
2. Alberta, 1:40.00
(Leah Walkeden, Alexa Hrycun, Monique Gervais, Danielle Clonfero)
3. Western, 1:40.17
(Sarah Clancy, Caroline Ehrhardt, Joy Spear Chief-Morris, Jen Barbon)
4. Manitoba, 1:40.56
(Tegan Turner, Amy Graceffo, Rachael McLeod, Sophia Mbabaali)
 
4X200m (M)
1. York, 1:27.97
(Bismark Boateng, Ayo Agusto, Jameel Brown, Xavier Jehovah)
2. Regina, 1:28.39
(Tevaughn Campbell, Kahlen Branning, Ian McLellan, Connor Bloom)
3. Saskatchewan, 1:28.93
(Lenny Williams, Graham Black, Jared Olson, Garrett Peters)
4. Western
(Michael Giorgi, Isoken Ogieva, Chris Cauley, Anthony Dandie)
 
High Jump (W)
1. Lauren Taylor, Saskatchewan, 1.82m
2. Rebecca Haworth, Dalhousie, 1.79m
3. Danielle Delage, Toronto, 1.76m
 
Triple Jump (M)
1. Aaron Hernandez, Lethbridge, 15.33m
2. Jordan Bruce, Dalhousie, 14.91m
3. Chas Smith, Dalhousie, 14.85m
 
Shot Put (M)
1. Peter Millman, Lethbridge, 17.18m
2. Marc-Antoine Lafrenaye-Dugas, 17.17m
3. Eli Pawliw, Windsor, 16.60m
 
1500m (W)
1. Fiona Benson, Trinity Western, 4:18.67
2. Sasha Gollish, Toronto, 4:18.75
3. Gabriela Stafford, Toronto, 4:20.86
 
1500m (M)
1. Ross Proudfoot, Guelph, 3:47.84
2. Thomas Riva, Victoria, 3:48.08
3. Alex Wilkie, Queen's, 3:49.03
4X400m (W)
1. Toronto, 3:48.83
(Ellie Hirst, Honor Walmsley, Fiona Callender, Rachel Jewett)
2. Victoria, 3:49.31
(Caroline Harrell, Nicole Soderberg, Kendra Pomfret, Rachel Francois)
3. Trinity Western, 3 :50.56
(Anastasia Pearse, Rachel Shuttleworth, Maya Daly, Fiona Benson)
4. Western, 3:51.05
(Jen Barbon, Genny Cyrenne, Katie Bell, Rachel Muma)

4X400m (M)
1. Windsor, 3:17.79
(Jesse Drennan, Chris Kramer, Corey Bellemore, Alex Ullman)
2. McGill, 3:18.33
(Ryan McClelland, Steven Murray, Vincent Parent-Pichette, Javier Montavlo)
3. Guelph
(Charlie Sutton, Tommy Land, Brandon Shirk, Shawn Beaudoin)
4. Trinity Western, 3:19.56
(Jamie Sinclair, Andrew Degroot, James Linde, Nathan George)

INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS: DAY 2
 
Shot Put (W)
1. Brittany Crew, York, 15.88m
2. Ashley Connell, Guelph, 14.62
3. Niki Oudenaarden, Calgary, 14.01m
 
Long Jump (M)
1. Arren Young, Windsor, 7.37m
2. Robbie Gallaugher, Western, 7.29m
3. Anthony Dandie, Western, J7.29m
 
Pole Vault (W)
1. Robin Bone, Western, 4.24m (CIS record)
2. Samantha Allegro, Guelph, 3.91m
3. Sarah Swain, Windsor, J3.91m
 
1000m (W)
1. Sasha Gollish, Toronto, 2:45.20
2. Grabriela Stafford, Toronto, 2:45.27
3. Nicole Soderberg, Victoria, 2:47.65
 
1000m (M)
1. Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, Laval, 2:25.19
2. Thomas Riva, Victoria, 2:25.53
3. Alex Ullman, Windsor, 2:26.11
 
60m Hurdles (M)
1. Greg MacNeill, Toronto, 7.85
2. Calum Innes, Trinity Western, 7.89
3. Isoken Ogieva, Western, 7.92
 
60m Hurdles (W)
1. Hayley Warren, Toronto, 8.26 (see note below)
2. Laurence Beaudet, Sherbrooke, 8.41
3. Sarah Swain, Windsor, 8.45
 
Note: Hayley Warren set a CIS championship record (8.20) in the preliminaries
 
3000m (W)
1. Sasha Gollish, Toronto, 9:14.10
2. Fiona Benson, Trinity Western, 9:16.08
3. Sarah Inglis, Trinity Western, 9:21.03
 
3000m (M)
1. Ross Proudfoot, Guelph, 7:59.30
2. Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, Laval, 8:07.04
3. Declan White, Trinity Western, 8:07.11
 
High Jump (M)
1. Sean Cate, Guelph, 2.13m
2. Alhaji Mansaray, Manitoba, 2.07m
3. Devin Errington Dalhousie, J2.07m

Long Jump (W)
1. Claudette Allen, Trinity Western, 6.20m
2. Caroline Ehehardt, Western, 6.14m
3. Laurence Beaudet, Sherbrooke, 6.03m
 
Weight Throw (M)
1. Jared Skeath, Guelph, 19.44m
2. Marc-Antoine Lafrenaye-Dugas, Sherbrooke, 19.40m
3. Eric Brathwaite, York, 19.36m
 
300m (W)
1. Sheereen Harris, York, 38.97
2. Christy Ihumaegbo, York, 39.31
3. Maggie Hanlon, Toronto, 39.35

300m (M)
1. Ayo Agusto, York, 34.00
2. Nathan George, Trinity Western, 34.04
3. Bismark Boateng, York, 34.57

4X800m (W)
1. Toronto, 8:32.36 (CIS Record)
(Rachel Jewett, Honor Walmsley, Sasha Gollish, Gabriela Stafford)
2. Victoria, 8:42.30
(Nicole Soderberg, Shauna McInnis, Kendra Pomfret, Rachel Francois)
3. Trinity Western, 8 :48.00
(Anastasia Pearse, Fiona Benson, Meg Harradine, Sarah Inglis)

4X800m (M)
1. Windsor, 7:31.02
(Paul La Marra, Taylor McArthur, Corey Bellemore, Alex Ullman)
2. Victoria, 7:32.07
(Tyler Smith, Adam Paul-Morris, Cole Peterson, Thomas Riva)
3. Guelph, 7:37.83
(Tommy Land, Drew Anderson, Brayden Seneca, Christian Gravel)

INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS: DAY 1

Weight Throw (W)
1. Brittany Crew, York, 18.45
2. Olena Olenick, Saskatchewan, 17.45
3. Sarah Dougherty, Guelph, 17.36
 
60m (W)
1. Khamica Bingham, York, 7.19 (CIS Record)
2. Leah Walkeden, Alberta, 7.45
3. Hayley Warren, Toronto, 7.46

60m (M)
1. Bismark Boateng, York, 6.76
2. Tevaughn Campbell, Regina, 6.80
3. Ike Omoruna, York, 6.87

Pentathlon (W)
1. Niki Oudenaarden, Calgary, 4,072
2. Danielle Delage, Toronto, 3,810
3. Astrid Nyame, Saskatchewan, 3,787

Pentathlon (M)
1. James Turner, Toronto, 4,077
2. Jesse Drennan, Windsor, 3,939
3. Branden Wilhelm, 3,902