Posted: March 8, 2005

Athletics: Big times at the Big Ten for Canadian NCAA athletes

MARCH 2, 2005 Ottawa – Both the men’s and women’s NCAA Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships took place this past weekend. The women’s event featured three Canadians and took place Saturday and Sunday in Ann Arbour, Michigan.

British Columbia’s Yvonne Mensah, a sophomore at the University of Illinois, had a big weekend. She was crowned Big Ten champion in the 60 metre hurdles with a winning time of 8.24 seconds. She also finished third in the 60 metre dash in 7.43 seconds and placed seventh in the 200 metres clocking 24.31 seconds. She was also the lead runner for the Illinois 4x100 metre relay team, which won the event and gave the Fighting Illini a total of 117.50 points in the championships, good for second place overall.

But it was Nicole Edwards’ and Alyson Kohlmeier’s University of Michigan Wolverines who won the championships, finishing with 130 points. The Big Ten title is U of M’s seventh which ties them with Wisconsin for the most championship victories in Big Ten history. Kohlmeier ran her best race in the 3000 metres, finishing in seventh spot, while Edwards was runner-up in the 600 metre run with a time of 1:31.04 seconds. Edwards was also a member of Michigan’s first-place winning team in the distance relay event which earned the host Wolverines a valuable 10 points in the competition.

Five Canadians competed at the men’s championships, hosted by Purdue University and held at the Lambert Fieldhouse in West Lafayette Indiana. Michigan Wolverine Nathan Brannen had the top finish by a Canadian as his 800 metre time of 1:49.93 was good for second place. The race featured a great photo finish as Trammel Smith of Illinois edged out Brannen to win the race in a time of 1:49.92. Fellow Canadian and UM team mate Andrew Ellerton finished in sixth spot, running just over two seconds slower than Brannen.

Also representing the University of Michigan, Canadian Mike Woods finished eighth in the mile in 4:32.44 and fourth in the 3000 metres with a time of 8:11.16. The Wolverines finished fourth overall in the competition with 88 points.

Running for the University of Illinois, which finished third overall with 96 team points, was Winnipeg’s Nathan Vadeboncoeur. The current Canadian Junior indoor champion in the 400 metres, Vadeboncoeur had a strong meet. He finished third in the 400 with a fast time of 47.69 and he anchored Illinois’ 4x400 metre relay team to a first place victory. Crossing the line at the 3:11.95 mark, Vadeboncoeur and his mates grabbed 10 crucial points, which boosted them ahead of Michigan into third place overall in the final event of the championship.

Canadian and NCAA cross country champion, Saskatchewan native Simon Bairu, finished in fifth place in the 5000 metre event clocking 14:17.44. Bairu’s Badgers claimed this year’s Big Ten title, easily winning the event with 144.5 team points, 39 ahead of second place Indiana.