The University of Guelph Men's and Women's track and field teams returned to the site of their epic CIS double championships in 2008 and like that snowy winter day came home with two team titles. The Gryphons dominated the McGill Team Challenge, with the women capturing their third consecutive McGill title with a narrow victory over a hard charging University of Western Ontario squad, the Gryphs scored 91.5 with the Mustangs amassing 81.5 points. While the Gryphon men easily out distance the University of Ottawa to handily win the men's competition with a team score of 80 compared to Ottawa's 53.
Overall the Gryphons brought home 27 medals, eight gold, seven silvers and 12 bronze medals. In addition 10 Gryphon athletes achieved automatic standard for the CIS Championships which will be hosted by the University of Windsor March 11th to 13th.
Leading the Gryphon medal haul was Rachel Cliff, who continued her magical season with a pair of golds in the women's 1500 and 3000 metres. Cliff's performances in both events rank her first in the country, her time in the 3000 metres of 9 minutes 28.79 also moved her into second on the all-time Gryphon list. The Gryphon men equalled the sweep of the 1500 and 3000 metres but it took two athletes to complete the task, as Kyle Boorsma captured the men's 3000 in 8:15.61, while Rob Jackson captured the men's 1500 metres in 3:50.44. Boorsma like Cliff is now ranked first in the country in both the 1500 and 3000 metres, while Jackson is ranked third behind Boorsma and Toronto's Mike Del Monte in the 1500 metres. Remarkably all three athletes (Jackson, Boorsma and Del Monte) are graduates of Guelph's Centennial CVI.
The 1500 and 3000 metres were particularly instrumental in the Gryphons bringing home the titles as Cliff was joined on the podium by Jess Vanhie in the women's 1500 metres who captured the bronze and Genevieve Lalonde, who captured the silver in the women's 3000 metres with her performance of 9 minutes 42.95 seconds good enough for third in the CIS. On the men's side Boorsma and Jackson were joined on the podium by Nigel Wray third in the 3000 and Allan Brett third in the 1500. Wray is currently ranked third in the country in the 3000, while Brett sits fifth in the 1500.
Nadine Frost made it a clean sweep of the women's individual distance races for the Gryphons as she captured the women's 1000 metres in a time of 2 minutes 51.50 seconds, which also gives her the number one spot in the country. Frost's twin sister Lydia captured the bronze in the 1000 which was matched by Evan Stevens in the men's 1000 metres. Stevens had a massive breakthrough in the race, with his performance of 2 minutes 28.08 seconds, which ranks him fourth in the country.
The Gryphons also added multiple medal performances in the women's 60 metres, which was won by Sarah Peirce in a scintillating 7.59, putting her second in the CIS. Picking up the bronze was Gryphon rookie Jeannette Goode with a 7.91 clocking. Shaneista Haye and rookie Julia Wallace matched Peirce and Goode's feat with their own gold and bronze medal performances in the women's high jump. Haye got the win with a jump 1.65 metres, while Wallace finished third in 1.60 metres. In the women's triple jump Kim Richardson captured the silver with her jump 11.19, rookie Emma Dobson brought home the bronze with her 11.08 jump. On the men's side vaulters Lane Clark and Vuk Bogunuvik brought home the silver and bronze respectively both with jumps of 4.20 metres.
Tim Hendry shattered his personal best by over half a metre in winning the men's shot with a best throw of 16.21 metres, ranking him third in the CIS. Also bettering CIS automatically qualifying standard were Dustin Gamble who broke the school record in the men's 600 metres with a time of 1:18.85, ranking him second in the CIS and Guyson Kuruneri in the men's long jump with a jump of 7.13 metres good enough for fourth in the CIS.
Rouding out a busy weekend for the Gryphons were Kevin Honig, second in the men's triple jump (13.88), Brent Roubos third in the men's weight throw (13.57), Rachel Aubry third in the women's 600 metres (1:34.32) and the men's and women's 4 x 400 metre relay teams, who finished third (3:23.31) and second (3:57.04) respectively.
The Gryphons will be back in action next weekend on two fronts. A small group of athletes will head to Notre Dame for the Meyo Invitational, well the majority of the team will be at York University for the York Open.
Chris Moulton
University of Guelph
Track and Field
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