It has become arguably the best rivalry in CIS sports and at this weekend's CIS Track and Field Championships another epic chapter was added to the Guelph Gryphons and Windsor Lancers men's track and field and cross country rivalry. The Gryphons would walk away with the their second title in three years in one of the closest competitions in CIS history.
The seesaw battle got started Thursday with the Gryphons' CIS Rookie of The Year Jason Diston capturing the bronze in the men's pentathlon with a new school record of 3757 points. Anthony Dandie responded for the Lancers by grabbing the silver from Diston in the final event of the pentathlon, the always grueling 1000 metres, putting the Lancers up two heading into day two.
The first event of the second day was the men's weight throw. The Gryphons' Dustin McCrank took the lead on his second throw of the competition and never looked back releasing an 18.61 metre bomb in the fourth round to capture the Gryphons' first ever CIS gold medal in a men's throwing event. Teammate Tim Hendry surprised many with his throw 17.05 metres a huge personal best which allowed him to grab the bronze medal after entering the event ranked fifth. The Lancers would quickly counter with 15 points of their own in the 1000 metres and 60 metre hurdles.
Heading into the competition the Gryphons' knew that for them to bring home the title the two key events would likely be the 3000 metres and 1500 metres. With five Gryphons in the 3000, the event would prove critical as the Gryphons brought home 20 points led by Kyle Boorsma's victory in 8 minutes 15.09 seconds. Over at the high jump Diston was back at work for the Gryphons capturing a fifth place finish with a 2.01 clearance while fellow rookie Mike Lopatowski finished eighth capturing an all important one point.
In one the clutch performances of the meet, the Gryphons' Guyson Kuruneri grabbed third in the men's long jump from the Lancer's Anthony Dandie on the third jump of the competition with his jump of 7.04 metres. At this point Kuruneri had two faults and a third would have knocked him out of the competition scoring no points. The final event of Friday night was the always exciting 4 x 800 metre relay. The event was a near disaster for the Gryphons as third runner Evan Stevens was involved in a crash at the end of the exchange zone and fell back to a distant ninth place, anchor Rob Jackson would run a scintillating last leg to claw the Gryphons up to seventh while the Lancers would end up fourth in the relay. This would send the Gryphons to bed Friday night with an 8 point lead but knowing the Lancers had a very strong last day.
Saturday got off to a tremendous start for the Gryphons, with Tim Hendry capturing his second bronze medal of the weekend with a toss of 16.27 metres in the men's shot put narrowly missing his life time best. Unfortunately for the Gryphons, the Lancers finished second and fourth in the event, bringing them within one point of the lead. They would move into the lead shortly thereafter with a single point in the 600 metres and a bronze medal in the 4 x 200 metres putting them up six heading into the 1500 metres.
With each team having three competitors many felt the 1500 metres would decide the competition, the Gryphons would need to score big points as the Lancers had the top ranked 4 x 400 metre relay team which was the meet's final event. From the gun the Gryphons set a quick early pace with Kyle Boorsma leading the way, Boorsma and teammate Rob Jackson would sit one and two for most of the race with the Gryphons' third entry Allan Brett in fifth. In the final stretch Matt Hulse of Queens would swing by Jackson for the silver, but with Boorsma getting the win and Brett holding on to fifth the Gryphons would score 20 points. Windsor Dave Weston would have an outstanding race finishing fourth after entering the race as the 12th seed, while teammate Andrew Aguanno would add two points to give the Lancers seven in the event and leave the Gryphons with a seven point lead.
Kevin Honig would quickly put the Gryphons up 11 with his 14.44 triple jump good enough for fifth place. The Lancers would counter with 5 points in the pole vault, while Guelph's Mike Lopatowski would add another crucial point with his second eighth place finish of the competition, this time in the pole vault, sending the Gryphons up seven heading into the 4 x 400 metre relay.
The Gryphons were in the first section and counted on a team of three rookies and fourth year man Gavin Abrhamson. With the Lancers in the second section the Gryphons had hopes of laying down a fast time and grabbing a point or two but were unable to do so as the finished sixth in their section. The first section was captured in an incredibly fast 3 minutes 18.53 seconds by the University of Calgary; which meant for the Lancers to win the title they would have to finish in the top two and run faster than 3 minutes 18.53 seconds.
In an environment that could only be described as electric the Lancers were out hard and were leading through three legs and it was clear they were going to finish in the top two. All that remained was would they be fast enough and could they hold off the Western Mustangs. As they entered the back straight for the final time Western charged passed the Lancers and as the Lancers crossed the line everyone in the building knew it was going to come down to the clock. Seconds later the results flashed on the electronic scoreboard
Westen 3:18.17
Windsor 3:19.00
and that was it, the Lancers would finish third in the event and score six points giving the Gryphons the CIS title by the slimmest of margins, one point final score Gryphons 86 Lancers 85.
Full results are available at www.windsorlegiontrack.com.
Chris Moulton
University of Guelph
Track and Field
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