Two-day Canada West championships a success
STEVE BOHRN STAFF
PHOTO BY DAVID LIPNOWSKI.
The Max Bell Fieldhouse was electric for two days, as the University of Manitoba hosted the 2007 Canada West Track and Field Championships from Feb. 24-25. In short, the performances on the track all weekend were nothing short of spectacular.
With a spot at the CIS National Championships on March 8-10 in Montreal on the line — to qualify, athletes needed either a first- or second-place finish, or a performance that was better than the standard — the pressure was on. All competitors were out to give their best, in hopes of going to the biggest university track meet in Canada.
Friday’s action was a showcase of individual talents, and arguably the most talented athlete at the track was the Calgary Dinos’ Jessica Zelinka.
Zelinka was a machine all day, breaking two Canada West records en route to three gold medals. She took home gold in the 60-metre dash with a time of 8.24 (beating the previous record by 0.15 seconds), the individual shot-put with a throw of 13.93 metres, and in the women’s pentathlon, finishing with a score of 4,386 points — besting her previous record by 60 points.
Another record-breaking performance came in the men’s weight toss. The Lethbridge Pronghorns’ Jim Steacy broke his own record with a throw of 23.3 metres, more then four metres farther than his closest competitors.
Another hot topic from the first day of events was the hotly contested men’s pentathlon, which saw the top two finishers tie in points with 3,484 after all five events were completed. In the end, by virtue of having the better score in three of the five disciplines, it was the Victoria Vikes’ Mark Cherney who took home the gold medal, edging out the Saskatchewan Huskies’ Marc Baron. Two other Huskies were left to battle it out for third place, as Chris Crossley took home the honours by two points over Nick Clarke.
The drama and excitement carried on to day two. Coming into the action on Saturday, Calgary led the women’s standings with 66 points, leading second-place Saskatchewan with 42. The men’s race was much closer, with Saskatchewan leading the Manitoba Bisons by a single point, 37-36.
Performing on such a big stage, many athletes did not disappoint. The top-ranked 600-metre runner in CanWest, Trent Ratzlaff of Calgary, lived up to his billing, running away from the field in a time of 1:19.73, which was his season best.
Not to be outdone by her brother, Holly Ratzlaff, also of Calgary, turned in an equally strong performance in the women’s 600-metre. Her time of 1:33.66 won her the race handily, reaffirming her place at the CIS National Championships.
In the men’s 1,500-metre, Geoff Kerr of the Calgary Dinos came within 0.08 seconds of breaking the event record when he finished in a time of 3:50.07. Kerr beat out the favourite of the event, Geoff Martinson of the Vikes, who had run a sub-3:50 time earlier in the year.
The event came to a close with the women’s and men’s 4x200- and 4x800-metre relays. The Calgary Dinos took the men’s 4x200-metre event, finishing two-and-a-half seconds ahead of the silver medallists thanks to strong runs from the silver and bronze medallists from the 60-metre race on Friday, Sam Effah and Justin Sinclair, who both ran as a part of this team.
The Alberta Golden Pandas’ foursome would take the women’s 4x200-metre relay, beating highly ranked teams from Calgary and Manitoba in the process.
The Dinos were at it again during the women’s 4x800-metre relay, while the Vikes’ men’s relay team ran away with the men’s event.
At the end of the event, the top male team was the Saskatchewan Huskies, who finished with 95 points. They beat out the Calgary Dinos, with 70 points, and the Manitoba Bisons, who finished with 68 points.
On the women’s side of things, Calgary dominanted once again, winning the women’s team event for the third straight year. The Dinos finished with 136 points, more than doubling the next closest team, the Alberta Golden Pandas, who finished with 65.5 points. The Saskatchewan Huskies finished in third spot with 65 points. The Bisons, meanwhile, finished in fourth with 60.5 points.
Athletes that were successful here and have qualified for the CIS nationals will now go on to represent Western Canada in Montreal from Mar. 8-10.
