The sprinters have been working their butts off all fall and coach Bulak was very optimistic that some great results would be produced in the first meet of the 2009-2010 season; and he was right!  Joining the sprinters were a small group of jumpers and mostly rookie distance athletes.  The “team” brought home 20 medals [7 gold; 6 silver; 7 bronze], 3 ALL TIME TOP TEN PERFORMANCES, 14 PB’s, and most importantly 10 athletes achieved the team travel standard for the year.

ROOKIE MARISSA WALTER led the way for the Gaels.  Marissa won two gold medals and record two ALL TIME top ten performances.  Marissa and team veteran Jan Stirling battled the entire way in the 300m with Marissa pulling ahead just out from the finish line.  Marissa ran 41.03 to claim gold and #4 ALL TIME.  Marissa a short time later lead off the women’s 4x200m relay with a 25.0 leg holding her own with All Canadian Lela Christiane from Ottawa.  The women [Marissa Walter (25.0), Jan Stirling (25.3), Jenn Barrow (26.6), and Veronica Catry (25.0)], despite horrendous hand-offs got the stick around the track in 1:43.29, the third fastest time in school history.

VETERAN VERONICA CATRY also brought home double gold running a sizzling 7.86 60m final pulling away from the McGill runner over the final third of the race to easily win by 0.24 seconds.  Veronica also ran under 8-seconds in the heats posting a solid 7.97 second effort.  Veronica found herself in unfamiliar territory on the 4x200m relay, moving from lead-off position which she has ran every race for the last 2-years to anchor.  Only a bad exchange kept her from cracking the 25-second barrier.

VETERAN GORD FRENKE demonstrated he could get those long legs moving as he attempted his first ever 60m.  Gord ran a 7.37 in the heats and in the B-final ran 7.31 to lead the Gaels in the event.  The purpose of the 60m was to get him to start faster in his 300m which he did battling stride for stride with Sissoko Moussa of Ottawa until Sissoko pulled away in the last 15m.  Gord’s time of 35.25 was a PB and the 4^th fastest in school history.  Gord ran a solid leg of the 4x200m which would have given Ottawa a run for their money had the men remotely executed on their exchanges.  Unfortunately the split time was missed.  Two PB’s, a ALL TIME performance and two silver medals is a pretty good start to the season.

VETERAN JAN STIRLING had a solid start to the season running a strong 41.16 300m in winning silver and a 25.3 second leg which put the women’s 4x200m solidly in the lead and unchallenged for the rest of the race.  Jan was the only Gael to come home with 3 medals, a match set – gold, silver and bronze as she ran 8.17 in the 60m heats then 8.21 to win the bronze by 0.01 seconds.  Challenges with tight calves and finding time as a residence Don have limited Jan a little this season.  That said she has never felt fitter or stronger at this point in time than she is now, definitely a good sign of things to come.

VETERAN JENN BARROW helped the women sweep the medals in the 300m running a PB 42.67.  Jenn also extended the women’s lead in the 4x200m relay once she got the stick from Jan.  The trick now is keeping Jenn healthy as she is already suffering with really bad shin splints.  She’s one tough cookie and trying to get her to rest is like trying to take a T-bone from a hunger dog!!!

VETERAN THOMAS DAVIS started his season off with a phenomenal effort in the 600m.  He was smart enough this time to not try and go with Ottawa’s Michael Robertson (who posted a tremendous early season time of 1:18.80) unlike in his first ever 600m last year which finished rather painfully.  Running his race Thomas battled two other Ottawa runners for the silver medal.  Thomas led the pack for the first 500m before being passed.  He quickly regrouped and mounted a charge of his own slipping back in front over the last 20m to post a 1:23.48 PB and win the silver medal.  Thomas came back later providing a solid lead off leg for the 4x400m relay.  His 51.7 effort put the men in front of McGill which battled us right to the finish line for silver.  Ottawa’s A team was off to the races posting a time that will qualify them for the CIS Championships.

ROOKIE ALEX GATZA ran a PB 800m on route to a great first ever 1000m 3:06.67 as she split the Ottawa runners Julia Malleck and Tiffany Locke.  She looked strong throughout and if she continues to train hard will have a great future.  In addition to her silver medal in the 1000m Alex also picked up a bronze as part of the women’s 4x400m. 

VETERAN ADRIAN HELLER was the eighth Gael to come home with two medals.  Adrian ran a solid 35.79 to win bronze in the 300m and put in a solid second leg of 22.7 to help the men’s 4x200m to silver.  Adrian also had a 7.44 second 60m effort.

VETERAN MEGAN ANDREWS was the ninth Queen’s athlete to bring two medals home.  Megan ran a superb 1500m in posting a 3-second PB of 5:05.78 to capture the bronze medal.  Her second medal would also be bronze as a member of the 4x400m relay.

ROOKIE TYSON LONEY took charge of the men’s 1500m assuming the lead from the gun.  He led the entire race until passed with about 100m to go.  Instead of giving up and settling for silver he got on his horse and came charging back.  He battled the Ottawa runner stride for stride to the finish line just nipping in ahead of him.  If Tyson continues to run this tough he should have a great career in the tri-colour.

VETERAN TAYA McGILLVARY shrugged off an ugly Wednesday practice to open her season at 10.99m, her third best throw ever.  She had a foul well over the 11m line so should not take too long to surpass her PB of 11.33m.  In addition to winning gold in the shot put, Taya, who is working towards becoming a multi-event athlete, was top Gael in the long jump with a PB of 4.36m.

ROOKIE SUZIE JANSE van RENSBURG and ROOKIE GRANT HENNEBERG were the only other rookies to win gold.  Suzie jumped 10.00m on her last jump to post a performance (she had fouled everything up to that point) to seize the gold.  Suzie did a lot of jumping in a very short period of time moving immediately from triple jump to high jump then right to long jump.  Grant jumped 11.96m to win gold in the men’s triple jump.  The jumpers haven’t had a lot of technical work thus expectations for their performances were modest.

VETERAN ALEX GREEN clipped over 3-seconds off his 1000m PB last weekend and followed it up with another 3-second drop this weekend as he ran a great race battling for silver until the Ottawa runner pulled away slightly down the final straight.  All anyone can do is go out race hard and do their best – Alex certainly did that and was rewarded with a super PB of 2:38.59 and a bronze medal.

Both the men’s 4x200m relay [MIKEY PRIME (23.0), ADRIAN HELLER (22.7), GORD FRENKE (NT), TYLER NIGHTINGALE (NT)] and 4x400m relay [THOMAS DAVIS (51.7), WILL NEWMARCH (53.5), RUSSELL MORRISON (53.5), SHANE KELLY (53.5)] brought home silver medals.

The men’s 4x200m B-Team relay [THOMAS SCOTT (24.1), IAN FUNG (24.0), DAN MOYLAN (23.0), JIMMY DAVIS (23.3)] and the women’s 4x400m relay [VANESSA de HOOG, ALEX GATZA, CAITLIN TINO, MEGAN ANDREWS] brought home bronze medals.

PERSONAL BESTS

MEN

1. Thomas Davis:  600m @ 1:23.48; old PB 1:24.53
2. Gord Frenke:  60m @ 7.31; old PB 7.37
3. Gord Frenke:  300m @ 35.25; old PB 35.39
4. Ian Fung:  300m @ 38.87; old PB 42.06
5. Alex Green:  1000m @ 2:38.59; old PB 2:45.90
6. Shane Kelly:  300m @ 37.00; old PB 37.72
7. Jeff Mountjoy:  600m @ 1:25.23; old PB 1:27.82
8. William Newmarch:  600m @ 1:29.49; old PB 1:31.04
9. Thomas Scott:  LJ @ 6.03m; old PB 5.92m

WOMEN

1. Megan Andrews:  1500m @ 5:05.78; old PB 5:08.18
2. Jennifer Barrow:  300m @ 42.67; old PB 43.43
3. Megan King:  60mH @ 10.55; old PB 10.71
4. Taya McGillivary:  LJ @ 4.37m; old PB 4.00m
5. Joy Ogundare:  60m @ 8.32; old PB 8.44