01 Feb, 2010 --
The coaches were looking for good performances at the 15th Annual McGill Team Challenge which saw over 600 athletes from OUA, Quebec and the Atlantic Universities duke it out on the Tomilinson Fieldhouse track. Deep quality fields were to be found in every event thus it’s not surprising that superb results were delivered by the athletes; including the Gaels. Queen’s athletes won 2 SILVER MEDALS [women’s 4x2 and Matt Hulse in the 1500m] and a BRONZE MEDAL (men’s 4x8). There was one automatic CIS qualifier – Matt Hulse (1500m), 5 ALL TIME TOP TEN performances [women’s 4x2 #4; Taya McGillivary (pent; #4), Gord Frenke (300m; #4), Veronica Catry (300m; #6), and Michael Nishiyama (600m; #7)], three more athletes achieved travel standard [Matt Hulse, Josh Potvin and Anders Klaus], and 20 PB’s were recorded.
The 60m saw the Queen’s women produce solid results while the men struggled. VERONICA CATRY posted two sub 8-second times finishing 4th in the heats with 7.99 and 4th in the final with 7.93 seconds. Veronica has been working hard so while the outcome was satisfactory she was disappointed that the times were not faster. JAN STIRLING ran 8.15 in the heats to finish 14th and then 8.17 in the final to finish 11th. PAULIINA BERETTA looked significantly better than her season best effort of 8.36 seconds finishing 21st. All 3 women are ready to go faster; it’s just a matter of time – no pun intended! Outstanding rookie MARISSA WALTER was an injury scratch as her hamstring did not feel 100%; Marissa is too important to the team to risk losing her for the season at a prep meet.
The 3000m also produced mixed results for the Gaels. LIZA HOWARD who last week ran solo (well ahead of the pack) to #9 ALL TIME at St. Lawrence was hoping a quality field would pull her along to an even faster time. She made the fastest section which set a blistering pace. She was running at the back of the pack for much of the race, at several points looking very uncomfortable and was at risk of losing contact with the pack. She managed to work through things and keep contact and finished strong just off her 10:06.22 PB with a 10:06.50 clocking to finish 7th. The other three Gaels – STEPHANIE HULSE, EMILY KLASSEN, and NADIA TATLOW all ran in the second section. Stephanie and Nadia both started the race in the middle of the pack. From the outset Emily didn’t look comfortable and was running at the back of the pack. When a front group made a break Stephanie was the only one to go with them. Nadia was left at the front of the second pack. Each lap Emily looked more uncomfortable and was in obvious pain. Knowing she was having Achilles tendon issues one could only hope she would be smart enough to STOP which she eventually did. TRAINER DAN was immediately on hand to lend assistance. Hopefully Emily didn’t do any more damage to it and will be running again soon. Meanwhile Stephanie was looking great – staying consistently with the front pack and even pushing the pace at one stage. She finished 16th in 10:20.27 taking more than 15-seconds off her time from last week. Nadia who looked strong for the start of the race began to struggle in the latter stages and finished 21st in 10:36.54; as it turns out she was battling a bit of a “bug” and was forced to withdraw from the 1500m on Saturday running a fever and feeling nauseous.
The 1000m saw all four Gaels put in strong efforts. LEAH LAROCQUE running in the fast section hung on for 700m as the front running gals set a torrid pace. Leah slowly got spit out the back of the pack but hung tough finishing 9th in 3:00.03. She was disappointed she didn’t have the speed to stay with the pack but hasn’t done much speed work just yet. ALECIA KALLOS is continuing where she left off in cross country – AMAZING!! Running in the third section she stayed with the front pack but in the middle until kicking hard over the last lap to surge to the lead and win in a tight finish at the line. She clipped 5.20 seconds off her previous best 1000m in finishing 13th in 3:01.06. HEATHER BIJMAN who is having just an amazing track season took another chunk off her 1000m time – she started the season at 3:18 high – she finished 19th in 3:05.82 – a 2-second PB. The lone male contesting the 1000m was ANDERS KLAUS who nicely took care of travel standard with his 2:34.55 10th place effort. Anders was frustrated with himself as he had lots left and felt he should have went out harder.
One of the priorities for the meet was to post faster times in the 4x200m relays, while the goal was achieved there is still much room left for improvement. The women ran in the fastest section with Western; Queen’s and Western based on seed performances were well ahead of the rest of the field. When the gun went Queen’s and Western left everyone behind them and engaged in a two way battle. VERONICA CATRY ran 25.2 lead-off leg and a superb hand-off to JAN was enough to give Queen’s a slight lead on Western. JAN STIRLING ran 25.4 to keep just in front of the UWO second runner. Jan and PAULIINA BERETTA did not have a good hand-off and Western immediately took advantage opening up a small lead. Once she had the stick Pauliina did a great job in keeping it a close race as she ran 26.7. Pauliina and JENN BARROW almost collided in trying to exchange the stick. Somehow Jenn got the baton but by then Western was solidly ahead. Jen ran well (26.1; a season best) to keep the gap that had opened on the exchange from widening. The gals 1:43.68 was their fastest time of the year (200m track) and earned them the SILVER MEDAL and a solid place in the CIS ranking not to mention the #4 ALL TIME Queen’s performance in the event.
The last event of the Friday night for the Gaels was the men’s 4x800m relay. The first leg was a rock-em-sock-em affair as 8 teams lined up on the track. Little JOSHUA POTVIN got squeezed out by the big guys when the gun went finding himself at the back of the pack. He calmly re-positioned himself running in the middle of the pack for most of his leg. He did the lead-off man’s job – stay in contact with the front runners getting the stick off to CLAY PATTERSON in 5th place as it was a mass arrival at the first exchange. Josh ran a second off his PB as he put in a 1:58.6 lead-off. Clay also got pushed around but managed to get the stick from Josh and took off in pursuit of those in front of him. Each lap he moved up until he was leading the main pack that were chasing the Sherbrooke and Laval teams who had opened up a gap on the pack. Clay brought the stick home to MICHAEL NISHIYAMA in a Queen’s PB 1:57.8. Michael managed to make up a little ground on the two front running teams but more importantly he got Queen’s slightly ahead of the rest of the pack and running solidly in third place. MATT HULSE running his first race of the year (having pulled a hamstring in warm-up in Windsor at CanAms) took off on the hunt and while he made a substantial dent in the Sherbrooke/Laval lead he just ran out of track. He ran a PB leg of 1:53.1 as he helped the team put up a solid 7:45.80 time and claim the BRONZE MEDAL. Last year the best the men could post in the 4x8 was 7:54.28 – not bad lads in starting the season almost 10-seconds faster! The guys were justifiably elated and are savouring their next 4x8 experience as they look to get the 7:42.91 automatic CIS qualifying standard.
Saturday started with the pentathlon and ended with the pentathlon. TAYA McGILLIVARY did not have the best of days as she attempted her first pent. Everyone has to start somewhere. While Taya was struggling with her own performances she fully enjoyed the atmosphere of the pent and the camaraderie of the other gals competing. Taya just missed getting the #3 ALL TIME position in the pent as she finished with 2353 points for #4 ALL TIME, just 37-points behind Christina Disipio’s 2390-point 2006 effort.
The 600m produced two big PB’s and a #7 ALL TIME PERFORMANCE for the men. MICHAEL NISHIYAMA ran 1:22.49 (a 0.36 second PB) to jump into the ALL TIME rankings. JOSHUA POTVIN took care of travel standard posting a 0.60 second PB in running 1:24.07.
The 300m also produced a number of PB’s and an ALL TIME PERFORMANCE for the Gaels. The four women competing posted 3 PB’s a season best and a #6 ALL TIME PERFORMANCE. VERONICA CATRY powered down the finishing straight in her heat to finish with a big PB a 41.12 second clocking which put her 4th and ranks her #6 ALL TIME. Running in a different section JAN STIRLING ran 41.13 seconds for a season best. Posting 200m track PB’s were JENN BARROW who ran 42.75 to finish 11th and PAULIINA BERETTA who ran 43.91 to finish 22nd. Leading the way for the men was GORD FRENKE who equalled his 200m track PB with 35.39 seconds (#4 ALL TIME) in finishing 7th and now finds himself in the top 15 CIS rankings in the event. Also posting PB’s were TYLER NIGHTINGALE who ran 36.33 seconds and DAN MOYLAN who managed to squeeze in a warm-up between working on injured and hurting Gaels. Dan took 1.5 seconds off his time in recording 37.34 seconds. ADRIAN HELLER still running on 3-cylinders instead of 4 was crushed by his 36.26 second effort but perspective needs to be kept; while not 100% he still managed a time that placed him 12th in a quality field. Also putting in solid efforts were MIKEY PRIME (36.67) and SHANE KELLY (37.34).
The 1500m produced the first Queen’s CIS qualifier as MATT HULSE left his finishing kick a little too late and had to settle for SILVER in his second best time ever 3:51.70 well under the 3:52.56 CIS standard. Needless to say Matt also took care of travel standard J! CLAY PATTERSON and ANDERS KLAUS both ran well in the second section posting PB’s of 3:59.66 (12th) and 4:02.80 (19th) respectfully. The women also had a great day in the 1500m establish a school first with 5 runners under 4:50.00. Leading the way was LEAH LAROCQUE who ran a solid 4:40.78 to finish 9th. Posting big PB’s were ALECIA KALLOS (4:45.47; 12th; a 6-sec PB), LIZA HOWARD (4:46.13; 13th; a 2-sec PB), and HEATHER BIJMAN (4:49.64; 21st; a 3-sec PB; 15-sec on the season). STEPHANIE HULSE put in a superb first 1500m at 4:49.28 to finish 19th. PATRICIA RONEY just missed making it six under 4:50 running 4:50.85 to finish 23rd. This is depth at a competitive level never seen before at Queen’s!
A make shift 4x400m relay team accomplished the goal of posting a faster time in running 3:24.89 to finish 4th. MIKEY PRIME lead off with a solid 51.3 leg giving the stick off to ADRIAN HELLER who wasn’t suppose to run but jumped in for Tyler Nightingale who wasn’t feeling well. Adrian ran 50.9. The first two legs saw the Gaels battling it out with Dalhousie and McMaster. Once GORD FRENKE (who stepped in to replace Michael Nishiyama) got the stick the race was over. Gord opened a huge gap running 50.7 to give anchor SHANE KELLY a comfortable lead. Shane took nothing for granted running hard and bringing the stick home with a 1.5 second PB in 51.7 seconds.
The Gaels are off to York next weekend and will be looking to build on the positive energy and momentum coming out of a very successful Team Challenge.
PERSONAL BESTS
WOMEN
1. Jenn Barrow: 300m – 42.75 old PB 42.90
2. Pauliina Beretta: 300m – 43.91 old PB 44.10
3. Heather Bijman: 1000m – 3:05.82 old PB 3:07.57
4. Heather Bijman: 1500m – 4:49.64 old PB 4:52.48
5. Veronica Catry: 300m – 41.12 old PB 42.50
6. Liza Howard: 1500m – 4:46.13 old PB 4:48.00
7. Stephanie Hulse: 3000m – 10:20.27 old PB 10:35.11
8. Alecia Kallos: 1000m – 3:01.06 old PB 3:06.26
9. Alecia Kallos: 1500m – 4:45.47 old PB 4:51.57
MEN
1. Gord Frenke: 300m – 35.39 equals old PB (200m track)
2. Matt Hulse: 4x8 – 1:53.1 old PB 1:53.2
3. Shane Kelly: 4x2 – 23.4 old PB 23.5
4. Shane Kelly: 4x4 – 51.7 old PB 53.2
5. Anders Klaus: 1500m – 4:02.80 old PB 4:05.07
6. Tyler Nightingale: 300m – 36.33 old PB 36.46
7. Michael Nishiyama: 4x8 – 1:56.0 old PB 1:56.6
8. Michael Nishiyama: 600m – 1:22.49 old PB 1:22.85
9. Clay Patterson: 4x8 – 1:57.8 old PB 1:59.7
10. Clay Patterson: 1500m – 3:59.66 old PB 4:05.46
11. Joshua Potvin: 600m – 1:24.07 old PB 1:24.67
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