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News - Archive 2008-2009
Athletes of the Week
March 14, 2009
Jason Goetz - Track & Field
4th year - Geography & Environmental Management, Cambridge, ON
Jason, a 4th year Geography and Environmental Management student, from Cambridge, put the finishing touches on a fantastic season this weekend at the CIS Track & Field Championships in Windsor. Jason won the silver medal in the triple jump and re-broke his own Warriors' Varsity record. A record which he set and improved upon several times this season. Jason's silver medal marks the first medal won by a Warrior male in a CIS field event since 1996.
March 2, 2009
Julia Malleck - Track & Field
4th year - Arts & Business, Kitchener, ON
Julia, a 4th year Arts and Business student from Kitchener, had a strong weekend on the track at the OUA Track and Field Championships at York University. She helped collect four of her team’s seven points at the competition, through strong showings in three events. Julia placed 9th in the 1500 meter, 8th in the 4x400, and 7th in the 4x800, collecting 1, 1, and 2 points respectively. Julia has been a strong competitor and hard worker all season long, and her performance at the OUA’s illustrates this.
Jason Goetz - Track & Field
4th year - Geography & Environmental Management, Cambridge, ON
Jason, a 4th year Geography and Environmental Management student, continued his outstanding season at the OUA Track and Field Championships hosted by York. Jason took home the bronze medal in the triple jump, and is currently ranked 2nd in Canada in the event. He also finished 7th in the long jump, and 7th in the 4x400 relay. After taking a season off, Jason has proved himself to be a top competitor in his events. He is coming off a record breaking performance two weeks ago, when he re-broke his own Warriors triple jump record.
Success at CIS for the Warriors
March 12-14, 2009
By: Jason Dockendorff
Eight of the Warriors finest travelled to Windsor last week to compete in the CIS Track and Field Championships.
The national championship showcases the best in the country with only the top twelve athletes or relay teams advancing to this competition. The Warriors qualified Jason Goetz in the triple jump, Ryan Wight in the high jump, and the men’s 4x200m and 4x400m relays. Accompanying the team was Nancy Spreitzer who was the recipient of the OUA Female Student-Athlete Community Service Award and was nominated for the national level award. The CIS Major Awards ceremony was held on March 12 where national awards were given the rookies of the year, track athletes of the year, field athletes of the year, and Student-Athlete Community Service recipients. The Warriors got off to a good start as Nancy won the CIS Student-Athlete Community Service Award. This award is given to the person who best represents the balance between athletics, academics and community service.
The events started on Friday for the Warriors with the men’s 4x200m. The team of Luke Govia, Chris Lam, Eric Noland, and Abdul Rahman Ghannoum ran a clean race with decent splits from everyone. The team entered the competition ranked 12th and ended up finishing in the same position. This was a good showing for the team considering one of the team members, Jacob Muirhead, suffered an injury two weeks prior and it was decided not to run him in this race to reserve him for the 4x400m.
Ryan Wight was next up in the high jump. Ryan was ranked 12th in the competition and started off strong clearing the first three heights on the first attempt. Ryan was sitting in excellent position in the competition as all the other competitors were consistently knocking the bar down. The bar was next raised to 1.98m which is 3cm above Ryan’s personal best. Ryan’s attempts were strong, barely grazing the bar on all attempts, but the bar was not his friend on this day as it would not stay up. Ryan finished the competition in 10th place ending his Warrior career in fine fashion.
The nation’s second ranked triple jumper Jason Goetz was next on the schedule. Jason’s continuous improvement throughout the entire season was sure to provide some excitement at the national championships. After 3 rounds Jason was sitting third with only a few centimetres separating the top five athletes. In the fourth round, Jason fouled but it was a massive jump and he knew it. He was focused and knew the title was within his reach in this the final field event of the national championships. Jason delivered on his fifth jump, leaping to a mark of 14.70m setting a new varsity record and moving him into first. At this time Jason was third last in the jumping order, with the number one ranked Derek Watkins jumping last. Despite Derek already competing in the pentathlon, high jump, and long jump previously, he found the energy to jump 3cm further than Jason in the fifth round. In the final round no one was able to catch Jason and Derek. Jason stepped on to the runway for his final attempt, you could see the intensity and confidence in his face. He was fuelled and driven to end the season with another record and hopefully a gold medal. The jump was clean and it was big, Jason hopped around pumping his fists as the crowd cheered and waited for the measurement. 14.80m!!! Another varsity record and now first in the competition with only two jumpers remaining. Jason had bronze at worst. Next up was Tumelo Moleko from Western but he was not able to deliver on his final jump. Derek Watkins was now the only man standing between Jason and the gold medal. In his final attempt Derek leaped an amazing 15.09m winning the gold with an exclamation point. Jason had the silver medal, CIS All-Canadian status, and is UW TF’s first male CIS field event medal since Jeff Miller won the pole vault in 1996.
Feeding off the excitement and success of the triple jump, the men’s 4x400m was next on the track. Members Jacob Muirhead, Chris Lam, Luke Govia, and Ben Clare were ranked 12th in the competition but were ready to prove otherwise, and that is exactly what they did. Running strong smart races with good exchanges, the warriors team finished 9th in the field, just out of the points.
Overall the team placed very well finishing 14th out of 21 teams. This is a drastic improvement over previous years finishing 19th in 2008 (1 point) and 17th in 2007 (2 points).
Spreitzer Wins National Award
March 12, 2009
Warriors TF athlete Nancy Spreitzer has won the CIS Student-Athlete Community Servce Award. This award is given to the person who best represents the balance between athletics, academics and community service.
Nancy has been an Academic All-Canadian and a listed on the President's Academic Athletic Honour Roll. She was a member of the women's basketball team in 2008, UWTF's rookie of the year in 2007, and a member of the CIS Championship qualifying 4x200m relay team. Nancy is volunteer at Reaching Our Outdoor Friends (ROOF) helping out homeless people in the Kitchener-Waterloo region, as well as at Huron Heights Secondary School where she assists with physical education, kinesiology and sociology classes. Lastly, she is part of the University of Waterloo Team-Up school outreach program.
CIS Track & Field Championships
University of Windsor, March 12-14
March 5, 2009
After a three year hiatus from qualifying men for individual events at the CIS Championships, two Warrior men have qualified in individual events. The Warriors also qualified the men’s 4x200m and men’s 4x400m relays.
Clare, Benjamin 4x400m
Ghannoum, Abdul Rahman 4x200m
Goetz, Jason Triple Jump
Govia, Luke 4x200m, 4x400m
Lam, Chris 4x200m, 4x400m
Muirhead, Jacob 4x200m, 4x400m
Noland, Eric 4x200m, 4x400m
Wight, Ryan High Jump
UW Triple Jump Varsity Record holder Jason Goetz is currently sitting second in the nation with a jump of 14.59m, only 12cm out of first place. The gold medal is well within Jason reach.
After an impressive OUA Championships UW’s multi-event specialist Ryan Wight qualified for the individual high jump. The field is tight and Ryan is definitely capable of jumping high enough to score some team points.
The bad luck of the men’s sprint relays has turned and fate is with the Warriors as both the 4x200m and 4x400m relays qualified for the national championships. If these guys put together a strong run with good exchanges watch for them to finish in the points.
Aside from the competitive schedule, the team will be accompanied by Nancy Spreitzer as she was the recipient of the OUA Student Athlete Community Service Award.
OUA Award Winner
March 3, 2009
Warriors jumper and sprinter Nancy Spreitzer was awarded the OUA Student Athlete Community Service Award. She is now the OUA nominee for the national award, with the winner being announced on Thursday March 12 at the CIS Major Awards Reception. This award is given to the person who best represents the balance between athletics, academics and community service.
Also, Katrina Vandervoort placed third for the OUA female rookie of the year award.
Warriors Reel in Double Bronze at the OUA Championships
March 2, 2009
By: Jason Dockendorff
It was an exciting two days for the Warriors at the Toronto Track and Field Centre for the OUA Championships.
First on the schedule was the men’s pentathlon involving two Warriors, team captain Ryan Wight and Aaron Bates. The day started off well for Ryan with personal bests in 60mH and the long jump. Ryan’s outstanding jump is the best pentathlon long jump on record and ranks him 8th on UW’s All-time best list for long jump. This was followed by a season’s best throw in the shot put and a huge best in the high jump. The high jump scores big points in the pentathlon, so Ryan’s jump of 1.95m moved him into second place with one event to go. His jump also ranks him 13th in the nation and 5th on UW’s All-time performance list. The day ended for Ryan with the grueling 1000m race and with a valiant effort Ryan crossed the line in a personal best time. When the points were tallied, Ryan finished in bronze medal position, only 3 points behind silver.
The UW jumps squad, riding high off of Ryan’s outstanding pentathlon result, were next to take-flight in the long jump. CIS ranked athletes Jason Goetz and freshman Katrina Vandervoort both secured team points with seventh and ninth place finishes respectively. Katrina also placed 9th place (1 points) in the triple jump. The Friday evening also proved to be successful for Julia Malleck in the 1500m securing 9th place and 1 team point as well as the women’s 4x800m (Julia Malleck, Kelly-Lynne Spettigue, Stephanie Hinton, Monika Bolejszo) placing an impressive 7th.
Fresh-off his varsity record setting performance in the triple jump the week previous week, Jason Goetz was poised to medal on Saturday. After the 6th and final round Jason sat just out of the medals in 4th place, however earlier in the competition a judging error had occurred. This was brought to the head referee’s attention by head coach Jason Dockendorff and after some deliberation, the head referee awarded Jason a 7th jump. This caused much commotion amongst the other competitors and their coaches as they all knew that it was well within Jason’s capacity to win the competition with just one good jump. With nearly the entire Warriors team chanting for Jason, his final jump was his best and moved him into bronze medal position, which is how the competition ended.
Other point scorers on the weekend were the men’s 4x200m relay (Luke Govia, Jacob Muirhead, Abdul Rahman Ghannoum, Chris Lam) 6th place, women’s 4x200m (Jaime Hauseman, Stephanie Hinton, Katrina Vandervoort, Emma Glofcheski) 8th place, men’s 4x400m (Luke Govia, Chris Lam, Eric Noland, Jason Goetz) 7th place, and the women’s 4x400m (Jaime Stephanie Hinton, Julia Malleck, Kelly-Lynne Spettigue) 8th place.
The Warriors overall had a decent showing on both the men’s and women’s teams. The men’s team nearly doubled their team points compared to the 2008 season finishing with a total of 23 points and placing 9th overall. This is the first time since 2006 the men’s team has won a championship medal. The women placed 9th with a total of 7 points.
Next up for the Warriors is the CIS Championships in Windsor (March 12-14). Currently Jason Goetz is the only Warrior to qualify, however a few other athletes or relay teams could slip into qualification. Final CIS qualifiers will be known by Wednesday March 4.
Goetz Improves on Varsity Record, Warriors Ready for OUA Championships
February 20, 2009
By: Jason Dockendorff
In the final weekend before the OUA Championships the Warriors squad was divided with most attending the Hal Brown Memorial meet at the University of Toronto and a few travelling to Montreal to compete at the McGill All-comers meet. A number of warriors are vying for CIS Championship qualification and the goal of this past weekend was to move-up the rankings and tune-up for the upcoming championship meets.
The story of the weekend was 5th year veteran from Cambridge Jason Goetz. Jason improved on his TJ varsity record at U of T with a jump of 14.59m. This now ranks him 2nd in the CIS and achieving the CIS Standard which earns him a trip to the CIS Championships to be held in Windsor March 12-14. Another 2009 varsity record breaker Hugo Lopez, struggled through the 60mH at U of T, but placed an impressive third. Hugo is currently ranked 9th in the OUA and hopes to improve on that next week to secure some team points at the OUA Championships.
Female distance duo Julia Malleck and Kelly-Lynne Spettigue, who are both ranked 12th in the OUA for the 1000m and 1500m respectively, both had a strong weekend but were unable to improve on their rankings in these tactical races. Julia managed run a personal best placing 2nd in a strong field of 1000m runners. Freshman jumper Katrina Vandervoort is primed for the OUA championships, triple jumping a seasons best of 10.81m on Friday evening. This jump ranks her 12th in the OUA and places her second on UW’s all-time list.
McGill’s Tomlinson Fieldhouse has one of the fasted tracks in the country so our men’s 4x200m and 4x400m relays, who are in contention to qualify for the CIS Championships, were sent to improve on their rankings. The typically small meet provides a non-crowded atmosphere conducive for clean baton exchanges and open running lanes. Despite this, the 4x200m relay was unable to finish. After a blistering lead off leg by Luke Govia and a clean exchange, the baton was knocked out of Jacob Muirhead’s hand by another team, ending the team’s goal to improve on their 14th place CIS ranking. The Warriors hoped to redeem themselves in the 4x400m later that day. The team of Jacob Muirhead, Chris Lam, Luke Govia, and Ben Clare easily won the race but were unable to improve on their previous best time. They currently sit in the 10th spot in the CIS. The pressure is on for these teams to perform at the OUA Championships, pressure that these veteran relay runners are used to.
The Warriors team travels to York University this coming Friday to compete in the exciting OUA Championships.
Year off wasn't the pits for Goetz
February 12, 2009
By: The Cambridge Times, Bill Doucet
Another Record Falls as Warriors Continue to Impress in the Homeward Stretch
February 7, 2009
By: Jacob Muirhead
This past weekend saw the Waterloo Warriors competing at the 38th Annual York Open. With the OUA Championships taking place on the same track later this month, the meet was a good opportunity for the Warriors to go out, compete and show that they were ready to race on this track at OUA’s. Leading the way for Waterloo was Hugo Lopez. Lopez has been only milliseconds of a 13 year old varsity record in the 60 metre hurdles this indoor season, and he managed to put all the pieces together at York. His time of 8.56 seconds broke the previous mark held by Brent Forrest and also moved Hugo into the top twelve in the CIS.
Not to be outdone by the sprinting group, Waterloo also had some very good results in the distance events as Julia Malleck and Kelly-Lynne Spettigue both came away with top three finishes. Malleck has continued to improve every time she has stepped onto the track this season and this meet was no exception. Racing the 1000 metre, Julia came away with a season’s best time of 2:57.62. This time moves Julia into 13th place in the CIS. Spettigue, like Julia has also managed to improve every race this season and again managed to shave some more time. Kelly-Lynne ran a gutsy performance to finish with an indoor personal best time of 4:47.08 for a bronze medal performance in the 1500 metre. Kelly-Lynne is now ranked 16th in the country.
Other medal performances came in the jumping events where Andrew Good and Brian Sutherland each had first time clearances at 1.85 metres. Andrew had a better record in previous jumps however, and so took 2nd place on a countback, pushing Brian into 3rd place. Jason Goetz also came away with a medal, placing 2nd in the triple jump. Goetz was just short of his varsity record performance jumped last weekend at McGill, but still showed his consistency with a terrific jump of 14.19 metres.
In the relays, Waterloo came away with seasons bests in the men’s 4x200m and women’s 4x400m. Jason Goetz (23.1), Chris Lam (22.9), Jacob Muirhead (22.9) and Luke Govia (23.1) placed fourth to climb the CIS rankings with a time of 1:32.54. The warriors also won the 4x400m relay, with Chris Lam taking a full second from his previous 400 metre split, running 50.0 seconds which subsequently created a gap that the other teams just could not close. In the women’s 4x400m Jaime Hauseman (61.7), Julia Malleck (62.9), Stephanie Hinton (64.7) and Leanne Sinclair (66.9) also ran their seasons best time, with a clocking of 4:16.28.
The next meet for the Waterloo Warriors is the team’s last chance qualifier prior to OUA’s. The U of T Hal Brown Memorial takes place February 20th.
XC Head Coach Named to NACAC Team
February 5, 2009
Terry Goodenough (Head XC coach, TF distance coach) has been named to the 2009 NACAC Cross Country Championships Team.
Varsity Record Falls as Warriors Take On CIS Elite at McGill
January 31, 2009
By: Kelly-Lynne Spettigue
Last Friday the Warriors track and field team made the trek to Montreal excited to compete against the fastest, highest, and strongest of the CIS. They returned home with impressive results highlighted by big PBs, some of the top performances in the country this year, and a new varsity record.
The Warriors were led by Jason Goetz who placed 2nd in both the triple jump and the long jump. Jason's mark of 14.35m in the triple jump broke a 20-year-old varsity record, ranks him 3rd in the CIS, and puts him only 3cm back of the automatic qualifying distance for the national championships. Jason is also ranked 10th in the CIS in the long jump.
(Jason Goetz)
Waterloo's success in the jumps continued with Andrew Good jumping a big PB of 1.90m in the high jump. Both Brian Sutherland and Jason Goetz also recorded top-10 finishes in the event. The women's jumpers were led by Katrina Vandervoort's outstanding 6th place finish in the triple jump. Three Warriors (Katrina, Karen Belfall, and Nancy Spreitzer) achieved top-10 placings in the event. The women's long jump competition featured Karen Belfall's huge PB of 4.61m.
(Andrew Good)
There were impressive performances on the track as well. The men's 4x400 relay team of Jacob Muirhead, Chris Lam, Ben Clare, and Luke Govia placed 4th in a time that ranks them 8th in the CIS this season. Hugo Lopez threatened to break the varsity record he set 2 weeks ago with his 7th place finish in the 60m hurdles. Both Chris Lam and Jacob achieved top-15 finishes and set PBs in the 600m run. Chris Hartman inched closer to the 4:00 mark with his 4:03 13th place performance in the 1500. Devon Briggs spent the weekend breaking down barriers and he dipped below the 4:10 mark in the 1500 and ran under 2:00 in his leg of the 4x800 relay.
On the women's side Stephanie Hinton was crowned “Queen of the Relay” as she played an important role on the Warriors 4x200, 4x400, and 4x800 relay teams. Stephanie and Katrina Vandervoort also ran PB's in the 300m. Julia Malleck's sub-3:00 1000m run earned her an outstanding 8th place finish, and the 4x800 team of Stephanie, Julia, Claire Lobsinger, and Kelly-Lynne Spettigue placed a respectable 6th to earn points for the team.
(Stephanie Hinton, Katrina Vandervoort)
It was the first pentathlon of the year for multi-event specialists Ryan Wight and Aaron Bates. Ryan finished a remarkable 10th in a performance that was highlighted by a new high jump PB of 1.92m. Aaron placed 13th with a massive PB of 2575 points.
The McGill Team Challenge is the largest meet of the year for the Warriors. In a competition that featured 16 of the top teams in eastern Canada the Waterloo men placed an outstanding 9th overall and the women placed 14th. Next up for the Warriors is the York Classic in Toronto on February 7th.
Warriors Climb the Rankings After Successful Weekend in Windsor
January 17, 2009
By: Ryan Wight
This past weekend, the University of Windsor played host to the high profile Can-Am Classic. The University of Waterloo Track and Field team wore their hearts on their sleeves, finishing the meet with an enormous amount of personal bests, climbing the national rankings. Our women showed grit and determination in the long sprint events lead by Julia Malleck’s time of 1:39.40 in the 600m, placing her 12th in a strong field. Her time is currently 14th in the CIS. In the 1500m, one of our captains, Kelly-Lynn Spettigue ran a blistering 4:52.39, good enough for 9th place and top 10 in the CIS. She outperformed her previous season’s best by over 8 seconds! In triple jump, rookie sensation Katrina Vandervoort outdid her personal best three times en route to a second place finish with a jump of 10.80m, currently t-10th in the CIS.
(Katrina Vandervoort)
The men’s side was highlighted in particular by two very strong performances. Hugo Lopez finished in 5th place in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.61s, beating his previous mark of 8.62s which was set early on in the qualifiers, and only 0.01s off of a varsity record. Hugo is now ranked 11th in CIS. Jason Goetz powered his way to a 3rd place finish in triple jump with a jump of 14.02m, ranked 6th in CIS. His strong weekend also included a personal best in 60m hurdles, with 7th and 8th place finishes in long jump and high jump, respectively. Other notable finishes on the track included strong performances in the 1000m by Chris Hartman (5th - 2:35.14), Devon Briggs (7th - 2:36.70), and a 9th place finish for Patrick MacKinnon in the 3000m with a time of 9:16.43. In the field, Ryan Wight and rookie Andrew Good showed promise after tying for 6th place at 1.84m in high jump, as did Aaron Bates whom finished 9th in shot put after a personal best throw of 11.41m.
The team now has two weeks of preparation before heading out of province to the McGill Team Challenge on January 30th-31st, where the strong field will bring focus to the relays. It will also be the first competition featuring a pentathlon. Both teams look to build on the tremendous success of the season so far.
Encouraging Results at the Sharon Anderson Memorial
January 10, 2009
By: Jacob Muirhead
This past Saturday, January 10th 2009, the Waterloo Warrior Track and Field Team travelled to the University of Toronto to compete at the annual Sharon Anderson Memorial track meet. The Warriors performed well and came away with some promising results to kick off the New Year.
On the men’s side, Jason Goetz led the way with a second place finish in the triple jump and a sixth place in the high jump. Both Goetz’s results reached the OUA championship standard, and his triple jump mark of 13.64 meters rank him sixth in the CIS. Waterloo also had good results in the sprints. Hugo Lopez continues to impress after improving his time every time he has stepped on the track this season. The trend continued in Toronto, as he placed fifth in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.75 seconds. This result ranks Hugo 10th in the CIS, and is only 0.07s off of a varsity record. The Warriors also show future promise in the sprint relays. The 4x400 relay team, made up predominantly of rookies; Chris Lam, Matt Denman, and Eric Noland along with veteran Jacob Muirhead, were able to place first in the event, beating out the University of Toronto for top honours.
(Chris Hartman)
On the women’s side, Team captain Kelly-Lynne Spettigue and veteran Karen Belfall both performed well and placed within the top three in their respective events. Kelly-Lynne ran a gutsy race to finish third in the 1500m with a time of 5:00.42s. Even more impressive is that the 1500m was the second event of the day for Kelly-Lynne. She had already run the 1000m where after running to a time of 3:05.75 is currently ranked 9th in the CIS. In the triple jump, Karen Belfall also placed well. With her jump of 10.28 meters Karen led all competitors but one, finishing second in the event.
(Lobsinger, Spettigue, Bolejszo)
The team will continue to train throughout the week in order to prepare for their largest test so far in the season at the Can-Am Classic held in Windsor on January 16th and 17th.
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