News - Archive 2011-2012

 

Athletes of the Week

 

Kofi Kwarko-Fosu, Track and Field 3/12/2012

Track and field runner Kofi Kwarko-Fosu represented the Warriors at this year’s CIS Championship in the 60m race.  Ranked 12th going into the championship, Kwarko-Fosu put together a strong dash in the qualifier with a time of 6.94 seconds to advance to the final.  In a very close final race, Kwarko-Fosu finished in eighth place with a time of 6.95 seconds, scoring the only point for Waterloo at the championship.  This feat was remarkable for an athlete who battled injuries all season long and made the best of his opportunity on the national stage.

 

Victoria Haffner, Track and Field 2/20/2012

Victoria Haffner, a rookie member of the track and field team put together a strong competition at the Hal Brown Last Chance meet.  Haffner finished fourth overall in the 300m race, ranking her 31st out of 85 OUA competitors.  The recreation and leisure student also ran a strong leg in the women’s 4x200m, in which her team captured the bronze medal

 

Charly Allan, Track and Field 1/9/2012

Third year long distance runner Charly Allan (Kingston) of the Track and Field team put forth a determined effort at the Sharon Anderson Meet hosted by Toronto on the weekend. In the first meet of 2012 Allan finished in fourth out of 21 athletes in the 1500m with a time of 4:00:85 ranking him fifth in the country.

 

Chantel Pilon, Track and Field 1/9/2012

Third year pentathlete, Chantel Pilon (Trenton) continued where she left off in 2011 with an impressive showing at the Sharon Anderson meet in Toronto this past weekend. Competing in a wide range of events, Pilon posted several personal bests including a first place finish in the shot put (10.80m) and a 10th place finish in both the 60m hurdles and high jump. Pilon also had the fastest relay split in Waterloo's 4x400m relay in which the Warriors placed fourth.

 

Chantel Pilon, Track and Field 12/5/2011
Pentathlete, Chantel Pilon (Trenton) (Trenton, Ont.) of the Waterloo track and field team posted impressive results at the OUA season opening event hosted by Western on Saturday. Pilon placed second in the 200m with a personal best time of 27.75. The science and business student also finished fifth in the shot put with a throw of 10.42 metres and sixth in the 60 metre hurdles. To cap off her stellar day, Pilon ran the fastest split in Waterloo's 4x200 metre relay race.

 

 

Kwarko-Fosu, Good perform well at CIS Track and Field Championship

March 8-10, 2012 - CIS Championships 

 

In conclusion to the 2011-2012 season, Kofi Kwarko-Fosu (Toronto) and Andrew Good (Whitby) travelled to the University of Manitoba in order to take part in the three day CIS championships in Winnipeg.

A returner from last year's National Championships in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Kofi qualified for this year's championship 60m through a stellar fourth place finish and personal best at the OUA Championship. 
 
Coming into Manitoba tied as the 12th fastest performer in the CIS, Kwarko-Fosu needed to move up in the rankings if he was going to secure a spot in the eight man final.  With his task cut out for him, a more experienced Kwarko-Fosu lined up for the preliminaries on the first day of competition ready to improve on his 10th place finish from last year. 

Using his trademark explosive start, Kofi put himself near the lead 30m into the race.  Although losing out to the provincial champions from Ontario and Quebec in the latter half of the race, Kofi held on to finish fourth in his heat in a time of 6.932 seconds. After a few painstaking moments as the judges sorted out a three way tie for the eighth and final qualifying position, Kwarko-Fosu was given the nod for the final winning out against a runner from York (6.95 seconds, and the Atlantic champion (6.933).

Returning for the finals just over an hour later, Kofi had a start that again put him near the lead.  In an extremely exciting race, Kwarko-Fosu held onto his position up until about 50m into the race, when his form began to deteriorate ever so slightly. 

At this level of competition, where every millisecond counts, the loss of form left Kofi with too much space to make up.  Close to the lead up until 50m, Kofi wound up a very respectable eighth with a time of 6.95 seconds and also scoring the teams only point.  Injured for much of the season, and ranked 27th in the nation up until the OUA Championship just two weeks ago, Kofi's eighth place finish is a testament to his competiveness and talent.

Qualifying for the national championships with a personal best 1.96m bronze medal performance at the provincial championships, Andrew Good (Whitby) came into Manitoba on the heels of his best jumping series ever.  Ranked 12th overall lining up for competition on Friday evening, Good would improve three positions to finish just out of the points in ninth place. Although his best jump of 1.88m was off of his personal best set earlier this year, Good came away with the competition with some valuable experience, and another year of eligibility with which he can improve on this years placing.

Next up for the Warriors is a week or two of well deserved break, before club training begins in preparation for a competitive summer season.

 

 

Good claims OUA bronze, Kwarko-Fosu blazes into CIS Championship

February 24/25, 2012 - OUA Championships 

Troubled by nagging injuries all season, the Waterloo Warriors travelled to York University for the OUA Championship finally healthy and ready to rumble. Unquestionably the best meet of the season for the Waterloo Warriors, the team came away with 31 lifetime personal bests and 6 seasonal bests.

Alongside a very strong team performance, however, the highlights of the meet for the Warrior team were Kofi Kwarko-Fosu (Toronto)'s fourth place finish in the men's 60m and Andrew Good (Whitby)'s 1.96m high jump which earned him a bronze medal and Justin Conlon (Ayr)'s fifth place finish in the Pentathlon.

Coming into this season, expectations were high for Kwarko-Fosu.  Having finished fifth at the 60m at last year's provincial championship, Kofi also had a very strong summer season, where he ran a wind-aided 10.75 second 100m to finish the 2011 campaign as one of the fastest university sprinters in the country.

Despite these accolades, Kwarko-Fosu entered the provincial championships without having raced once in the past month due to a hamstring injury suffered at the end of January.  Kofi quickly put the team's doubts about his fitness to rest, by qualifying alongside Shlomo Dunyo (Hamilton) (8th in 6.93 seconds) and rookie sensation Mohammed Yassin (15th in 7.16 seconds) to the semi-finals in a season's best 6.96 seconds for ninth place.

Running the semi-finals the next morning, Kofi advanced to the afternoon's finals as the sole Waterloo qualifier, edging out teammate Shlomo Dunyo(Hamilton) for the eighth and final qualifying position by .01 seconds.  Lining up in lane one, far away from the middle lanes reserved for the fastest qualifiers, Kofi was far away from where the action was expected to take place.  With an explosive start that put him neck and neck with the leaders in the initial stages of the race, however, Kofi held off a fast finishing Ottawa runner all the way to the line to secure a fourth place finish in a new personal best of 6.89 seconds (old PB 6.94 seconds).

Entering the competition as the 15th fastest seed, Kofi moved up an incredible 11 positions to earn the team five points and qualify himself to the CIS championships taking place early next Month in Winnipeg.  In addition, Kofi's 6.89 clocking now places him second in school history right behind teammateShlomo Dunyo (Hamilton)'s 6.85 second school record run last year.

Just as impressive was Andrew Good (Whitby) in the men's high jump.  Also suffering from an injury that had hampered the second half of his season, Good was coming into the championships with some injury worries to contend with.  However, with a CIS national championship qualifying position on the line, Andrew put together an incredible string of jumps—his best ever, to earn himself a bronze medal.  Entering the competition at 1.80m and missing his first jump at 1.85m Good got off to a shaky start. Clearing both 1.90m and 1.93m on his second attempts however, Andrew found himself vying with three other athletes for medals with the bar raised to 1.96m.  Missing on the first two attempts at the height, Good stood by, next to jump as a Windsor athlete missed his third and final attempt at 1.96m.  With a medal on the line, and all the hard work behind him, Andrew put in the best jump of his university career to clear the height and earn the Warriors six points.  In addition to his bronze medal, Andrew also qualified himself for the CIS championships, and his jump of 1.96m ranks him the fifth best jumper in Waterloo history.

Feeding off of these results, other Waterloo athletes came away from the championships with significant personal bests.  Pentathlete Justin Conlon (Ayr) rewrote the school's all-time list with his hurdles, shot put, long jump and high jump all ranking in the top 10 in Waterloo history.  Justin came into the competition ranked 11th in the event and moved up and impressive six positions to place fifth in the province and 16th in the country with a personal best 3351 points—only 31 points from the school record.  Just missing out on a top 12 placing in the national rankings, Justin will miss the championships this year. However, his improvement curve in the pentathlon makes him somebody to keep an eye out for in the seasons to come.

Other top performances from the meet include Stephanie Hinton (Brantford)'s #4 all-time run of 1:38.62 seconds in the women's 600m and the men's and women's 4x200m relays.  The women's relay team, consisting of Katrina Vandervoort (Ottawa), Victoria Haffner (Dorchester), Chantel Pilon (Trenton) andStephanie Hinton (Brantford) earned some points for the team finishing seventh with a season's best clocking of 1:46.05 seconds. The men's team also scored points, running a season's best time of 1:31.67 seconds to finish fifth. Noteworthy in the men's relay was Jacob Muirhead (Elmira) who's 22.4 200m split ranks as the 10th fastest in Waterloo history.

In the final team standings, the men moved up one position from last year to finish in seventh place while the women finished in a tie for ninth.  Next up,Andrew Good (Whitby) and Kofi Kwarko-Fosu (Toronto) will represent the Waterloo Warriors and test themselves against the nation's best at the CIS national championships which take place in Winnipeg, March 8-10.

 

 

Hal Brown Memorial (U of T)

February 17, 2012 

In their final meet before the provincial championships which take place next weekend, the Waterloo Warriors travelled to the Hal Brown Memorial hosted by the University of Toronto.  A final test of fitness before OUA’s the team positioned itself well, coming away from the meet with 17 personal bests and one seasonal best.
           With a number of the group’s sprinters either still injured or just returning from injury, there were a number of question marks as to how Shlomo Dunyo and Mohammed Yassin would fare in their second and first races back at the 60m distance. Fortunately, both athletes easily qualified out of the preliminaries with quick times of 7.04 and 7.21 seconds respectively.  Each running faster in the finals, Dunyo was rewarded with a bronze medal in 7.03 while Yassin improved significantly on his preliminary time to finish 4th overall in a time of 7.13 seconds.  Further back in 11th, but deserving of an honourable mention is Maurathan Mahadevan.  Smashing his personal best by .06 seconds, Maurathan posted a 7.33 clocking to miss a spot in the finals by just a few hundredths of seconds. In the women’s 60m, Katrina Vandervoort looks ready to smash her personal best at OUAs next week.  Qualifying out of the preliminaries with a personal best tying time of 8.17 seconds, Kat put together her best series of races to finish 5th overall in the final in a time of 8.18 seconds.
           Consistently the top performer over 300m all season, rookie Victoria Haffner showed good form once again, placing 4th overall for the warriors in the women’s 300m. Finishing just off of her personal best in 43.04 seconds, following close behind Haffner was pentathlete Chantel Pilon.  Showing just how much she has improved over the year, Pilon broke her personal best over 300m that she set last year by nearly 2 seconds to finish 7th overall in a time of 43.27 seconds. 
             Putting in a good effort in the men’s 600m, Lawrence Xie ran well within himself to finish second overall in a time of 1:24.85 seconds.  Although slightly off his personal best, Xie looks ready to run much quicker next weekend. 
             The day was a surprisingly quick one for Waterloo’s mid-distance runners. Stephanie Hinton got things started with a personal best time of 3:11.32 an 8th place finish in the women’s 1000m.  Shortly after, Justin Spalvieri and Patrick MacKinnon ran very gutsy races in the men’s 1500 to each earn a personal best. MacKinnon finished 11th and cracked the 4:10 barrier with a final time of 4:09.33 seconds. Running together with MacKinnon for much of the race, Spalvieri unleashed over the last few laps for his best race of the season, a 9th place finish and a big pb of 4:04.11.
                Out in the field, Mauarthan  Mahadevan, continued his hot streak after his 60m with another pb in the men’s long jump.  Putting together a consistent series, Mahadevan finished 6th overall with a leap of 5.87m.
           UW pentathletes had a solid outing at this week's competition. Veteran Justin Conlon had a great meet with two personal bests. He threw 12.45m in the men's shot put to tie his previous personal best (with all six of his throws over the 12m barrier), and ran to a new personal best of 9.63 in the men's 60m hurdles. On the women's side, multi-eventer and relay-runner Chantel Pilon had an equally successful meet with a new pb in the women's high jump (1.45m). The warrior pentathletes seem to be peaking perfectly for next week's championships.
Next up for the warriors are the OUA provincial championships next weekend at the University of York.

 

 

Warriors Hit 100 Personal Bests to Date 

February 4, 2012 

 

This weekend, the Waterloo Warriors travelled to York University's 41st Annual Open for a full day of competition.  The Warriors continue to see improvements in their performances, bringing home 19 Life Time Personal Bests (LTPB) and 4 Season's Bests (SB).  These round the season up to 100 LTPB's and 36 SB's to date, a hefty number this point in the season.

The first event on the meet schedule, the 60m dash, presented some tough competition for the Warriors.  Rookie Victoria Haffner (Dorchester) stepped up and accomplished a LTPB in 8.33 seconds.  On the men's side, three of the eight Warriors ran LTPB's in the event: Maurathan Mahadevan (Toronto) (7.39), Jon-Paul Browne (Kingston) (7.56), and Justin Conlon (Ayr) ran (7.77) respectively.  Dealing with a nagging injury most of the season Shlomo Dunyo (Hamilton) won his heat easily in a time of 7.01 earning himself a spot in the finals with some of CIS' top runners.  Due to a poor start Dunyo didn't have his best race but still finished 10th in the very competitive field of men.

Philip Zablocki continued to improve his 300m running yet another personal best in 36.81s for a 19th place finish and the top Warrior in the event.  Rookies Tommy Gingras (38.64) and Dean Drasnin (Oshawa) (39.63) also achieved personal bests in the 300m.  In the competitive 600m, Trevor Salmon(Kitchener) finished a strong 10th with a time of 1:25.31.  An hour later Salmon ran the fastest leg of the men's 4x400m team in a new personal best time of 51.3, nearly a full second faster than his previous best.  Adam Neale (Dundas) also had a LTPB in his 400m split running 51.4, nearly a 2 second improvement.  The men's 4x400m team finished fifth overall.

Other notable performances were Leslie Gray (Fort St. John) in the women's 1500m with a seasons best time of 5:06.97(9th), Andrew Good (Whitby) jumped 1.84m in the High Jump (6th), and Patrick MacKinnon (Mount Hope) who led 11 of the 15 laps in the men's 3000m to place fourth overall with his second best time of 8:48.79.

With the relays closing the day, the men's 4x800m team was hoping to secure a spot into the CIS Championships.  However, in a very small field the Warriors came up short having no other teams to push the pace for their first place finish. 

The top performances of the weekend were the lady Warriors in the 4x200m and 4x400m relays.  First up the women ran a respective time of 1:47.77 to place fourth in the 4x200m.  Although the four women ran close to their bests it was veteran Chantel Pilon (Trenton) who ran the fastest leg and a new LTPB in a time of 26.3 seconds.  An hour later the 4x400m team, Victoria Haffner(Dorchester) (61.9), Chantel Pilon (Trenton) (61.0), Stephanie Hinton(Brantford) (62.0) and Katrina Vandervoort (Ottawa) (62.7), ran an outstanding race improving their overall time by nearly 5 seconds in 4:07.90 to earn them fifth place. 

With a week free of competition the Warriors will focus on fine-tuning before they head to the Last Chance meet in Toronto on February 17th. 

 

 

McGill Team Challenge​

January 28, 2012 

This weekend, the Waterloo Warriors travelled to the University of McGill to compete in the 17th Annual McGill Team Challenge.  Most certainly the focal point of the Warriors non-championship season, the team competed extremely well, coming away from the meet with an astonishing 23 personal bests and eight seasonal bests. The team's great showing in McGill is a testament to the competitiveness of the meet.  With well over a thousand athletes from universities as far away as Alberta in the West and Dalhousie in the East competing, the McGill team challenge is in many ways, a rehearsal for the OUA and CIS championships that take place in late February and early March.

The first and quickest event on the meet schedule was the 60m dash.  With 81 athletes competing in the men's 60m and another 78 in the women's 60m, it was going to take a quick time to be in the top 16 and qualify for either the A or B finals. Realizing the stiff competition,  rookie Mohamed Yassin (Waterloo) ran his quickest time of the year to ensure himself a spot in the next round with a 7.12 clocking to qualify in position overall.  Joining him in the B final was Kofi Kwarko-Fosu (Toronto), who advanced with a 7.15 clocking to qualify in 14th place. Unfortunately, neither athlete would progress to a quicker time in the final, as both went down with an injury.  Indeed, Yassin did not even start the 60m final, while Kwarko-Fosu pulled up 30m into the race with a hamstring injury.  In the women's 60m, veteran Katrina Vandervoort (Ottawa) was agonizingly close to qualifying for the next round, finishing in 8.20 seconds. This time was just .02 off of her personal best, and .04 off of qualifying for the B final.

There were some notable performances in the men's and women's 300m as well.  Indeed, taking advantage of the banked track,  team captain Jacob Muirhead (Elmira) ran another personal best of 36.33 seconds to finish 20th in an extremely deep 300m field of 63 competitors.  Also impressive was rookie Philip Zablocki who ran 36.93 seconds for a personal best.   On the women's side, rookie Victoria Haffner (Dorchester) showed huge potential for the future, finishing 19th in the 63 woman field in a new personal best time of 42.73 seconds.   Also of note in the women's 300m was Katrina Vandervoort (Ottawa)'s personal best run of 43.46 seconds. Vandervoort finished just behind Haffner in 26th place.
In the men's 600m, Adam Neale (Dundas), Lawrence Xie (Guelph) and Trevor Salmon (Kitchener) all put in their best efforts of the season. Running together in the same heat, Neale, Xie and Salmon would battle with one another right to the line.  In the end, it was a personal best for Neale (1:24.36) that allowed him to take the bragging rights in an extremely close finish with Xie (1:24.38).  Not far behind, Trevor Salmon (Kitchener) closed well to finish in a new personal best of 1:24.70.  All three athletes were well under the OUA qualifying standard.

While there were many solid performances in the sprints, the highlight of the meet for the Warriors was the men's 1500m. Indeed, all three competing Warriors, Justin Spalvieri (Alliston) (4:12.87), Devon Briggs (Uxbridge) (4:05.75) and Charley Allen (3:53.75) all ran personal bests.  Allen's performance in particular, however, was very special.  Running very smart in a race against some of the best distance runners in the CIS, Allen eventually crossed the line fourth overall in a field of 78 competitors.   Just as impressive, his run, which was a personal best by several seconds also ranks him 4th in UW history behind past CIS champions such as Harvey Mitro (3:48.8) and Scott Arnald (3:51.86). A testament to the depth of competition in the CIS, Allen's time currently ranks him 9th in the country.

The Warriors also had a busy day in the field as veterans Justin Conlon (Ayr), and Chantelle Pilon, along with Rookie Andrew Least competed in the men's and women's pentathlons. On the men's side, Conlon lead the warriors with a season's best in the 60m hurdles (9.70) and a life time personal best in the 1000m (3:02.60) leading him to a near personal best performance of 3020 points. Least showed great promise for the future, completing the pentathlon with a point total of 2317 after only a few weeks of event-specific training. Despite a major mishap in her 60m hurdles, Pilon went on to set four new personal bests in the shot put (11.36m), high jump (1.42m), long jump (4.62m), and 800m (2:33.33). Her 800m performance was also the fastest ever by a Waterloo female pentathlete. Other notable field performances included Sarah Krapez (Caledon)' huge personal best by over 1.5m in the women's weight throw (11.94m).

With so many great individual performances, it was obvious that the relays would perform inMcGill as well and indeed, they did not disappoint.  In the women's 4x200m, a team consisting of Victoria Haffner (Dorchester) (26.9),Chantel Pilon (Trenton) (26.5), Katrina Vandervoort (Ottawa) (26.1) andStephanie Hinton (Brantford) (27.0) ran a massive season's best of 3.5 seconds to score some points for the Warriors. 

Finishing fifth in a race that produced some of the fastest times in the CIS so far this year, all four Warriors ran personal bests on their respective relay legs to bring the team home in a time of 1:46.56.  This time currently places the 4x200 10th in the country. Following in their wake, the men's 4x800m also rose to the occasion, with a similarly gutsy run to finish seventh in a time of 7:51.26.  All four Warriors; Devon Briggs (Uxbridge) (1:58.4), Charley Allen (1:55.6),Lawrence Xie (Guelph) (1:59.3) and Justin Spalvieri (Alliston) (1:57.8) ran personal best splits, and their time also ranks them third in UW history. In addition, Briggs (10th) Spalvieri (6th) and Allen (2nd) had some of the fastest splits ever recorded at Waterloo. Their finishing time of 7:51.26 places the team 9th in the country.  

Next up, the Warriors will travel to the York Classic next weekend to take on the York Lions and a number of other regional Universities.

 

 

 

Don Wright Team Challenge 

January 21, 2012

This weekend the Waterloo Warriors broke into two groups. The majority of the team competed at the Don Wright Team Challenge in London Ontario while the team’s pentathletes travelled to the University of Toronto’s Fred Foot Invitational to compete in their first pentathlon of the season.  Facing stiff competition in London against teams from Western, McMaster and York, the men’s and women’s teams came away with respectable third and fourth place finishes that were highlighted by impressive individual performances.

The day started off with a medal in the men’s 60m sprints with Kofi-Kwarko-Fosu putting together his best string of races of the season.  With fellow star Warrior Shlomo Dunyo not competing this weekend, Kofi had some big shoes to fill and he did not disappoint.  Finishing second overall in the 60m, Kwarko-Fosu was rewarded with a season’s best time of 7.09 seconds.  Tying his seasonal best in the prelims (7.18) when qualifying for the final, Kofi’s 7.09 second performance places him 22nd in the country.  Joining Kofi in the finals was Mohammed Yassin who had also easily qualified for the finals in 2nd place overall with a time of 7.17 seconds.  Hampered by a poor start in the finals, however, Yassin had too much ground to make up and eventually finished 5th in the field with a time of 7.27 seconds. 

          Not to be outdone, the Warrior women sprints group also qualified two athletes to the 60m final, with Katrina Vandervoort and Victoria Haffner qualifying in 5th and 7th place respectively with times of 8.23 and 8.37 seconds.  Running very close to her personal best in the final, Vandervoort maintained her qualifying seed, finishing 5th with a time of 8.21 seconds.  Slightly behind, Haffner also maintained her seed, running through the line tied for 7th overall in a time of 8.44 seconds. 
The men’s and women’s long sprinting group also posted some very strong results, with a number of athletes finishing with lifetime personal bests.  In the men’s 300m, rookie Philip Zablocki is now the 4th athlete on the team to break the 37 second barrier this season.  He has consistently chipped away at his 300m time this season, and in London, he was rewarded with another personal best and 2nd place finish in a time of 36.96 seconds.  On the women’s side, Victoria Haffner came back from the women’s 60m to score some points for the team in the 300m.  Registering her second best time of the season, Haffner finished 3rd in a time of 43.45 seconds.   Close behind Haffner in 5th was Vandervoort who finished with a personal best of 44.13 seconds. 

          Also noteworthy, competing in a stacked 600m race, team captain Jacob Muirhead posted a personal best to finish 5th in a time 1:23.85.  A testament to how competitive the race was, Muirhead’s 5th place time ranks him as the 8th best performer on the Warriors all-time list.  

          With the majority of the team’s field crew competing in Toronto, rookie Andrew Leest stood out in London, with strong 3rd and 4th place finishes in the men’s high and long jump competitions. Soaring 1.75m in the high jump, Leest also leaped 5.74m in the men’s long jump.

          Although far off their season’s bests, also noteworthy were the men’s and women’s 4x200m relays.  On the men’s side, a team consisting of Kofi Kwarko-Fosu, Mohammed Yassin, Jacob Muirhead and J.P Brown finished first overall. Particularly impressive in the men’s relay was Yassin, who clocked a personal best 22.5 second relay split.  On the women’s side,  Victoria Haffner, Katrina Vandervoort, Samantha Yang and Stephanie Hinton also finished on the podium in 3rd place.

      In Toronto,  Pentathletes Justin Conlon , Sasha Ameri and Chantel Pilon all had successful outings in their first full pentathlon competition of the season.  For Ameri, it was his first pentathlon ever. Still working out the technique of the shot put, hurdles and long jump, he did very well to finish all 5 events successfully.  For veteran Justin Conlon, the Fred Foot Invitational was a chance to size up his competition prior to the Provincial championships which take place later in February. A successful outing, Conlon came away with a new personal best of 3033 points and a 3rd place finish in a field of 13 athletes.  This mark places Conlon 10th in the country.

          Also successful in her first pentathlon of the season, Chantel Pilon registered a personal best as well finishing all 5 events with 2618 points.  Far off from her personal best in the women’s shot put and long jump, the personal best is encouraging for Pilon, who can certainly add another few hundred points onto that mark by the time the provincial championships come around. 

Look for the Warriors next weekend as they head to McGill to compete in one of the biggest indoor meets in the country.

 

 

 

CanAm Track Classic 

January 13/14, 2012

In the most competitive meet of the early season, the Warriors travelled south to test themselves at the 31st annual Can-Am Track Classic, held at the University of Windsor.  With the majority of the OUA track and field powerhouses in attendance, including the men’s CIS numbers one and two the Guelph Gryphons, and York Lions as well as the competitive Windsor Lancers and Toronto Varsity Blues, the meet certainly did not disappoint.

For the short sprints crew, the meet was slightly bittersweet. On the positive side, the Waterloo men came home with two seasonal bests and one personal best in the 60m, a sign that the group is heading towards bigger and better things. With Shlomo Dunyo leading the way, the Warriors were able to qualify three to the Tri-Final, with Mohammed Yassin and Kofi Kwarko-Fosu eventually finishing 13th and 14th respectively in very quick times of 7.16 and 7.17 seconds. Dunyo, who qualified to the Tri-Final 2nd overall with a blazing 6.95 seconds, was even stronger in the second round, qualifying for the finals with a mark of 6.92 seconds—the 3rd fastest seed. Unfortunately, Dunyo was hampered in the finals by a poor start, eventually finishing 5th overall in 7.02 seconds.  Dunyo will have another chance to race against some of the CIS’s fastest 60m men at the McGill team challenge in two weeks time.
The Warriors also came away with some good results in the 300m and 600m.  Especially impressive was rookie Victoria Haffner’s new personal best in the women’s 300m. Shaving over a full second from her previous personal best, Tori was pushed all the way to the line in her 300m heat to finish in 42.87 seconds.

In the men’s 300m Jacob Muirhead lead the way for the Warriors, finishing in 16th place overall in a new personal best of 36.42 seconds. Only slightly behind Muirhead was Mohammed Yassin. Showing good range, Yassin easily broke the 37 second barrier in his first attempt at the 300m, finishing 19th in a time of 36.72 seconds. In the 600m, the highlight of the race was Devon Briggs, posting the fastest time of the season for the Warriors, Briggs managed a 14th place 1:25.42 effort.

The Can Am meet served as the Warriors first test of the stiff challenges to come in the men’s and women’s relays. On the women’s side, the Warriors started strong with a season’s best time by 7 seconds in the 4 by 200m relay of 1:50.25. Rookie Tori Haffner (26.9 PB),  Chantel Pilon (27.3 PB), Katrina Vandervoort (27.3), and Stephanie Hinton (28.5 SB) ran for the Warriors. The women went on to run a season’s best in the 4 by 400m relay with a time of 4:12.58 (SB) (Haffner, 61.8 PB; Pilon, 62.0 PB, Vandervoort, 64.8; Hinton, 63.8 SB). The men’s relay teams also showed great promise for this year’s OUA and CIS Championships. The warriors started with the 4 by 200m relay (Shlomo Dunyo, Jacob Muirhead, Oliver Grant, rookie Mohamed Yassin).  A start-line error resulted in an extra 18m for the Warriors giving them a slow time of 1:34.31, despite winning their heat. The men’s 4 by 800m team ran well with a total time of 7:59.56 (SB) bettering their time by over 26 seconds! Devon Briggs (2:00.2 PB), Charles Allen (1:56.6 PB), Lawrence Xie (2:01.7 SB) and Justin Spalvieri (2:00.7 SB) ran for the team. The meet finished with a thrilling men’s 4 by 400m relay race involving a vicious back and forth battle with the Western Mustangs for first place. Despite their efforts, the warriors placed 2nd with a very respectable time of 3:25.75 (SB).  Jacob Muirhead (50.3 PB), Oliver Grant (51.2 SB), Trevor Salmon (52.2 PB), and rookie Philip Zablocki (51.7 PB) ran the Warrior legs.

Despite some injuries and other setbacks, the warriors also had several notable performances on the field. Rookie Andrew Least jumped a new personal best of 1.81m in the men’s high jump. Pentathlete Justin Conlon also jumped 1.81m for a new season’s best. In addition, Marian Agyei-Gyamera took part in her first ever weight throw competition. She threw 9.35m and expects much more as the season progresses.

The six long-distance competitors faced extremely tough competition this weekend with many of the field’s top finishers achieving CIS standards.  In the 600m, with a finish of 1:43.84, Stephanie Hinton dropped her season’s best from last week and may have edged her way into the OUA top 15.  Competing in the 3000m and the 1500m, Leslie Gray dropped 9 seconds off her 1500m time last week, finishing 21st with 5:09.17.   On the men’s side Matthew Melnik finished with a time of 2:41.49 in the 1000m while Patrick MacKinnon had a strong 19th place finish in the 1500m with a time of 4:11.13.  In the 3000m MacKinnon earned himself a 6th place finish with a time of 8.47.15, an all time personal best and great race this early in the season.  Teammate Michael Stewart was not far behind, finishing in 9:16.42 after a tough week fighting off one of this winter’s colds. 

This week’s most notable performance came from Charles Allan who had another stand-out race finishing 4th in the 1500m, earning himself a strong PB and a 5th place ranking in the CIS with a time of 3:56.03. 

The Warriors now prepare for next Saturday in London, Ontario.

 

 

Sharon Anderson Meet (Toronto)

Saturday, Jan. 7 

The Waterloo Warriors ushered in the New Year with some good performances this past weekend at the Sharon Anderson Memorial Track and Field Meet. With the winter holidays behind them, the meet is a good opportunity for the team to showcase the hard work and training they have put in over the break.

The Warrior sprints crew did not disappoint in this respect, opening the day's competition on the track by qualifying six athletes for the “A” and “B” finals in the men's and women's 60m. Leading the way for the Waterloo sprints crew on the men's side was rookie speedster Mohamed Yassin.  Already ranked in the top 15 in the Ontario conference at 60m, Yassin easily qualified for the A final in fifth place with an opening time of 7.23 seconds. Following closely behind Yassin to qualify for the B final were Kofi Kwarko-Fosu (Toronto) (7.41) in 10th, Maurathan Mahadevan (7.44) in 11th, Oliver Grant (Kitchener) (7.46) in 13th and Brian Ma (Markham) (7.48) in 16th.  Although Yassin decided to sit out of the A final as a precautionary measure to protect a minor leg injury, the Warriors were still very well represented in the 35 man field.  Kwarko-Fosu, also troubled by some nagging injuries finished in eight place in a time of 7.31 seconds while Grant put together the best 60m race of his varsity career to finish ninth in a personal best of 7.39 seconds.

On the women's side, Katrina Vandervoort (Ottawa) was also impressive, running a personal best of 8.17 seconds to qualify for the B final of the women's 60m in ninth place.  Mainly a long and triple jumper in the past, Vandervoort's decision to focus on the sprints this season appears to be paying off.  Running a fraction slower in the final, Katrina was the highest placing Warrior in the 60m, finishing the B final in seventh place overall in 8.18 seconds. With that time, Vandervoort has now qualified herself for the OUA conference meet later in February.

There were some good results in the long sprints as well.  On the women's side, Tori Haffner continued her successful rookie year with the Warriors, finishing a solid eight in the women's 300m in a time of 44.50 seconds.  On the men's side, team captain Jacob Muirhead (Elmira) had his best 300m opener of his career finishing just off the podium in fourth place with a time of 36.74 seconds. Close behind Jacob, Oliver Grant (Kitchener) (36.99), and rookie Philip Zablocki (37.14) were also well inside the OUA 300m qualifying mark, finishing in the top ten of the 39 man field in sixth and eighth place respectively. 

The long-distance crew threw down some impressive times for what was a rust-busting first track appearance for many athletes.  Notably, Charles Allan is now ranked in the top 10 CIS performances of the season for two events after his 4:00.85 time in the 1500m race, earning the Warriors five points and himself a fourth place finish.  Also in the 1500 and leading the second heat for most of the race, Devon Briggs (Uxbridge) was the next Waterloo Warrior, finishing in 4:09, closely followed by Justin Spalvieri (Alliston).  In the 3000m men's race,Patrick MacKinnon (Mount Hope) took 8 points and a second place finish, sneaking under the OUA qualifying time of 8:55.00 with an 8:54.91 finish.  Closely following were Michael Stewart, Liam Mulroy, and Gabriel Moreno-Bautista in sixth, seventh, and eighth place.  Matt Melnik (Whitby) returned to the track scene in both the 600m and 1000m events.  Meanwhile Stephanie Hinton (Brantford) and Leslie Gray (Fort St. John) switched out their snow spikes for some indoor shoes and posted solid first performance times in the 600m and 1500m events respectively.  All Warriors will aim to hit OUA qualifying standards later this season.

Proving that they can not only run, but also soar and throw, the Waterloo jumpers and throwers landed some impressive results as well. The most impressive result off the track was Andrew Good (Whitby) in the men's high jump.  Already ranked fifth in the country with a 1.95m clearance, Good came up just short of that performance in Toronto.  Reaching a height of 1.94m all on first-attempt jumps, Andrew would eventually finish third in the 15 man field.  Already a potential CIS qualifier with his jump of 1.95m, Good was very close to improving on that jump at the Sharon Anderson Memorial, with two very near successes at 1.98m.
Pentathletes Justin Conlon (Ayr) and Chantel Pilon (Trenton) deserve mention as well, as a slew of personal bests in the hurdles, and shot put to go alongside a number of personal bests at the Western meet in early December suggest that both of these athletes are ready to put together a solid pentathlon. In particular, Conlon and Pilon were especially impressive in their firts place and OUA qualifying throws of 12.33m and 10.80m respectively in the shot put. With her throw of 10.80m, Pilon is currently ranked as the 14th best performer in the OUA.

Closing out the meet for the Waterloo team was the men's and women's 4x400 and men's 4x800m relays.  Always exciting, the women's 400m relay finished behind Guelph and Toronto in fourth place.  The men's 400m relay who was missing a few of their quickest quarter milers who were out with injury still managed a credible second place behind the University of Toronto. 

With the first meet of the new year completed the Warriors will look to continue their impressive performances at the high profile Cam Am Track Classic held at the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario on January 13th and 14th.

 

 

Warriors impress at OUA track and field season opener

Dec 5, 2011

After three solid months of training, the Waterloo Warriors Track and Field Team finally got their season underway, heading to the University of Western for their first meet of the season. The meet was a busy day for the Warriors and full of excitement. For rookies dawning the gold and black for the first time, it was a chance to test themselves at this high level of competition while for team veterans, it was a chance to test their fitness at this early stage of the season.

Starting off the day for the Warriors in exciting fashion were the men's and women's 60m. A lot was on the line for the Warriors sprints crew, as this was the first time the two warrior 60m individual Canadian university  championship qualifiers from last year's championship— Shlomo Dunyo (Hamilton) and Kofi Kwarko-Fosu (Toronto)— would face off against each other. 

Showing his fitness, it was Dunyo who would come out on top, running a time of 6.91 which was good enough for second place behind a very strong run by Miguel Wason of Western. Unfortunately, Kwarko-Fosu looked strong in the preliminaries and semifinal, but slowed down in the final with a slight injury. He eventually finished sixth overall.

Other notable performances in the 60m included Rookie Mohamed Yassin who placed third overall with a time of 7.14. On the women's side, rookie Victoria Haffner opened her career with the Warriors in style, running a time of 8.41; good enough for a sixth place finish. In the 200m, Shlomo Dunyo (Hamilton) once again led with warriors with a second place time of 23.27. Also in the 200m, multi-event specialist Chantel Pilon (Trenton)  is looking like she is going to have a very good season, finishing as the warriors top female performer in the event running a new personal best time of 27.75 for a third place finish.

In the 300m, Warrior rookie Philip Zablocki ran a great race, leading his heat from start to finish to place second overall with  a personal best time of 37.44. Victoria Haffner showed why she was an OFSAA qualifier in the 400m last year, stopping the clock in the women's 300m at 43.83 seconds. Lastly, Adam Neale(Dundas) was the Warriors' top 600m competitor, running a new indoor personal best of 1:25.50 in a difficult and crowded race.

On the field events side, Andrew Good (Whitby) leapt to a height of 1.95 in the men's high jump and a new personal best by 5cm. Not only did Andrew win the competition with this jump but he also put himself on the radar as a potential CIS qualifier in the event.

Multi-eventer Justin Conlon (Ayr) also had a great meet putting 12.45m in the men's shot put: a huge personal best by almost 1.50m. Justin had great performances despite his remarkably busy day competing in five different events. He was also the Warriors' top male long jumper with a jump of 6.06m. Like Andrew, Justin is quickly setting himself up as a potential CIS qualifier this year, and is showing great progress in the multi-events.

For the women, Chantel Pilon (Trenton) was the Warriors' top shot putter, putting a new personal best of 10.42m which was good enough for a fifth place finish. In the women's long jump, rookie Samantha Yang was the Warriors' best jumping a distance of 4.79m for fifth  place.

Always exciting, the day ended with the 4x200m and 4x400m relays. The Warriors fielded one 4x200m team on the women's side and three on the men's side. The tired and battered men's team then dug deep to field three teams 35 minutes later in the 4x400m relay.

The Warriors now head back to another month of training (and university exams) before their next meet on January 7th at the University of Toronto.