Bob Vigars | uwaterlootrackfield

Warriors set life-time and personal bests at Bob Vigars season opener

12/1/2014 10:02:00 AM

The Waterloo Warriors had a fantastic season opener this past weekend at the Bib Vigars open at Western University. With many excellent results, the season looks promising for the young Warrior team finishing with 6 life time personal bests and 6 season bests.

The first track event was the women's 60m dash, where second year Tegan Sauer (Kitchener) and rookie Kelsi Darmon (Fergus) won their heats and cruised through the semi's easily making the finals. Excelling in the finals, Sauer won gold in a seasons best time of 7.95 while Darmon finished 4th with a personal best time of 8.06. On the men's side, rookie Ali Elkanuni (Tipoli) with veterans Mohamed Yassin (Waterloo) and Alex Manuel (Stouffville) blazed their way to the 60m final. Yassin won silver with a time of 7.06, while Elkanuni placed 5th with 7.31 and Manuel placed 7th with 7.39. Manuel tied his personal best time of 7.28 in the semi-final earlier in the day.

Next on the track were the long sprint events. Rookie Rachel Bronzovich (Oakville) had an excellent performance running her first 600m ever. Finishing 5th overall in a time of 1:42.10, she raced to a very close second in her heat. In the 300m, captain Jenny Carrique (Kitchener) made OUA standard with a time of 43.41 placing 4th. Darmon had another great race in the 200m winning gold with a time of 27.27. On the men's side, second year Samuel Martinello also claimed gold in the 200m with a time of 23.21, while Mo Yassin finished in second in spite of pulling up due to a slight injury 50m from the finish.

In the men's high jump, second year David Nightingale (Kitchener) soared over the bar with a jump of 1.90m, tying his personal best and winning the silver medal. Dave has shown great improvements due to his commitment and work ethic which will pay off throughout the season. With high hopes, Dave's coaches are expecting him to fight for a spot at the CIS Championships. Jill Knight (St. Thomas) threw 12.80m in the women's weight throw which earned her a solid second place finish.

The long distance team was led by rookie Reid Hayes (Waterloo) who won the men's 1500m clocking a great time of 4:05.98. Not far behind was fellow rookie teammate Rawle Groothuizen (Guelph) running 4:08.58, which was good enough for 4th place. In the women's 1500m, rookie Olivia Scagnetto (Kitchener) captured a 4th place finish in a time of 5:08.86.

The last track events of the day were the 4x200m and 4x400m relays. The women's 4x200m team consisting of Tegan Sauer (Kitchener), Jenny Carrique (Kitchener), Naomi Lance (Kitchener) and Kelsi Darmon (Fergus) ran 1:45.55, an amazing time this early in the season. Veteran Naomi Lance (Kitchener) ran the fastest split (25.6s), while rookieKelsi Darmon (Fergus) ran a very close second fastest split (25.7s) continuing to show her potential in her debut season. The women's 4x200m relay squad is expected to improve on their CIS ranking from the 2014 season.

The women's 4x400m team ran a great race fighting their competitors and fatigue from the long and grueling day. The team consisted of captain Jenny Carrique (Kitchener), with rookies Rachel Bronzovich (Oakville), Sabrina Marsh (Sault Ste. Marie), and Isabella Morgan. Bronzovich led the team with the fastest split time of 61.9 seconds finishing with an overall time of 4:15.88. With such a young team the women are expected to drop their time immensely closer to the Championship events aiming for CIS qualification.

With a solid month of training ahead of them the Warriors look to improve their results at their next meet held January 3rd at the University of Toronto.