Cam Am Article '15 | uwaterlootrackfield

Warriors shatter lifetime & season bests at Can-Am Classic

1/12/2015 2:30:00 PM

The Waterloo Warriors travelled to the University of Windsor this past weekend to compete in the 34th Annual Can Am Classic. Rising to the intensified competition, the Warriors performed exceptionally well and came out with 10 lifetime personal bests and 8 season personal bests.

The weekend began with some impressive performances from the distance team. In the women's 3000m race, rookie Alexandra McGowan (Carp) ran a tactical race to finish with a personal best time of 10:01.69, (pb'ing by a converted 17 sec.) placing 5th overall against some of the best runners in the OUA. This time places McGowan 4th on the UW All Time List. The men also had a great showing in the 3000m race. Rookies James Milton (Kitchener) and Chris Moore (Toronto) ran huge personal bests of 8:48.78 and 8:54.30 respectively to finish 1st and 3rd in their heat. Milton's time places him 10th on the UW All Time List.

Right after the 3000m, the women's team competed in the very exciting 4x200m relay composed of veterans Tegan Sauer (Kitchener), Naomi Lance (Kitchener), Jenny Carrique(Kitchener) and rookie Kelsi Darmon (Fergus). They crossed the finish line in a time of 1:46.06 to place 7th. The Warriors ran their women's 4x800m team for the first time in 5 years finishing 5th overall.

Day 2 of the meet started off with the 60m preliminary rounds. On the women's side, Tegan Sauer (Kitchener), Kelsi Darmon (Fergus), and Sian Smart (Kingston) all easily advanced to the tri-final round with times of 8.09, 8.09, and 8.06, respectively. In the tri-final, Sauer blazed out of the blocks and cut her time down to 8.02, which was the fastest time for the Warrior women. Darmon was not far behind with a time of 8.05. Immediately after soaring to a distance of 4.99m in women's long jump, Smart ran a great time of 8.10 seconds. On the men's side, rookie Ali Elkanuni (Tipoli) raced a fantastic lifetime personal best of 7.29 in the heats. This time advanced him to the tri-final, where he further improved his personal best time to an impressive 7.25.

Next on the track was the 600m, where rookie Rachel Bronzovich (Oakville) fought hard and destroyed her previous lifetime personal best time by 1.39 seconds. Bronzovich ran a very impressive time of 1:40.32, which placed her 10th overall. Bronzovich was paced along in the heat by Warrior Alumni and OUA champion Chantel Pilon (Trenton) who won the heat placing 6th overall with a stellar time of 1:37.42.

The parade of performances continued with the women's mid-distance events. Olivia Scagnetto (Kitchener) ran an amazing race in the 1000m event, cutting 16 seconds off her previous lifetime personal best and crossing the line in a time of 3:08.32. In the women's 1500m, McGowan had another great performance alongside teammate Erin Merkley(Smith Falls). Both McGowan and Merkley fought hard and ran personal bests in the event, clocking times of 4:51.06 and 4:54.59.

The last individual event on the track was the 300m dash. Veteran Naomi Lance (Kitchener) ran a very strong and smooth race for a spectacular season's best time of 41.55, placing her 10th within CIS competitors. On the men's side, Samuel Martinello ran a much more controlled race than the meet previous and flew past the competition on the final straightaway. Martinello ran a season's best time of 36.50, improving his previous time by 1.29sec, finishing 10th overall in one of the biggest meets of the season.

To end the weekend on a great note, the women had a fantastic race in the 4x400m relay. Although fairly new to the event, rookie Kelsi Darmon (Fergus) confidently started off the race from the blocks and ran a lifetime personal best split time of 62.5. Naomi Lance (Kitchener) received the baton from Darmon, and raced a very quick season's best split time of 59.8, which was the fastest of the team. Next up was Jenny Carrique (Kitchener), who fought her way to a season's best split time of 61.8 and handed off to rookie Rachel Bronzovich (Oakville). Bronzovich finished off the race strong, with a huge lifetime personal best split time of 60.8. The team placed 6th overall with a great 7-second personal best time of 4:05.28.

Next weekend, the Warriors will be competing at the Don Wright Team Challenge at Western University.