The best track and field athletes of the West were at the University of Manitoba this weekend for the Canada West Championships.
The University of Saskatchewan took home the women’s championship with 97 points, 34 points better than third-placed Manitoba. On the men’s side, the University of Alberta Golden Bears were crowned champions with 96 points, edging out second-placed Manitoba with 81.
Manitoba teams did not win the competition, but there was plenty of hardware wrapped around the necks of Bison athletes.
Tegan Turner was the big story of the weekend, winning the 60m dash with a time of 7.43 seconds, just 0.1 seconds off the Canada West record. Her performance was named the women’s performance of the meet.
Oyinko Akinola, a year removed from being ineligible for academic reasons, took home three medals – two silver and one bronze.
Day one
The Bison women’s 4×800 relay team won bronze after collectively running a time of 9:08.34. On the men’s side, the Bisons finished second behind the record-breaking University of Victoria team, who clocked in at 7:35.72.
Individually, Brooke-Lynn Boyd won the 4kg shot put with a distance of 13.81 metres. In the men’s 300m dash Luc Deleau won bronze with a time of 34.56, and Tayo Babalola won silver in the women’s 300m dash with a time of 39.83.
Akinola won his first medal of the weekend, taking silver in men’s long jump, leaping 7.07 metres. Jessica Gundrum grabbed a silver medal in the women’s indoor pentathlon with 3,205 points.
Day two
The Bison women’s relay team tasted success, winning silver in the 4×200 race and bronze in the 4×400 race. Sasanie Wanigasekara won bronze in the women’s triple jump with a distance of 11.76 metres. The men’s relay team won silver in both the 4×200 and 4×400 races.
A pair of Bison sprinters made it onto the podium in the men’s 60m dash with Marcel Dufault claiming silver with a time of 6.93 seconds, and teammate Michael Davis taking bronze with a time of 7.04 seconds.
Shane Dillon finished second in the men’s 600m run with a time of 1:20.10. Akinola continued his torrid weekend by getting bronze in the men’s high jump, going for 2.06 metres. He wrapped up the second day with a 14.54 jump in the men’s triple jump, good for his second silver.
Adam Gundrum finished in second in the men’s heptathlon with 4,667 points.
The U SPORTS Track and Field National Championships are next on the docket for the Bisons, and will take place Mar. 8-10 at the University of Windsor.
