The CanWest portion of the Bisons’ 2023-24 track and field season ended this past weekend at the yearly CanWest championships, which took place at the University of Alberta.
Women’s team
Last season, the women finished fourth at the CanWest championships, attaining 75 points, just below the third-placed University of Calgary Dinos. In 2023, the herd won three individual gold and three team bronze.
Looking to improve on last year’s results, the Bisons started off the 2024 CanWest championships with the field events.
Anna McConnell showed out in the shot put with a throw of 14.12 metres, winning the gold medal for the second year in a row. Her chuck at this year’s CanWest championships was just a hair off her gold medal-winning throw of 14.62 metres the previous year.
The University of Manitoba came up clutch to win a bronze medal in the 4¡¿800 relay, finishing with a time of 9:06.27. Arianna Fulcher, Dana Poulton, Lena Klassen and Angela Kroeker ran to the bronze medal position, attaining a faster time than their previous year’s bronze medal win, in which they had a time of 9:10.97.
The women’s 4×400 relay placed fourth on Saturday. Kendall Marriott, Nicole Davis, Zoe Nonato and Donnae Gordon ran a time of 3:59.12, falling one place from last year’s third-place finish.
Manitoba’s Lara Denbow leaped her way to a gold medal in the women’s high jump. Hailing from Neepawa, Denbow soared to an unmatched height of 1.71 metres.
Overall, the women placed fourth for the second year in a row with a total of 51 team points.
Men’s team
Last year, the men’s team won the CanWest banner, earning a total number of four individual gold medals, four individual silver medals, three individual bronze medals, two team golds and one team bronze.
This year, Calvin Reimer got the herd off to a good start, prancing to a silver medal position in the 1000-metre run with a time of 2:27.31.
From there, podium finishes just kept coming for the herd, as Adam Andres also finished with a silver medal in the 60-metre hurdles with a time of 7.97 seconds.
The Bisons men continued to perform well, placing first in the 4×800, as teammates Alejandro Civetta, Reimer, Dawson Mann and Tristan Allen ran a blistering time of 7:38.64, which shaved over a full second off their previous personal best.
In the field events, the herd was a force to be reckoned with. In the men’s weight throw, both Graham Wright and Joshua Suelzle swept the first two podium places, with Wright placing first with a throw of 18.02 metres and Suelzle second with a throw of 17.90 metres.
Elite speedster Jordan Soufi also took home an individual gold in the men’s 60-metre dash, attaining a time of 6.67 seconds.
Another two notable results for the Bisons were Mann’s and Allen’s seizure of the first two podium spots in the men’s 600- metre race. Mann ran a first-place time of 1:19.23, and Allen a second-place time of 1:19.72.
In the men’s triple jump, Bison Daxx Turner took the gold with a ginormous jump of 15.63 metres. Turner also won a silver in the men’s high jump.
Overall, the Bisons men’s team polished off the weekend by maintaining first place in the standings, finishing with a total number of 160.5 points, beating last year’s number of 148.5 points.
It was the third consecutive season in which the herd won the CanWest banner and the R. E. DuWors Trophy.
The University of Manitoba men’s and women’s track and field teams will compete in their next meet on March 7 to 9 at the annual U-Sports championships, which will be hosted by the Bisons.
