REGINA – The Saskatchewan Huskies hold the lead on both the men's and the women's side after the first day of the 2009 Canada West Track & Field Championships, which are being hosted by the University of Regina this weekend at the Regina Fieldhouse.

On the men's side, the Huskies hold a five-point lead over the Manitoba Bisons and are 13 points up on the host Cougars, who sit in third place.

Saskatchewan was led on the first day of competition by Chris Crossley, who accounted for 17 of his team's 48 points. He scored seven team points with a first-place finish in the long jump, then edged out a one-point win over teammate Keegan Sharp to score ten points in the pentathlon. Sharp earned eight points for the Huskies for his second-place finish, while Saskatchewan's Evan Neufeldt took four points for his fourth-place finish. Iain McCormick also earned seven points for Saskatchewan after holding off Victoria's Darren Mazzei for a victory in the 1000-metre run.

On the strength of five second-place performances, Manitoba sits in second place with 44 points. Garth Suppes (weight throw), Josh Gundrum (long jump), Tyler Hynes (3000-metre run), Kieran Moolchan (60-metre hurdles), and Quin Ferguson (300-metre dash) all scored silver medals for the Bisons.

In third place, the Cougars were led by gold medals from both Justin Baker (60-metre hurdles) and Kelly Wiebe, who won a spirited 3000-metre race over Hynes. Baker ran 8.33 seconds in the preliminaries to hit the CIS standard for the first time this season, then ran a blazing 8.27 in the finals to take the win. Les Andersen finished in third place in the pentathlon to score six points for Regina.

Calgary sits in fourth place with 25 points, led by Sam Effah's gold medal in the 300-metre dash. Victoria is in fifth place with 15 points, while Alberta and Lethbridge are tied for sixth with eight points.

Two conference records fell on the first day of the competition. Lethbridge's Jim Steacy broke his own Canada West record in the weight throw, launching the 35-pound weight a distance of 23.42 metres to break the mark he set in 2007. Victoria's 4x800-metre relay team also snuck into the record books, posting a time of 7:35.71 to break a 16-year-old conference mark.

Saskatchewan also holds the lead on the women's side with 58 points. The Huskies' 4x800-metre relay team scored ten points after edging out Calgary for first place in the final women's event of the day. First-place finishes were also recorded by Huskies in the pole vault (Leah Vause) and the shot put (Taryn Suttie), while Kailey Smith (1000-metre run), Jodi Souter (3000-metre run), and Shari Siemens (300-metre dash) all placed second for Saskatchewan.

For the Calgary Dinos, who sit in second place in the standings with 49 points, Heather Sim (1000-metre run) and Amonn Nelson (300-metre dash) both won gold medals, while the 4x8 relay team and Robyn Webster (pole vault) won silver.

The host Regina Cougars had a huge Day 1 from both Janine Polischuk and Chelsea Valois. Polischuk took first place in both the long jump and the 60-metre hurdles then finished second in the pentathlon, while Valois won the pentathlon, placed second in the long jump, and finished third in the 60-metre hurdles. Caitlin Fowler also scored five points for the Cougars after finishing second in the shot put.

Alberta is fourth after the first day of competition with 36 points, while Manitoba sits in fifth place (11 points) and Victoria is sixth (5).

The second and final day of the meet will begin on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at the Regina Fieldhouse.

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