REGINA - The Manitoba Bisons won the men's title and the Saskatchewan Huskies took the women's title on Saturday after the second and final day of the 2009 Canada West Track & Field Championships, which were hosted by the University of Regina at the Regina Fieldhouse.
The women's standings weren't settled until Saturday's final event. Trailing first-place Regina by 6* points heading into the last race of the day, Saskatchewan's women's team needed to finish in first place in the 4x400-metre relay and hope that the Cougars placed fifth - and that's exactly what happened, giving the Huskies their first conference title since 2004.
Sharai Siemens, Julene Friesen, Ashley Gerstmar, and Kailey Smith ran the race in a time of 3:51.78 for the Huskies, with Smith holding off Calgary anchor Holly Ratzlaff to win by just under six-tenths of a second. The relay team scored the only gold medal of the day for the Huskies, who got silver medals from Smith (600-metre run) and Taryn Suttie (weight throw), who was named the Female Rookie of the Year following the meet. Smith also earned accolades for the Huskies, as she was named the conference's outstanding student-athlete.
It was a heartbreaking loss for the host Cougars, who came up agonizingly short of winning their first conference title. Their top event of the day was the triple jump, in which Janine Polischuk, Robyn Bauck, and Alison Jestadt finished one-two-three to score 16 team points. All told, Polischuk and Chelsea Valois accounted for a total of 57 of the team's 95* points during the meet, with Polischuk named the conference's Field Athlete of the Year for the second season in a row.
The Calgary Dinos finished in third place with 89 points, ending their string of four consecutive conference titles. The Dinos were led by gold medals from Holly Ratzlaff (600-metre run), Heather Sim (1500-metre run), and the 4x200-metre relay team. Sim was named the conference's Track Athlete of the Year following the meet. Lindsey Bergevin (high jump) secured a gold medal for the Alberta Pandas, who finished in fourth place with 75 points. Manitoba finished in fifth place, while Lethbridge placed sixth and Victoria was seventh.
Heather Steacy of Lethbridge won a gold medal on Saturday with a toss of 17.97 metres in the weight throw and earned the award for top female performance following the meet.
On the men's side, the Manitoba Bisons held off the competition to register their second consecutive and ninth overall Canada West championship. The Bisons were led by first-place finishes from Josh Gundrum (triple jump), Scot Dressler (pole vault), and their 4x400-metre relay team, while Rossel Sabourin (pole vault), Quin Ferguson (600-metre run), and Lucas Rodewald (high jump) both won silver medals.
The Saskatchewan Huskies finished in second place, nine points behind the Bisons. Saskatchewan had a strong first day of the competition but tailed off during the second, as Andrew Smith's second-place finish in the shot put stood as the Huskies' top performance on Saturday.
Led by a gold medal from Justin Eckert in the high jump and a silver from David Walford (triple jump), the host Cougars finished in third place with 75 points. Eckert was named the Canada West Rookie of the Year after clearing the bar at a season-best 2.03 metres.
Calgary's Sam Effah was named the conference's Track Athlete of the Year after scoring a gold medal in the 60-metre dash with a conference record-breaking time of 6.64 seconds. Effah also won a gold in the 300 on Friday. The Dinos also scored a first-place finish on Saturday in the 600-metre run (Trent Ratzlaff) and placed fourth with 70 points, while Calgary sprinter Evan Kimick was named the conference's outstanding student-athlete. Victoria finished in fifth place after Geoff Martinson, Logan Burke, and Johannes Mallie finished one-two-three in the 1500, while Alberta placed sixth and Lethbridge was seventh.
Lethbridge's Jim Steacy was given the award for top male performance at the meet and also earned Field Athlete of the Year honours. Steacy broke his own Canada West record in the weight throw on Friday, then followed that up with a gold medal in the shot put on Saturday.
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Top Male Performance: Jim Steacy, Lethbridge
Top Female Performance: Heather Steacy, Lethbridge
Male Field Athlete of the Year: Jim Steacy, Lethbridge
Female Field Athlete of the Year: Janine Polischuk, Regina
Male Track Athlete of the Year: Sam Effah, Calgary
Female Track Athlete of the Year: Heather Sim, Calgary
Male Rookie of the Year: Justin Eckert, Regina
Female Rookie of the Year: Taryn Suttie, Saskatchewan
Male Student-Athlete Award: Evan Kimick#, Calgary
Female Student-Athlete Award: Kailey Smith, Saskatchewan
Men's Coach of the Year: Claude Berube, Manitoba
Women's Coach of the Year: Joanne McTaggart, Saskatchewan
FINAL STANDINGS: WOMEN
Saskatchewan 97
Regina 95*
Calgary 89
Alberta 75
Manitoba 38*
Lethbridge 7
Victoria 5
FINAL STANDINGS: MEN
Manitoba 99
Saskatchewan 83½
Regina 75
Calgary 70
Victoria 36
Alberta 27½
Lethbridge 16
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