REGINA – The University of Calgary Dinos women blew past the competition to reclaim the Canada West women's track and field championship Saturday afternoon at the Regina Fieldhouse.
it's the sixth conference title for the lady Dinos in nine years, and their 11th overall. It's also the 135th conference banner in the University of Calgary's history, and the third in the 2012-13 season following on the footsteps of football and men's swimming.
Calgary ran away with the women's title, as the Dinos ended up with 122 team points and finished 52 ahead of second-place Trinity Western. Saskatchewan won the men's championship with 91 points, finishing with a 13-point cushion over the host University of Regina.
Awards were presented for top track performers and field performers. Female Outstanding Track Performer was Jenna Westaway of Calgary and the male equivalent went to Calum Innes of Trinity Western. Rachel Machin of Calgary was selected female Outstanding Field Performer, while Lex Ewen from Regina was the men's winner.
Female Rookie of the Year honours went to Jenna Westaway of the Calgary Dinos, who received her second year-end award, with the Lethbridge Pronghorns' Peter Millman earning top male rookie.
Individual awards were handed out on Saturday evening, where top prize as Performers of the Meet went to Regina's Kelly Wiebe, a three-time Canada West cross country Athlete of the Year best known for his gold medal performance at the 2012 CIS cross country meet, and Trinity Western star Emma Nuttall.
Coaches of the Year were identical to 2012, as Joanne McTaggert of Saskatchewan and Calgary's Doug Lamont once again received honours, but this time the awards were reversed. Last year, McTaggert was top women's team coach and Lamont top male coach, while this year they traded trophies. It marks the fifth time that Lamont has been named Coach of the Year and the fourth such honour for McTaggert.
Moving forward as Canada West nominees for the Student-Athlete and Community Service Award are Alison Jackson from Trinity Western and Ian McLellan of Lethbridge.
The Dinos added two more Canada West gold medals on Saturday, as rookie
Jenna Westaway won the 600-metre run and the 4x400-metre relay team took first place in the final event of the day. Westaway's time was 1:30 flat in the 600, finishing one one-hundredth of a second ahead of the second-place runner in the event. The 4x4 relay team's time of 3:45.19 was a championship record, taking out a University of Saskatchewan record that had stood for 29 years. The team championship is the 11th Canada West title in the history of the University of Calgary's women's program.
Trinity Western was fourth after Day 1 but got some solid performances on Saturday to finish in second place in the team standings. Emma Nuttall highlighted Day 2 for the Spartans with a Canada West gold medal in the high jump. Nuttall cleared the bar at 1.85 metres, breaking a conference championship record that had been held by UBC's Jeannie Cockroft since 1985.
Saskatchewan finished in third place in the women's standings with 53 points, while Alberta finished strong with three gold medals late in the day and ended up in fourth with 49 points. Katrina Martin (60-metre dash), Courtney Wilkes (triple jump), and the Pandas' 4x200-metre relay team all collected first-place finishes for Alberta.
Lethbridge's Kayla Gallagher (weight throw) and Victoria's Brittany Therrien (1500-metre run) also won Canada West gold medals on Day 2.
Saskatchewan led the team standings throughout the entire day and locked up its Canada West-leading 16th conference championship – and its first since 2007 – with three gold medals, including one from Nolan Machiskinic in the shot put and victories in both relays. Saskatchewan entered the final event of the day with a five-point edge over the Cougars and needed just a third-place finish in the 4x400 relay to clinch it. They made no mistake, as Alex Fedyk, Davis Guenther, Kyle Donsberger, and Tyler Young combined to give the Huskies a first-place finish in the race and clinch first in the overall team standings.
The host Cougars had another big day from Lex Ewen, who won the long jump on Friday and added a triple jump gold on Day 2 to become the only athlete to take home two individual Canada West championships from this year's meet. The Cougars added two more gold medals late on Day 2, as Jeremy Eckert was successful on his third attempt at 2.09 metres to claim first place and Matt Johnson took first in the 1500.
Other Day 2 gold medals were taken home by Alberta's Benjamin Williams (60-metre dash), Victoria's Adam Gaudes (600-metre run), and Calgary's Alex Love (pole vault).
FULL RESULTS
The Dinos now turn their attention to the CIS track and field championships the second weekend of March at the Universiade Pavillion in Edmonton.
2013 CANADA WEST TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
WOMEN
1. CALGARY, 122 points
2. Trinity Western, 70
3. Saskatchewan, 53
4. Alberta, 49
5. Regina, 47
6. Victoria, 43
7. Lethbridge, 12
7. Manitoba, 12
MEN
1. Saskatchewan, 91 points
2. Regina, 78
3. Manitoba, 64
4. Victoria, 61
5. CALGARY, 44
6. Trinity Western, 34
7. Alberta, 22
8. Lethbridge, 15
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