EDMONTON – Sienna MacDonald, Chloe Turner, Junior Imoukhuede and Noel Vanderzee all brought home wins to headline an impressive two days of action by the University of Calgary Dinos track & field team at the annual Golden Bear Open hosted by the University of Alberta inside the Butterdome.

Going up against the majority of Canada West teams, the Dinos finished second on the women's side with 108 points. Saskatchewan won the meet with 151 points, while Alberta came in third with 86. On the men's side, Calgary finished the two-day meet with 76 points – one shy of Manitoba for second place. The host Golden Bears won the meet with 130 points, while Saskatchewan was right in the mix at fourth with 72 points.

MacDonald headlined a dominant showing by the Dinos in the pentathlon. Already one of the premier combined event programs in the country, MacDonald, Aly Edwards and Lisa Cozma all scored in the event.

MacDonald racked up a whopping 4139 points over the five events – far and away the top mark in U SPORTS so far this season. The third year also now ranks first in the 60m hurdles with a blazing time of 8.27 seconds – just shy of head coach Jessica Zelinka's program record of 8.24 seconds that has stood since 2007. MacDonald also had an incredible long jump of 6.02m, which now ranks third in the country.

Edwards dug deep in the final event – the 800m – topping the field with an impressive time of 2:22.31 to add just enough to her score to finish second on the day with 3695 points. That mark ranks her second in the nation in the early going. Cozma also had a strong first pentathlon of the year, placing eighth with 3385 points.

It was an impressive debut on the track for Dinos rookie Chloe Turner. The Calgary native brought home the gold in the women's 3000m with a winning time of 9:36.88 – over four seconds ahead of the next finisher. Turner also finished as the top university runner and second overall in the 1500m in 4:33.28. Those times rank her second in the conference and in the top-five nationally in both events.

Imoukhuede turned some heads with his win in the men's 60m. The rookie was third in the opening prelims with a time of 6.93 seconds, moving to second in the semifinals in 6.90 seconds before blazing down the straightaway in 6.82 seconds in the final to top the reigning Canada West silver medallist by two-hundredths of a second. That time ranks Imoukhuede fifth in the nation, so far. Fellow first year Tyler Milev also scored the Dinos in the event, taking sixth in 6.97 seconds.

Noel Vanderzee continued to shine for the Scarlet & Gold. The second-year high jumper opened at a height of 2.05m and cleared all three of his first heights on his first attempt. Vanderzee just nicked the bar at 2.20m, settling for a win at 2.15m – the top U SPORTS mark so far.

Tatum Wade claimed a silver medal in the women's 600m, lowering her time to 1:30.44 – ranking her second in the nation in the event.

Also finishing runner-up over the weekend was Max Cook. The second-year distance runner crossed the line in 8:46.87 in the 3k to just edge out Saskatchewan's top finisher for the silver medal.

Alexis Johnson finished second overall in weight throw with a season-best toss of 16.51m. The fifth year also came in fourth in shot put at 12.27m

A handful of Dinos continued the domination with top-three finishes on the weekend. Natasha Gatzke took third in women's long jump with another strong mark of 5.72m. Skylar Sanoy claimed bronze in the women's triple jump with a season-best leap of 11.37m. Devon Zuchotzki – the reigning Canada West Men's Athlete of the Week – came in second overall in the 300m in 34.59, while Curtis Lauzier moved from fifth in prelims to third in finals in the men's 60m hurdles with a time of 8.60 seconds.

In the women's 300m, Dawn Richardson Wilson (39.92) and Georgia Oland (40.05) finished as the second and third-fastest university runners on the day and both rank in the top-seven nationally.

Also of note, Jaxon Turner had a strong showing in the men's combined event. Competing in seven disciplines over two days, the football convert amassed 4452 points for fourth place overall in the deep field.

The Dinos return to their home track for the third and final time this season next weekend as they get set to host the annual Dinos Classic on Sunday, Jan. 28. Events are tentatively set to get underway at 9:30 a.m. inside the Jack Simpson Gym.

-UC-