EDMONTON – The University of Calgary Dinos track & field team turned in yet another strong showing, winning six events – including a handful that now lead the nation – at a pair of meets this weekend.
Nearly the entire squad traveled north for the eighth annual Pandas Open, hosted by the University of Alberta. Calgary racked up 149.5 points on the women's side for second place, while the men collected 116 points for third in a tight team race.
Sienna MacDonald continued to steal the headlines with a jaw-dropping weekend. The third-year combined event athlete from Airdrie, Alta. scored a meet-high 24 points after winning two of their three events. MacDonald opened the weekend with a new personal best of 8.18 seconds in the 60m hurdle prelims – which was already a new meet record – before obliterating that mark by crossing the line in 8.11 seconds in finals. That time is by far the fastest in U SPORTS this season and ranks MacDonald second in all of Canada so far this year.
The arts major wasn't done there, turning a new PB in long jump with a leap of 6.14m on the very first approach of the weekend. MacDonald was the lone competitor to clear six metres on the day and now ranks second in the nation in the event.
Showing the Dinos depth in both events,
Natasha Gatzke tied for second in long jump at 5.79m after taking third in the 60mH in 8.62 seconds – a notable drop from her prelim time of 8.85. Gatzke ranks in the top 10 in both events nationally.
In the pentathlon,
Lisa Cozma brought home the win with 3519 points over the five events, while
Sarah Feschuk placed third at 3400 points. The duo now join MacDonald and
Aly Edwards all ranked in the top eight in Canada West and the top 11 in U SPORTS.
Tatum Wade (600m / 1:31.06),
Alexis Johnson (weight throw / 15.80m) and
Noel Vanderzee (high jump / 2.11m) all also turned in wins over the weekend for the Scarlet & Gold.
Also noteworthy from Edmonton,
Dominic Anamali finished runner-up in his high jump debut after clearing 1.95m on his first attempt.
Georgia Oland and
Dawn Richardson Wilson went 2-3 in the women's 300m.
Junior Imoukhuede came in fourth in the men's 60m, lowering his time to 6.79 seconds to rank fourth in conference and sixth nationally.
Devon Zuchotzki brought home silver in the men's 300m (34.35), while
Victor Gouttin did the same in the men's 600m (1:21.22).
Max Cook also had a nice weekend, taking second in the 3k in 8:49.12 and placing third in the 1500m in 4:02.82.
Competing down in Seattle for the weekend was
Chloe Turner at the annual Husky Classic. Featuring some of the top distance athletes in North America, Turner shined brightly. The rookie finished 19th out of well over 100 runners in the 3000m run with a time of 9:15.37 – the fastest in U SPORTS this year by over eight seconds. Turner later ran in the mile, where she finished 41st out of 129 athletes in 4:48.81.
The Dinos now turn their attention to the 2024 Canada West Championships Feb. 23-24 back in Edmonton.
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