WINNIPEG – Just hours before the start of the 2024 U SPORTS Track & Field National Championships, a pair of University of Calgary Dinos were voted the top performers in the sport this season.

Noel Vanderzee was named the Male Field Athlete of the Year, while Chloe Turner was named the Women's Rookie of the Year.

It has been a record-shattering season for Vanderzee. The second-year high jumper won his event all four times competing on the year and has been ranked No. 1 in Canada West all year and in the top two in the nation all season. The defining moment came at the conference championship where Vanderzee had one the most dominant performances in U SPORTS history by claiming the conference title after clearing the bar at an eye-popping height of 2.22m. That mark is now a new Calgary Dinos, Canada West and province of Alberta record, surpassing the latter's mark of 2.21m set by Cory Siermachesky way back in 1990. 

Vanderzee nearly kept things going, just nicking the bar on his last attempt at 2.25m to close out his remarkable day as a Canada West Champion and ranked 37th in the world in his event.

In addition to winning the conference high jump title, the Lethbridge, Alta. native was named the CW Male Field Athlete of the Year and the Male Co-Performer of the Meet.

For Turner, this marks the third rookie of the year honours for her all season. The newcomer from Calgary was named the Canada West Cross Country Rookie of the Year, as well as the league's track & field rookie of the year, and would have been a strong candidate for the national award during cross country but she was forced to miss the U SPORTS Championships due to illness.

In her first collegiate season on the track, Turner has continued her dominating ways. Following her debut performances, she was instantly ranked in the top five in both the 1500m and 3000m right out of the gates. Then came a trip to Seattle for the annual Husky Classic at the University of Washington. One of the premier distance meets in the NCAA all year, Turner more than held her own, clocking an incredible 3k time of 9:15.37. That mark is by far the top time in Canada this year and was good for 19th out of more than 100 runners on the day. She also placed 41st out of 129 runners in the mile in 4:48.81.

The rookie, who won a gold medal for Team Canada this past summer at the Canadian Championships, then brought home a pair of medals at her first conference track championships. She coasted to a win in the 3k in 9:46.35 before claiming bronze in the 1500m in 4:30.40. 

Both Vanderzee and Turner and a host of other Dinos will now get set for the three-day U SPORTS Championship, hosted this year by the University of Manitoba at the Jim Daly Fieldhouse in Winnipeg. Events get underway Thursday at 1 p.m. MT, with the final championship medals handed out Saturday afternoon.

2024 U SPORTS TRACK & FIELD SEASON AWARDS

Women
Athlete of the Year (track events): Audrey Leduc, Laval
Athlete of the Year (field events): Jennifer Elizarov, Guelph
Rookie of the Year: Chloe Turner, Calgary
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Celia Markovinovic, Waterloo

Men
Athlete of the Year (track events): Max Davies, Guelph
Athlete of the Year (field events): Noel Vanderzee, Calgary
Rookie of the Year: Thomas Péladeau, Sherbrooke
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Evan Essapa, Saskatchewan

-UC-