WINNIPEG – Powered by seven medal performances, the University of Calgary Dinos women's team wrapped up the 2024 U SPORTS Track & Field Championships with a third-place finish Saturday after a busy three days of action inside the Jim Daly Fieldhouse on the Manitoba Bisons campus.

Calgary finished the meet with 87 total points across the 17 events – good for the team bronze medal and the top showing by a Canada West school at this year's national championships, edging out conference champion Saskatchewan by one point. Guelph claimed the team title with 115 points, while Western placed second at 102. 

On the men's side, the Dinos finished this year's championships with 29 points for ninth place overall.

Following the meet, the Dinos brought home a pair of individual national honours. Sienna MacDonald was named the Women's Athlete of the Meet after claiming an incredible three individual gold medals – winning the pentathlon, long jump and 60m hurdles – in another truly memorable performance by MacDonald. Additionally, Calgary head coach Jessica Zelinka was named the U SPORTS Women's Coach of the Year – an impressive accomplishment for the former standout athlete now in just her third season coaching her alma mater.

"All season long, we've been building and focusing on being prepared for the moment," Zelinka said. "We didn't come into U SPORTS thinking 'we don't know which athlete will do what.' We came in ready and everyone competed at or above their ranking. We're a small team, but everyone did what they needed to do.

"It was consistency – from the start of the season, but from the start of this meet too. Alexis (Johnson) set the tone in our first event and Sienna was next and everyone carried that into each event. The team culture that's been growing here and the focus everyone has shown all season is really inspiring.

"I'm just so proud of this team and they should feel proud of what they have accomplished."

Despite bringing just 11 female athletes to Winnipeg, the Dinos women entered the final day tied with Guelph in the team standings. 

Tatum Wade got things going right out of the gates with a fourth-place finish in the 600m, crossing the line in 1:29.63 – a mere three tenths of a second shy of silver in the incredibly tight finish to start the day with five points for the Scarlet & Gold.

The women's 4x200m relay followed that up a bronze-medal performance. The foursome of Dawn Richardson Wilson, Georgia Oland, Natasha Gatzke and Emma Parnetta set a new program record of 1:38.01 – nearly a full second faster than the previous time set by Kelsey Lotwin, Amonn Nelson, Robyn Webster and Jennifer Zimmer back in 2011.

Chloe Turner brought home more points in the 1500m. The standout rookie that claimed silver in the 3000m on day earlier ran a gutsy race and came in sixth overall with a time of 4:29.83.

Calgary closed out the meet with the 4x400m relay placing eighth for one point, proving to be the difference maker between the Dinos and Huskies for third place. Aly Edward, Oland, Parnetta and Wade combined to cross the line in 3:52.37 in a very deep field this year.

On the men's side of the things, Tristan Friesen came in seventh for the Dinos in shot put with a toss of 15.34m on his second attempt.

The men's 4x200m relay squad had a strong finish to score more points for their squad. Devon Zuchotzki, Tyler Milev, Isaac Owusu and Junior Imoukhuede finished second in their heat of the timed final thanks to a strong burst down the stretch from Imoukhuede, crossing the line in 1:28.33.

By finishing with 87 points on the women's side, the Dinos had a 60-point jump from last year's performance at nationals and it marks the third-most points for the team in at least the last 25 years, surpassed only by the national championships teams from 2013 (115 points) and 2007 (103).

For Zelinka, she has now coached both the men and the women to top-10 finishes in five of the six results at the U SPORTS Championships in her first three seasons leading the Dinos, culminated Saturday by the women's third-place finish and the national coach of the year honour.

"I absolutely could not have done this alone," Zelinka said about the award. "This group of coaches we have – I have relied so much on them. Their buy-in to this program and the vision I brought has been essential. The team has a lot of confidence in our whole coaching staff and this truly is a team award."

TEAM STANDINGS
WOMEN
1. Guelph, 115
2. Western, 102 
3. Calgary, 87
4. Saskatchewan, 86
5. Laval, 59
6. Alberta, 30
7. (tie) Dalhousie and Toronto, 21
9. Windsor, 20
10. (tie) Manitoba and York, 18
12. Waterloo, 15 
13. Sherbrooke, 14 
14. Montréal, 12
15. Regina, 9 
16. McGill, 8
17. Trinity Western, 7
18. Victoria, 6 
19. Carleton 4
20. UPEI, 3
21. (tie) Lakehead, Ottawa and UNB, 2
24. Brock, 1
 
MEN
1. Guelph, 89.5 
2. Manitoba, 82 
3. Laval, 56.5
4. Western, 55
5. Alberta, 48
6. Windsor, 42
7. Toronto, 31
8. Trinity Western. 30.5
9. Calgary, 29 
10. Regina, 28
11. Montréal, 24
12. (tie) Dalhousie and Saskatchewan, 22
14. McGill, 17 
15. UNB, 15
16. (tie) Moncton and Queen's, 10
18. Sherbrooke, 9.5
19. York, 9
20 (tie) Brock, UQAM and Waterloo, 7
23. Lethbridge, 5 
24. Carleton, 3 
25. Victoria, 1

COMPLETE DINOS RESULTS

Women's 60m
Dawn Richardson Wilson – 4th – 7.42

Women's 300m
Dawn Richardson Wilson – 4th – 38.97
Georgia Oland – 7th – 39.57

Women's 600m
Tatum Wade – 4th – 1:29.63

Women's 1500m
Chloe Turner – 6th – 4:29.83

Women's 3000m
Chloe Turner – 2nd – 9:36.97

Women's 60mH
Sienna MacDonald – 1st – 8.20
Natasha Gatzke – 6th – 8.61

Women's 4x200m Relay
Richardson Wilson, Oland, Gatzke, Emma Parnetta – 3rd – 1:38.01

Women's 4x400m Relay
Edwards, Oland, Wade, Parnetta – 8th – 3:52.37

Long Jump
Sienna MacDonald – 1st – 6.04m
Natasha Gatzke – 9th – 5.40m

Triple Jump
Stephanie Okhiria – 13th – 10.81m

Shot Put
Alexis Johnson – 4th – 13.35m

Weight Throw
Alexis Johnson – 2nd – 16.94m

Pentathlon
Sienna MacDonald – 1st – 4164 points
Aly Edwards – 3rd – 3793 points
Lisa Cozma – 10th – 3346 points

Men's 60m
Junior Imoukhuede – 9th – 6.91

Men's 300m
Devon Zuchotzki – 3rd – 34.28

Men's 4x200m Relay
Zuchotzki, Tyler Milev, Isaac Owusu, Imoukhuede – 6th – 1:28.33

Men's 4x400m Relay
Zuchotzki, Manbir Briar, Zander Richards, Victor Gouttin – 10th – 3:23.03

Men's 4x800m Relay
Briar, Phoenix Bouma, Ethan Meyer, Gouttin – 11th – 7:53.09

Men's High Jump
Noel Vanderzee – 1st – 2.15m
Dominic Anamali – 5th – 2.01m

Men's Long Jump 
River Sanoy – 10th – 6.80m

Men's Shot Put
Tristan Friesen – 7th – 15.34m

Heptathlon
Jaxon Turner – 5th – 4697 points

-UC-