EDMONTON – Sienna MacDonald secured an incredible two more U SPORTS automatic qualifying berths to headline another strong showing by the Calgary Dinos track & field team at the 52nd annual Golden Bears Open this weekend at the Butterdome in Edmonton.

The Dinos won an impressive six events over the two days of competition, finishing the meet in second place in the final team scoring on the women's side with 126 points and fourth on the men's side with 68 points.

MacDonald set the tone early for Calgary with a dominant showing in the pentathlon. The reigning U SPORTS champion in the event opened the year with a score of 4159 points to set a new GBO record, which previously stood at 4147 points set by former Dino Niki Oudenaarden back in 2019. MacDonald also earned a U SPORTS automatic qualifying mark in high jump within the pentathlon with a height of 1.71m. To add an exclamation point to the weekend, the Airdrie, Alta., native's 60m hurdle time of 8.15 is also a personal best and is the fastest time in U SPORTS this year.

Also in the pentathlon, Aly Edwards brought home the bronze medal from the weekend with a strong season-opening score of 3522 points, while Sarah Feschuk showed the Dinos depth in the event with a fifth-place finish at 3353 points.

It was a big weekend for the Dinos jump crew. Rookie Reagan Bliss topped the field in the women's high jump, clearing 1.68m on her second attempt to bring home the gold and move her into the top 10 national rankings. Noel Vanderzee completed the sweep for the Scarlet & Gold, winning the men's high jump at 2.02m. Dominic Anamali finished fourth at 1.94m.

Skylar Sanoy turned in a huge personal best on her third approach in women's triple jump, winning the event with a mark of 11.90m. That now ranks her eighth in the nation on the year.

In long jump, Natasha Gatzke finished runner up with a leap of 5.68m. The fourth-year nursing major also brought home the silver medal in the 60m hurdles, moving up from prelims with a final time of 8.64 seconds. With the pair of second-place finishes, Gatzke finished as the high-point scorer for the weekend for Calgary and was second in that category from all entries for the meet.

Georgia Oland and Tatum Wade also brought home wins for the Dinos on the weekend. Oland dominated the 300m, crossing the finish line in 39.10 seconds – over a full second ahead of second place. Meanwhile, Wade also got stronger as her race went on in the 600m, widening the gap down the home stretch to win in 2:50.31.

Dawn Richardson Wilson also had another strong showing on the weekend, taking third in the 300m (40.24), fourth in the 60m hurdles (8.78) and helped the 4x200m relay squad with Oland, Gatzke and Kristen Fox take second in another nail biter of a race with Saskatchewan, crossing the line in 1:40.75.

Other notable finishes on the weekend included Dayley Reimer (women's shot put, 11.83m, 2nd), Tristan Freisen (men's shot put, 15.45m, 2nd), Matthew Minchin (men's weight throw, 15.74m, 3rd) and River Sanoy (men's long jump, 6.86m, 3rd).

Calgary now returns to campus for its third and final home meet next weekend, hosting the annual Dinos Classic inside the Jack Simpson Gym on Sunday.

-UC-