SASKATOON –
Sarah Feschuk brought home the gold medal in a thrilling finish to the women's pentathlon to close out the first day of the 2026 Canada West Track & Field Championships for the University of Calgary Dinos Friday inside the Saskatoon Field House.
Entering the final event in fourth place, Feschuk won the 800m race in 2:24.49 – 10 second ahead of the next finisher to give her just enough points to swoop all the way into first as she was mobbed by her teammates in a thrilling close to the day. Her final score over the final five events finished at 3478 – 21 points ahead of second place.
With nine of the 18 events scored on the women's side, Calgary sits in fourth place with 43 points. Meanwhile, the Dinos men are in second place with 58 points in a tight race across the board through seven events.
The first scored event of the day was filled with Dinos.
Sienna MacDonald brought home a silver medal in the event with a time of 8.14 seconds. MacDonald had to bow out midway through the pentathlon event, ending her conference meet earlier than expected. In the men's 60m hurdles,
William Kuzuchar also brought home silver with a time of 8.42, with
Curtis Lauzier close behind in fifth at 8.97.
River Sanoy claimed his third consecutive Canada West medal as he continued saving his best for the conference meet. The fifth year had a career-best leap of 7.23m on his final approach to tie for the top mark on the day and settle for the silver medal based on tie breakers. Newcomer
Michael Akintunde also did well, placing fifth with a leap of 6.99m.
The Dinos were dominant across the board in the 1000m.
Jenna Conrad brought home a bronze medal with a time of 2:52.04 – the first time a Dino has medalled in that event on the women's side since 2016. Meanwhile, four Calgary runners scored on the men's side, headlined by third-year
Ethan Meyer's silver medal. Meyer crossed the line in 2:26.10, while
Kai Deausy (2:27.85) placed fifth, just ahead of
Max Cook (2:30.19) and
Phoenix Bouma (2:30.23).
Calgary also did well in the 300m.
Georgia Oland brought home the bronze in a loaded women's field with a time of 39.05, while teammate
Emma Parnetta came in seventh in 39.93. Three Dinos scored in the men's 300m, led by
Ethan Parnetta, who won the first of the two timed final heats in 34.85.
Devon Zuchotzki finished sixth overall and Kuzuchar scored in his second event of the day with an eighth-place finish in 35.69.
Also scoring on the day for the Dinos was
Matthew Minchin by taking fourth in men's weight throw (15.85m),
Sam Prezio placing fourth in the men's 3k (8:39.57) and
Danae MacKenzie taking seventh in women's pole vault (3.35m).
The Dinos men's combined event athletes also had a strong opening day, as
Jaxon Turner sits in second place through the first four of seven events in the heptathlon with 2763 points.
Winston Clarke is also on a good pace and sits in fifth through Day 1 with 2593 points.
Calgary closed out the day with two more silver medals in both the men's and women's 4x800m relay events. On the women's side,
Csenia Irvin ran an impressive first leg and
Vienna Selland,
Lauren Westlake and Conrad finished things off by crossing the line in a combined 9:02.15. The men's squad of
Kai Deausy, Cook, Bouma and Meyer nearly chased down the leaders but settled for silver in 7:38.58.
In all, Calgary brought home nine medals on the first day of competition at this year's conference championships.
The second and final day is scheduled to start at 10:15 a.m. MT, with medals for all events scheduled for approximately 3 p.m. MT.
TEAM SCORES - DAY 1
MEN
1. Alberta - 75
2. Calgary - 66
3. Saskatchewan - 51
4. Manitoba - 41
5. Victoria - 24
6. Regina - 23
7. Lethbridge - 11
7. Trinity Western - 11
WOMEN
1. Saskatchewan - 102
2. Alberta - 71.5
3. Victoria - 56
4. Calgary - 41
5. Regina - 35
6. Lethbridge - 20
7. Manitoba - 13
8. Trinity Western - 6.5
9. UBCO - 2
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