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Strong showing at meet has Mustangs on track

January 27, 2012
By Melanie Lui

This Saturday, Western’s track and field team hosted its annual meet dedicated to the late Don Wright, and as usual, the Mustangs did not disappoint in the 29th annual iteration of the meet.

The Mustangs certainly showed their competitive edge as both the men’s and women’s team finished first at the meet.  The men’s team won 19 medals in total while the women brought home 27 medals.

“I think this is the most high quality Don Wright meet results for a Western team,” Vicky Croley, head coach for the Mustangs, said. “It certainly helps in the preparation for later in the season. We’re preparing for Ontario University Athletics and Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships.”

One of the more exciting races of the weekend was the men’s 60m hurdles pitting Sherbrooke University’s, Simon Léveillé— currently ranked second in the country— against Mustang Matt Brisson, who is ranked first in the country. The exhilarating race saw Brisson come out on top with a time of 8.12 seconds, as he barely edged Léveillé by only two hundredths of a second.

“This was an exciting and high calibre start to the Don Wright meet,” Croley said. “It was good for both [athletes][…]Simon ran a season’s best, but this helped Matt’s game as well.”

In the field events, rookie Chris Cauley finished in first place in the high jump, as well, Josh Archer bettered his school record in the weight throw with a toss of 16.39m to finish sixth. Daniel Novia of York University—currently ranked number one in Canada for the weight throw—set a meet and arena record with a throw of 19.69m, finishing first on the day.

“I’m really happy for the personal best,” Novia said. “I was just trying to keep my mind clear because when I start thinking, that’s when things go wrong. This was a good meet for me, I can’t complain.”

On the women’s side, the Mustangs were awarded nine golds, nine silvers and nine bronzes as they put forth some excellent performances.

Caroline Ehrhardt broke her own school record in the triple jump to grab silver and also won the long jump event, while Jen Pitman took home the gold in high jump. Other winners in the track events include Brenna Thomson, Amy Grzywnowicz, Katie Bell and Alicia Knox.

With the women’s team currently ranked second in the CIS, and the men ranked fifth, both hope for big things this year.

“We have a really strong team and many talented young athletes,” Cassandra McCaig, team captain, said. “Both our women’s and men’s teams have a really good chance at being top in the CIS.”

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