StFX track & field teams finish in top 10 at McGill meet

MONTREAL – The second day of the 22^nd annual McGill Team Challenge track and field meet featured nine women's events and eight men's events on Saturday, January 28^th at Richard Tomlinson Fieldhouse on the campus of McGill University.

The two-day event, billed as the largest indoor track meet in Canada, featured 18 university teams and 657 athletes with over 1,181 entries. Among the U SPORTS participating institutions were five from the Ontario (OUA) conference, eight from the RSEQ in Quebec and five from the Atlantic (AUS) region.

Saturday's women's events featured the 60m hurdles, 300m, 600m, 1500m, 4x400m relay, shot put, triple jump, high jump and pole vault. The X-Women had entries in all but the relay race and pole vault.

In the 300m, the X-Women had six entries in the 65-person event. Allie Flower had the top time at 41.51 in 15^th place. Emma Floris (41.79) was 20^th, followed by Megan Graham (42.72, 28^th), Jill Murphy (43.01, 31^st), Beth Lawrence (44.03, 41^st) and Abbi Finnan (44.22, 43^rd).

Lawrence was the lone X-Women competitor in the 600m race. She placed 38^th overall amidst a field of 61, finishing with a time of 1:42.87.

Hana Marmura came 22^nd in the 1500m event, completing the race in 4:53.98. Liz MacDonald (4:57.39) was 28^th and Paige Chisholm (5:00.32) was 33^rd in the event that featured 60 entries.

In the 60m hurdles, Graham ran a 9.68 in 10^th spot in the preliminaries and Mary Catherine Thompson (10.19) was 15^th. The top eight runners out of the 22 entries advanced to the final.

The ladies high jump saw three X-Women competitors in the field of 16. Daneisha Bagot was 12^th with a jump of 1.50m. Lani Deakin at 1.50m was 14^th and Thompson was 15^th with a 1.40m showing. Hayley Wilson competed in the triple jump and was 5^th amongst 19 entries. She logged an 11.39m result.

In the shot put, Ellen Murphy (10.22m) and Hannah Pollock (10.00m) placed 8^th and 9^th, respectively in the 18-person event.

Overall team results saw the X-Women place 10^th with 11 points out of 13 teams. The top three teams were Guelph (204), Sherbrooke (120.50) and Laval (98.50). Complete team results are available HERE.

Saturday's men's events featured the 60m hurdles, 300m, 600m, 1500m, 4x400m relay, shot put, triple jump, and finish of the heptathlon. The X-Men had entries in all but the relay race and hepathlon.

Five X-Men competed in the 300m event that saw 65 total entries. Jonny West had the top X time at 36.24, coming in 16^th spot. Andrew Bain (36.49) was 18^th, followed by Steven Keefe (36.73, 21^st), Matt Murphy (37.14, 28^th) and Tim Brennan (37.17, 29^th).

Ryan Washburn (1:25.40) and Brennan (1:25.42) placed 25^th and 27^th, respectively in the men's 600m race. There were 59 total competitors.

In the 1500m, StFX sent six racers to the line amongst the field of 80. Alex Cyr placed 8^th overall with a time of 3:52.78. Cal DeWolfe (3:59.98) was 24^th, Leo Jusiak (4:04.63) came 30^th, while Paul MacLellan (4:08.25), Angus Rawling (4:13.47) and Addison Derhak (4:15.60) were 38^th, 45^th and 49^th.

Brennan was the lone X-Men in the 60m hurdles in a small contingent of nine. He placed 8^th in both the preliminaries (9.82) and final race (9.60).

Freshman Kirishnia Cooper competed in the 14-person triple jump and was fifth overall with a 12.98m result.

Brad Wood placed eighth in the shot put in a field of 25. His result was a 13.01m throw.

Overall team results saw the X-Men place 8^th with 24 points out of 16 teams. The top three teams were Guelph (207.67), Laval (103) and Dalhousie (65). Complete team results are available HERE.

Complete two-day meet results are available HERE.

Next on the schedule for the StFX squads is the Saint Mary's Open on Saturday, February 11^th at the Canada Games Centre in Halifax, NS.