MONTREAL - Some 404 athletes from 24 universities are expected in Montreal this week for the 2007 CIS indoor track and field national championships, to be hosted by McGill University, March 8-10.
The event kicks-off Thursday at 10:45 a.m. with a CIS press conference brunch to announce major award winners at the Holiday Inn - Midtown (Diplomate Room), 420 Sherbrooke Street W., followed by the pentathlon competition, which begins at 2 p.m. EDT at McGill's Richard Tomlinson Fieldhouse, 475 Pine Avenue W.
Complete schedules and results will be available online at either: www.cisport.ca/e/championships/track/2007 or www.athletics.mcgill.ca
Thursday's showcase event will be the 60-metre sprint, with heats slated for 7:30 p.m., followed by the finals at 8:30 p.m. Friday's competition begins at 1:30 p.m. and is expected to end by 9:30 p.m. The three-day meet will wrap-up on Saturday afternoon from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The Windsor Lancers are vying to defend both their men's and women's national team titles captured at the 2006 CIS meet in Saskatoon. It marked the third time in history, that they had swept both titles. The only other schools to claim double gold at the nationals are Saskatchewan in 2004-05 and York in 1983-84.
Windsor enters the championships ranked first in the nation on the men's side and second behind the Calgary Dinos on the women's side after claiming both OUA banners. Other 2006-07 conference team champions include Dalhousie (men and women) from the AUS, Sherbrooke (men) and McGill (women) from the QSSF, and Saskatchewan (men) and Calgary (women) from Canada West.
The women's team championship trophy, donated by the University of Windsor in 1993, has been won by only four different CIS institutions, with Windsor capturing six national championships, followed by Saskatchewan (5), Toronto (2) and Western (1).
The men's trophy, donated by Saskatchewan in 1993, has been held by only five schools. Sherbrooke and Windsor have each won four national titles, followed by Manitoba (3), Saskatchewan (2) and Alberta (1).
The host team from McGill has qualified 23 athletes, including 13 women. Each member of both the Redmen and Martlets will be wearing black ribbons in memory of Olympian Emilie Mondor, the former McGill athlete who died in a tragic car accident near Hawkesbury, Ont., Sept. 10, 2006. Mondor, the first Canadian woman to break the 15-minute barrier in a 5k race, won a pair of silver medals (3000m, 4x800) for McGill at the 2001 CIS championships in Sherbrooke.
The Martlets, who haven't medaled at the CIS meet since 2003 when Sarah Ali-Khan captured three golds, have a good chance to break that streak when Jessica Warren lines up for the 1000m, where the Quebec university champion is seeded second behind Windsor's Jaqueline Malette.
Warren, a 24-year-old native of Oakville, Ont., is also entered in the 1500m and the 4x800. Last fall, she returned to McGill for a fifth season after a two-year sabbatical. Initially recruited to McGill as a swimmer in 2000, she swam for three seasons and earned all-conference honours. After graduating in 2004, she returned last fall for a marketing degree and earned all-conference honours in track, winning a pair of gold medals and a silver at the Quebec league championships.
On the men's side, among McGill's medal hopefuls are freshman Maxime Beaumont-Courteau of Montreal, senior Patrick McAuliffe of Seattle, Wash., and sophomore David Faille of St. Hilaire, Que.
Beaumont-Courteau is seeded sixth in the pole vault after breaking an 18-year-old McGill record at the Quebec conference championships two weeks ago, with a silver-medal winning height of 4.61m.
McAuliffe is seeded sixth in the 3000m with a time of 8:24.18 at the Boston University St. Valentine's weekend meet.
Faille is seeded eighth in the 60m with a time of 6.83 that he ran at Sherbrooke in mid-January, which broke a 20-year McGill record.
Other Redmen qualifiers include: Stephen Douglas (1000m, 4x800) of Pictou, N.S., Adrian Walton (3000m) of London, Ont., Keith Esch (high jump) of Lake George, N.Y., , Brendan Rehel (4x400) of Dollard des Ormeaux, Que., Andrew Roberts (4x400, 4x800) of Montreal, Ken Douglas (4x800) of Los Gatos, Calif., and Blair Bateson (4x400) of Calgary.
Other qualifiers from the Martlets include: Deborah Lightman (1000m, 4x800) of Toronto, Deenie Quinn (3000m) of Westfield, N.J., Esther Usborne (pole vault) of Calgary, Heather McCurdy (triple jump) of Belleville, Ont., Stephanie Rosenthal (4x400) of Calgary, Hilary Kellar-Parsons (4x400) of London, Ont., Sabrina Lavoie (4x400) of Montreal, Alyson McPhee (4x400) of St. Margaret's Bay, N.S., Alana Battiston (spare, 4x400) of Toronto, Sonia Jean-Philippe (4x800) of Pointe Claire, Que., Patricia Muddiman (4x800) of Sarnia, Ont., and Nicole Koenig (spare, 4x800) of Oakville.
Individually, the long list of athletes to keep an eye on this week includes:
Male conference MVPs in field events: Derek Watkins of Windsor (high jump, triple jump), David Foley of Sherbrooke (pole vault), Seth Taylor of Dalhousie (weight throw) and Jim Steacy of Lethbridge (weight throw, shot put), a two-time CIS male athlete of the year in field events (2004-05, 2003-04).
Male conference MVPs in track events: Geoff Kerr of Calgary (1500m, 3000m), Mark Stewart of Toronto (60m hurdles), Emmanuel Parris of Sherbrooke (60m, 300m) and Geoff Harris of Dalhousie (300m, 600m), who was named CIS male rookie of the year last season.
Female conference MVPs in field events: Jessica Zelinka of Calgary (pentathlon, long jump, shot put), Sara Jibb of Windsor (weight throw), Caroline Sow of Laval (weight throw) and Alicia Dobranowski of Dalhousie (pentathlon, high jump, long jump).
Female conference MVPs in track events were: Zelinka (60m hurdles), Megan Brown of Toronto (1000m, 1500m, 3000m), Geneviève Thibault of Laval (60m, 60m hurdles) and Erin MacLean of StFX (1000m, 1500m).
Zelinka, who is currently ranked fifth in the world in the pentathlon and is making a return to university competition after taking a year off to compete internationally, is one of the most decorated athletes in CIS track and field history. She was named CIS rookie of the year, athlete of the year and championship MVP in 2000-01 while at Western Ontario, and track athlete of the year in 2003-04 and CIS championship MVP in 2002-03 and 2003-04 with the Calgary Dinos.
TICKET INFORMATION ------------------ TOURNAMENT PASS: Adult $25 McGill Student $10 Youth (13-18) $8 Under12 Free DAILY PASS: Adult $10 McGill Student $5 Youth (13-18) $4 Under 12 Free ----------------------------------------------------- 2007 CIS CHAMPIONSHIP MEET SCHEDULE ----------------------------------------------------- March 8 14h00 Weight Throw/Marteau (F) Final(e) 15h30 60m Hurdles/Haies (M) Pentathlon 15h50 60m Hurdles/Haies (F) Pentathlon 16h10 Long Jump/Saut en longueur (M) Pentathlon 16h30 High Jump/Saut en hauteur (F) Pentathlon 17h15 Shot Put/Lancer du poids (M) Pentathlon 18h00 600m (F) Heats/Vagues 18h15 Shot Put/Lancer du poids (F) Pentathlon 18h20 600m (M) Heats/Vagues 18h30 High Jump/Saut en hauteur (M) Pentathlon 19h15 Long Jump/Saut en longueur (F) Pentathlon 19h30 60m (F) Heats/Vagues 19h45 60m (M) Heats/Vagues 20h00 1000m (M) Pentathlon 20h20 800m (F) Pentathlon 20h30 60m (F) Final(e) 20h40 60m (M) Final(e) 20h50 Medal Presentation/Remise des médailles March 9 13h30 60m Hurdles/Haies (F) Heats/Vagues 13h45 60m Hurdles/Haies (M) Heats/Vagues 14h00 4x200m Relay/Relais (F) Heats/Vagues 14h15 4x200m Relay/Relais (M) Heats/Vagues 14h50 Weight Throw/Marteau (M) Final(e) 17h30 Long Jump/Saut en longueur (F) Final(e) 18h00 60m Hurdles/Haies (F) Final(e) 18h15 60m Hurdles/Haies (M) Final(e) 18h30 300m (F) Heats/Vagues 18h35 Pole Vault/Saut à la perche (F) Final(e) 18h45 300m (M) Heats/Vagues 18h50 High Jump/Saut en hauteur (M) Final(e) 18h55 Shot Put/Lancer du poids (F) Final(e) 19h00 1000m (F) Final(e) 19h15 1000m (M) Final(e) 19h25 Long Jump/Saut en longueur (M) Final(e) 19h30 3000m (F) Final(e) 19h45 3000m (M) Final(e) 20h00 Medal Presentation/Remise des médailles 20h30 300m (F) Final(e) 20h45 300m (M) Final(e) 21h00 4x800m Relay/Relais (F) Final(e) 21h05 Medal Presentation/Remise des médailles 21h15 4x800m Relay/Relais (M) Final(e) 21h25 Medal Presentation/Remise des médailles March 10 12h30 Triple Jump/Triple saut (M) Final(e) 12h40 High Jump/Saut en hauteur (F) Final(e) 13h00 Pole Vault/Saut à la perche (M) Final(e) 13h15 Shot Put/Lancer du poids (M) Final(e) 13h30 600m (F) Final(e) 13h45 600m (M) Final(e) 13h55 Medal Presentation/Remise des médailles 14h15 Triple Jump/Triple saut (F) Final(e) 14h35 4x200m Relay/Relais (F) Final(e) 14h55 4x200m Relay/Relais (M) Final(e) 15h00 Medal Presentation/Remise des médailles 15h20 1500m (F) Final(e) 15h30 1500m (M) Final(e) 15h45 4x400m Relay/Relais (F) Final(e) 16h00 4x400m Relay/Relais (M) Final(e) 16h10 Medal Presentation/Remise des médaillesSOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer & Webmaster
Dept. of Athletics (office 225-B)
McGill University
475 Pine Ave. W.,
Montreal, Que. H2W 1S4
(514) 398-7012 (phone)
(514) 398-1956 (fax)
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
www.athletics.mcgill.ca