(Photo ofMaxime Beaumont-Courteau by Gary Rush))
McGill wins double bronze, sets school records at CIS track championships
Mar. 14, 2011
SHERBROOKE -- McGill won a pair of bronze medals, both with record-setting performances, at the CIS track and field championships, a three-day meet hosted by Université de Sherbrooke, over the weekend.
Maxime Beaumont-Courteau, from the Ahuntsic region of Montreal, broke his own school record in the men's pole-vault, while a quartet of women eclipsed a 13-year-old McGill record, in the 4x800 relay, which was comprised of lead-off runner Catherine Drouin-Audet of Repentigny, Que., followed by Aimee Castro of Hamilton, Charlène Puel, a native of France, and Sarah McCuaig from Waterloo, Ont., who ran the anchor leg.
Complete results are available on the CIS website at: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/trackfield
Beaumont-Courteau, a 6-foot-2, 170-pound senior, cleared a height of 4.85 metres, smashing his personal best - for the fourth time this season - by five centimetres.
"It was a fantastic season-ending performance," said McGill head coach Dennis Barrett of his 23-year-old medical student. "Especially considering that Max has missed a number of our meets this semester while travelling all over the country doing interviews for his upcoming residency. He's peaked at the right time and perhaps it will serve as a motivating factor for him to continue his athletic career as he has been having thoughts of retiring to focus on his medical career. It shows that if you are focused and plan properly, you can still achieve some amazing performances. Kudos to both him and (pole vault coach) Frederick Bouchard for achieving a personal best at a national championship."
The women's relay squad was clocked in eight minutes, 54.21 seconds, surpassing the previous school standard of 8:56.57 set in 1998 by Stephanie Welsh, Elaine Penny, Sarah Ali-Khan and Tambra Dunn.
"I knew that they could run fast but I didn't expect them to shave 11 seconds off their best time of the season, which took place in New York last month," said Barrett. "It was a pretty impressive performance, especially considering that the race occurred on a flat track with tight corners and only one member of our relay squad had qualified for these Nationals in an individual event. They ran like a bat out of hell."
Barrett believes that there were two key motivating factors that lit a fire under the relay quartet, which entered the competition seeded fourth.
"The girls wanted to beat third-seeded Victoria because the UVic roster included Brittany Therrien, a former McGill runner who had left the McGill track program.
"The other contributing factor was that I reminded them about last year's race, where they were deprived of a podium finish by hundredths of a second."
Windsor won the race in 8:49.48, just ahead of Guelph (8:49.67) and McGill. Victoria was fourth in 8:56.98.
All in all, the two bronze medal finishes put a positive spin on a somewhat disappointing season. The Martlets failed to crack the top 10, placing 14th of 21 schools with 10 points overall, while the Redmen finished 18th with six points.
For the second time in three years and fourth time in school history, the Windsor Lancers captured both the men's and women's CIS titles. Windsor extended its CIS record for the most team championships to 10 women's titles and seven in men's track and field.
Windsor's Dennis Fairall earned both the men's and women's coach-of-the-year honours. Taryn Suttie of the Saskatchewan Huskies was named the female athlete of the meet, while Kyle Boorsma of the Guelph Gryphons was recognized as the top male athlete.
SOURCE:Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (tel.)
www.mcgill.ca/athletics
m.athletics.mcgill.ca (mobile website)
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS (revised): WOMEN: 1 Windsor 154.5 2 Guelph 96 3 Calgary 66.5 4 Alberta 54 5 Western Ontario 40 6 Sherbrooke 35 7 Saskatchewan 29 7 Ottawa 29 9 UQAM 23 9 Toronto 23 11 Montreal 22.5 12 Regina 21 13 McMaster 14 14 McGill 10 14 York 10 14 Laval 10 17 Lethbridge 8 18 Victoria 7 19 Dalhousie 5 20 Manitoba 4.5 21 Queen's 1 MEN: 1) Windsor 138 2) University of Guelph 97 3) Regina 54 4) Western Ontario 50 4) York 50 6) Alberta 39 7) Saskatchewan 37 8) Dalhousie 36 9) Sherbrooke 25 10) Manitoba 23 11) Ottawa 22 12) Toronto 21 13) Calgary 18 14) Laval 12 15) Victoria 11 16) Queen's 10 17) Lakehead 8 18) McGill 6 19) McMaster 5 20) Waterloo 1 INDIVIDUAL AWARD WINNERS Coach of the Year (M/W) Dennis Fairall (Windsor) Athlete of the Meet (M) Taryn Suttie - Saskatchewan Athlete of the Meet (F) Kyle Boorsma - Gueph INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS: DAY 3 Triple Jump (F) 1 Zachariah, Neb Windsor 12.49m 2 Kodo, Valérie Sherbrooke J12.49m 3 Lowe, Jaideene Windsor 12.40m Shot Put (M) 1 Smith, Andrew Saskatchewan 18.48m@ 2 Hendry, Tim Guelph 17.23m 3 Ysebaert, Andrew Windsor 16.88m 600m (F) 1 Bishop, Melissa Windsor 1:31.54 2 Hunter, Raeleen Windsor 1:32.35 3 Aubry, Rachel Guelph 1:32.50 600m (M) 1 Leitch, Scott Western 1:18.93 2 Trnkus, Michael Toronto 1:19.37 3 Eldridge, Dustin Windsor 1:19.68 4x200m (F) 1 University of Calgary 1:38.62 2 University of Windsor 1:39.98 3 University of Alberta 1:40.53 4x200m (M) 1 University of Alberta 1:29.83 2 University of Manitoba 1:29.51 3 Queen's University 1:30.86 1500m (F) 1 Cliff, Rachel Guelph 4:28.98 2 Biewald, Jennie Guelph 4:31.70 3 Frost, Lydia Guelph 4:32.37 1500m (M) 1 Boorsma, Kyle Guelph 3:47.57 2 Walters, Matt Windsor 3:49.08 3 Proudfoot, Ross Guelph 3:49.68 High Jump (F) 1 Boyle, Sarah Toronto 1.80m 2 Machin, Rachel Calgary 1.77m 3 Maessen, Laura Toronto 1.73m Pole Vault (M) 1 Britnell, Lane Saskatchewan 5.15m 2 Petrucha, Taylor Saskatchewan 5.05m 3 Beaumont-Courteau, Maxim McGill 4.85m Triple Jump (M) 1 Harriott, Dwayne Windsor 14.55m 2 Walford, David Regina 14.49m 3 Honig, Kevin Guelph 14.24m 4x400m (F) 1 Calgary 3:48.04 2 Windsor 3:48.33 3 Ottawa 3:52.09 4x400m (M) 1 Windsor 3:19.46 2 Manitoba 3:19.76 3 Alberta 3:19.86 INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS: DAY 2 60m H (F): 1 Montcalm, Noelle Windsor 8.45 2 Beaudet, Laurence Montreal 8.61 3 Maddex, Ashlea Ottawa 8.65 60m H (M): 1 Brisson, Matt Western 8.177 2 Moseley, Ingvar York 8.180 3 Dandie, Anthony Windsor 8.39 300m (F): 1 Nelson, Amonn Calgary 39.02 2 Montcalm, Noelle Windsor 39.07 3 Margetts, Merissa Regina 39.87 300m (M): 1 Richards-Kwok, Dontae York 33.70 2 Dills, Brendan Windsor 34.06 3 Meité, Ben Youssef Sherbrooke 34.65 1000m (F) 1 Hunter, Raeleen Windsor 2:49.09 2 Bishop, Melissa Windsor 2:49.29 3 Aubry, Rachel Guelph 2:50.40 1000m (M) 1 Ostapowich, Jaden Alberta 2:25.82 2 Brown, Alastair Lakehead 2:27.06 3 Lapointe, Jean-Samuel Laval 2:27.24 3000m (F) 1 Cliff, Rachel Guelph 9:38.52 2 Coates, Victoria McMaster 9:48.46 3 Laurie, Courtney Guelph 9:49.86 3000m (M) 1 Boorsma, Kyle Guelph 8:11.10 2 Genest, Alex Guelph 8:11.84 3 Lavoie, Olivier Sherbrooke 8:12.70 Hammer Throw (M): 1 Hendry, Tim Guelph 17.98m 2 McCrank, Dustin Guelph 16.95m 3 London, Seth Dalhousie 16.64m Long Jump (F): 1 Delisle, Pascale Sherbrooke 6.01m 2 Beaudet, Laurence Montreal 5.99m 3 Hyacinthe, Kimberly UQAM 5.87m Long Jump (M): 1 Greenaway, Christopher Ottawa 7.64m 2 Kuruneri, Guyson Guelph 7.30m 3 Collette, Sean Guelph 7.29m High Jump (M): 1 Witmer, Alex Toronto 2.16m 2 Watts, Simon Dalhousie 2.10m 3 MacDonald, Connor Regina 2.07m Pole Vault (F): 1 Blouin, Mélanie Laval 3.95m 2 Reiser, Erika Windsor 3.85m 3 Fiedler, Erika Guelph J3.85m Shot put (F): 1 Suttie, Taryn Saskatchewan 15.72m 2 Stephenson, Steffi Windsor 14.18m 3 Freeman-Gibb, Celine Windsor 14.06m 4 X 800m relay (F): 1 Windsor 8:49.48 2 Guelph 8:49.67 3 McGill 8:54.21 4 X 800m relay (M): 1 Windsor 7:37.65 2 Calgary 7:37.90 3 Victoria 7:39.10 INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS: DAY 1 60m (F) 1 Hyacinthe, Kimberly UQAM 7.43 2 Montcalm, Noelle Windsor 7.61 3 Jean-Baptiste, Audrey UQAM 7.62 60m (M) 1 Meité, Ben Youssef Sherbrooke 6.61 2 Richards-Kwok, Dontae York 6.76 3 Bowman, Aaron Windsor 6.81 Weight Throw (F): 1 Suttie, Taryn Saskatchewan 19.55m 2 Steacy, Heather Lethbridge 19.08m 3 Larose, Annie Sherbrooke 17.61m Pentathlon (F): 1 Valois, Chelsea 3778 PTS 2 McIntosh, Rachael 3760 PTS 3 Schneck, Amanda 3678 PTS Pentathlon (M): 1 McPhee, Stephen 3661 PTS 2 Eckert, Jeremy 3618 PTS 3 Arbour, Patrick 3535 PTS -30-