MONTREAL - Olympic sprinter Hank Palmer of Pierrefonds, Que., will be among a handful of national team athletes participating at the 16th annual McGill Team Challenge track and field meet this weekend at Tomlinson Fieldhouse, located in the McGill University Sports Centre at 475 Pine Avenue West.

The two-day event, scheduled for Friday and Saturday (Jan. 28-29), is the largest indoor track meet in Canada and is expected to feature a record number of 23 university teams, 22 club teams and more than 700 participating athletes. The CIS national championships, slated to be hosted by Université de Sherbrooke, March 10-12, could have more participating schools but will have fewer athletes than the McGill Team Challenge, because athletes must meet a qualification standard to compete at Nationals.

Tickets for the event will be sold at the door and cost $10 for adults. Students and seniors are $4 and children 12-and-under are free. Live stats will be posted online at: Live Results

"It is definitely one of the strongest meets of the indoor season and clearly the Canadian flagship meet for the semester," said Dennis Barrett, in his 26th year as head coach at McGill. "We will have 11 participating teams from the Ontario University Athletics conference, seven from Quebec, four from the Atlantic region and one from the Canada West. It will be a great opportunity for athletes to qualify for the Nationals."

The Friday night schedule will be highlighted by the men's 60-metre dash, slated for 6:47 p.m., with Hank Palmer, a former McGill student who now coaches the Redmen sprinters. Last year, he set a school record in the 60 metres, running a time of 6.78 seconds. Palmer, who finished sixth in the 4x100m relay at the Beijing Olympics, will be chasing both the meet record (6.75) and the Fieldhouse mark (6.56).

The women's division will be highlighted by a special 60-metre invitational race schedule for 7:35 p.m. Among the high-profile sprinters registered for the event is Toyin Olupona of Orillia, Ont., the 2009 Canadian champion in the 100m dash and a training partner of Olympian Priscilla Lopes-Schliep. Another national team member expected to challenge Olupona in the sprint is Kimberly Hyacinthe (silver, 200m, NACAC championships) of Terrebonne, Que. Hyacinthe is also registered to run the 300m on Saturday at 2:10 p.m.

Other high profile athletes registered for the meet include Annie Leblanc (800m on Friday at 6:40 pm; 600m on Saturday at 1 p.m.) of Repentigny, Que., Gabriella Duclos-Lasnier the 2010 Canadian senior pole vault champion from Quebec City and Esther Akinsulie (300m) of Ottawa.

The McGill roster features 50 athletes from across Canada, nine from the USA, four from France and two from China, plus one apiece from Australia, Mexico, Finland, Malaysia and Costa Rico. Among the Canadians are 20 from Ontario, 15 from Quebec, five from B.C., three from Alberta, two from New Brunswick and one from Newfoundland-Labrador.

One McGill athlete to watch is Maxime Beaumont-Courteau, a fifth-year medical student at McGill who will be looking to shatter his school record of 4.64m in the men's pole vault.

Another McGill athlete of note is junior Charlène Puel, a distance runner from Nice, France, who's father Claude Puel, is the head coach of Olympique Lyon, perennial soccer champions in France.

"It looks like a rock-em-sock-em affair," said CIS track and field guru Bob Vigars, the retired long-time coach of the Western Ontario Mustangs. "The McGill Team Challenge has become the destiny of choice for CIS track teams in eastern Canada, making it without question the top indoor meet in the nation during the regular season. I'm happy to say that my Mustangs teams in the early years played a small part in the ultimate making of this juggernaut competition."

Among the 23 university teams registered for the meet is Alberta, Concordia, Dalhousie, Guelph, Laval, Lakehead, McGill, McMaster, Moncton, Montreal, Ottawa, Queen's, RMC, Sherbrooke, St. Francis Xavier, Toronto, UNB, UQAC, UQAM, Waterloo, Western Ontario, Windsor and York.

2011 McGILL TEAM CHALLENGE MEET SCHEDULE
Fri., Jan. 28

TIME    EVENT   F/M    SECTION
17:45   60m    	(F)     Heats/Vagues
18:05   60m     (M)     Heats/Vagues
18:30   60m (Invitational)    (M)    Heats/Vagues
18:40   1000m   (F)    Timed Section Chrono
19:05   1000m   (M)    Timed Section Chrono
19:35   60m (B & A)    (F)    Final(e)
19:40   60m (B & A)    (M)    Final(e)
19:45   60m (Invitational)    (F)    Final(e)
19:47   60m (Invitational)    (M)    Final(e)
19:50   3000m    (F)    Timed Section Chrono
20:35   3000m    (M)    Timed Section Chrono
21:10   4x 200m  (M)    Timed Section Chrono
21:20   4x 200m  (F)    Timed Section Chrono
21:35   4x 800m  (F)    Timed Section Chrono
21:50   4x 800m  (M)    Timed Section Chrono

Field Events / Evenements des Champs
14:00    Weight Throw / Marteau    (M)    Final(e)
14:30    High Jump / Hauteur    (F)    Final(e)
16:15    Weight Throw / Marteau    (F)    Final(e)
17:30    Triple Jump / Triple saut    (M)          Final(e)
19:00    Pole Vault / Perche    (M)         Final(e)
19:30    Triple Jump / Triple Saut    (F)         Final(e)
20:15    High Jump / Hauteur    (M)          Final(e)
20:15    Shot Put / Lancer du poids    (M)          Final(e)

Sat., Jan. 29

TIME    EVENT    F/M    SECTION
08:45    60m Hurdles / Haies    (F)    Pentathlon
09:00    60m Hurdles / Haies    (M)    Pentathlon
(break for Field Events; see below)
12:15    60m Hurdles / Haies    (F)    Heats/Vagues
12:30    60m Hurdles / Haies    (M)    Heats/Vagues
12:45    60m Hurdles / Haies    (F)    Final(e)
12:52    60m Hurdles / Haies    (M)    Final(e)
13:00    600m     (F)    Timed Section Chrono
13:20    600m     (M)    Timed Section Chrono
14:10    300m     (F)    Timed Section Chrono
14:55    300m     (M)    Timed Section Chrono
15:45    1500m    (F)    Timed Section Chrono
16:25    1500m    (M)    Timed Section Chrono
17:15    1000m    (M)    Pentathlon
17:25    800m     (F)    Pentathlon
17:30    4x400m   (F)    Timed Section Chrono
17:45    4x400m   (M)    Timed Section Chrono

Field Events / Evenements des Champs
09:30    High Jump / Hauteur    (F)    Pentathlon
09:40    Long Jump / Longeur    (M)    Pentathlon
10:45    Long Jump / Longueur   (F)    Final(e)
11:00    Shot Put / Lancer du poids    (M)    Pentathlon
11:40    Shot Put / Lancer du poids    (F)    Pentathlon
13:00    Long Jump / Longueur   (M)    Final(e)
13:00    Pole Vault / Perche    (F)    Final(e)
14:00    Shot Put / Lancer du poids    (F)    Final(e)
14:30    High Jump / Hauteur    (M)    Pentathlon
15:00    Long Jump / Longueur   (F)    Pentathlon

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