MISSION(S) ACCOMPLISHED AT McGILL LAST CHANCE, FEBRUARY 16, 2008

 

A small crew of Golden Gaels went into McGill with a mission list to be accomplished.  Foremost on the list was to improve the relay seed times for OUA’s and positively position ourselves in the CIS rankings.  The men’s 4x800m relay ran automatic standard and is now #2 in the CIS; the men’s 4x400m relay ran the second fastest time in school history and is now #5 in the CIS; the women’s 4x800m clipped 15-seconds off their time from Windsor last week and moved to #9 in the CIS; the women’s 4x200m clipped off almost a second to move to #11 in the CIS, so in four of the five relays contested (we didn’t contest the women’s 4x400m) the mission goal was resoundingly accomplished.  The men’s 4x200m ran their second fastest time of the year, had they not run into a Waterloo, Ottawa and McGill wall they may well have run significantly faster.  Next on the priority list was to upgrade 1000m times and 1500m times.  With three men now ranked in the top 12 in the CIS, all posting times to earn an ALL TIME TOP 10 spot – simply the single best 1000m race in school history – Matt Hulse led the way with not only automatic standard but also the fastest time in the CIS, he was followed by Braden Novakowski with the 7th fastest time in the CIS, and Chris Brens with the 12th fastest CIS time.  Leah Larocque ran her second fastest ever 1000m and seems to be totally recovered from a midseason health issue.  So mark mission accomplished regarding the 1000m.  Elizabeth Miller, Nadia Tatlow and Jeff Barr all posted big PB’s in their 1500m races, so mark mission accomplished in the 1500m.  With many other outstanding efforts and performances mark the 2008 McGill Last Chance meet a resounding success for Queen’s Track and Field.  Overall the team came home with two automatic CIS standards, 3 ALL TIME TOP TEN PERFORMANCES, 11 medals (4 Gold, 3 Silver, 4 Bronze), and 24 PB’s.  A small but quality team (14 women + 13 men) will compete at the OUA Championships next weekend in Windsor.


CURRENT CIS QUALIFICATION OUTLOOK:

We have 5 athletes with guaranteed tickets to the CIS Championships because of achievement of the automatic standard are:

  1. Leslie Sexton – 3000m
  2. Matt Hulse – 1000m
  3. Men’s 4x800m relay [Chris Brens, Braden Novakowski, David Burr, and Matt Hulse]

We have 8 athletes in 6 different events with almost guaranteed tickets to the CIS Championship because of their high ranking within the CIS:

  1. Leah Larocque – 1500m (#6)
  2. Veronica Catry – 60m (#7)
  3. Braden Novakowski – 1000m (#7); 1500m (#6)
  4. Matt Hulse – 1500m (#7)
  5. Men’s 4x400m relay [Mikey Prime, Adrian Heller, Michael Nishiyama, Russell Morrison] (#5)

11 athletes total pretty much guaranteed CIS attendance.


We have 16 athletes in 7 different events sitting in positions to earn qualification but until the post championship rankings come out their situation is tenuous:

  1. Women’s 4x800m relay [Nadia Tatlow, Elizabeth Miller, Leah Larocque, Natalie Desimini] (#9)
  2. Leslie Sexton – 1500m (#9)
  3. Kurtis Nishiyama – high jump (#10)
  4. Leah Larocque – 1000m (#10)
  5. Women’s 4x200m relay [Veronica Catry, Jen Tam, Michele Krech, Angela King] (#11)
  6. Chris Brens – 1000m (#12)
  7. Men’s 4x200m relay [Mikey Prime, Adrian Heller, Andrew Sisley, Tyler Nightingale] (#12)

If all these events make it through our CIS TOTAL would be:  11 + 9 = 20 athletes


We also have one athlete within striking distance of a qualification spot; a stellar OUA Championship performance might earn him a trip to CIS Championships:

  1. Jeff Barr – 3000m (#14)

CIS QUALIFIERS

MATT HULSE:  1000m – 2:26.58, PB, #4 ALL TIME; #1 CIS

 Coach Lakins crystal ball was right on… in conversation he commented something to the effect: “if Matt is in the race, he has such confidence in his kick, and belief he can run anyone down; he’s a definite factor!”  Oh how true this was.  Ryan Finn from York set the early pace with the Queen’s guys strung out behind him along with a club athlete.  It very quickly turned into a five man race.  At 600m Braden surged by and assumed the lead.  Matt was still comfortably running in third, and Chris back in 5th place.  Coming into the last lap, things tightened right up, Ryan charged passed Braden, Matt followed.  Going into the last corner Matt was about 3m back but shifted gears.  He was up on Ryan’s shoulder coming into the home stretch then blasted on by.  Braden and Chris just hung on being pulled across the line in 2:28.27 and 2:28.99.  For Chris this was his second huge PB in this event in a week.  Both Braden and Chris were on the bubble as to whether they would be in the fast section at OUA’s, this race should have sealed the deal.  This race has all the hallmarks of being a good old fashion barn burner at OUA’s with anyone of the 9 guys, 3 of whom are GOLDEN GAELS, in the fast section with a shot of winning it. 


MEN’S 4x800m RELAY:  7:42.88, #2 CIS [Chris Brens (1:55.7, PB), Braden Novakowski (1:55.5), David Burr (1:57.8, PB), Matt Hulse (1:53.7)]

Thanks to Dennis Barrett of McGill for agreeing to host this event and put it on the Friday night so that the athletes could focus on their individual events Saturday.  Thanks also go out to Queen’s Athletics for agreeing to fund this excursion.  The race was originally scheduled for 8:30pm but was shifted to 7:30pm.  With a 3pm departure from Queen’s we should have been comfortably there with lots of time to warm-up… well Montreal traffic deciding to make things interesting.  It soon became clear with the snail pace movement that there was no way we’d be in a position to run at 7:30pm.  Shane called leaving messages with Dennis and to make sure call Andy McInnis as the Ottawa crew were also coming in to challenge the event.  Another thank you goes out to Dennis and Andy for waiting and delaying the start of the race so we’d get appropriate warm-up.  The women’s race went at about 8:10pm with the men following.  The first leg was a royal battle with all three teams running shoulder to shoulder.  Chris surged to the lead off the last corner getting the stick to Braden with a marginal lead.  It was a phenomenal run for Chris as he shattered his old PB of 1:57.5 by 2-seconds.  Braden took off like gang busters.  He looked amazing in opening about a 6m lead, going through the first 600m in a new PB of 1:22… a wee bit fast.  You could see he was labouring coming into the final corner… as he rounded the last corner the “BEAR” jumped him… guts kept him going as he got the stick off to Dave.  Dave could feel the heat as the McGill and Ottawa teams made a charge.  He kept his cool, ran his race and came home with a new 1-second PB.  Matt got the stick with about a 4m lead.  He ran controlled through the first 600m before turning it on over the last 200m to open the margin on McGill and scoot home in sufficient time to eclipse the 7:43.56 automatic standard time.  This takes a lot of pressure off and allows the guys to just go out and race at OUA’s.  While no one can be discounted, this is looking like a three team battle as each of the top 3 teams (Windsor, Queen’s, Guelph) are separated from each other by just 2-seconds. 


ALL TIME TOP TEN PERFORMANCES

MEN’S 4x400m RELAY:  3:22.26, #2 ALL TIME; #5 CIS [Mikey Prime (50.4, PB), Adrian Heller (49.8, PB), Michael Nishiyama (51.2, PB), Russell Morrison (50.8)]

It was a two team race, Queen’s and Waterloo.  The scenario at the start of the race was that we held the 5th and final spot in the OUA fast section with a 3:25.90 clocking; Waterloo was 6th with 3:26.35.  Our task was simple, stay ahead of Waterloo and we’d be guaranteed fast section and a chance to qualify for CIS Championships.  The first leg quickly indicated Waterloo wasn’t prepared to let us have that 5th and final spot… Mikey lead from start to finish on his leg but needed to find another gear on the final straight to get the stick to Adrian first.  Adrian took off like a bat from hell.  It was a little nervous watching him as he seemed to go through the first 200 awfully quick, could he hold on???  Well yes!!!  He stayed strong right to the line opening about a 3m gap.  Michael ran like his life depended on it and maintained the gap giving Russell the lead.  The Waterloo anchor looked to be closing the gap down over the first 200m… (nail biting time…); Russell found another gear with 150m to go and dug down digging hard for home.  Waterloo pushed us to a great time and in turn got pulled to the 8th fastest time in the CIS.  I think it’s safe to say we were grateful that each of us decided to show up and contest this race – the situation worked out perfectly for both teams.  Now the only question is, will this “Golden” foursome run down the 1976 Queen’s Record of 3:21.14???  Coach Bulak is confident each runner can go faster… there’s two 4x400m races left this season and with the hyped atmosphere of championships – well the opportunity is there!!!


MATT HULSE:  1000m – 2:26.58, PB, #4 ALL TIME; #1 CIS


CHRIS BRENS:  1000m – 2:28.99, PB, #12 CIS


GOLD MEDAL PERFORMANCES

LEAH LAROCQUE:  1000m – 2:56.56

Leah took off at the gun and opened about a 4m gap on the rest of the pack.  With 800m to go the Waterloo runner had closed the gap down and moved up on to Leah’s shoulder.  At about 900m the Waterloo runner tried to pass Leah… bad decision as Leah shifted gears and pulled away holding the lead right to the line.  While not a PB, it was still a significant effort and should be a great confidence booster going into Championships for this talented rookie runner.


MATT HULSE:  1000m – 2:26.58, PB, #4 ALL TIME; #1 CIS


MEN’S 4x800m RELAY:  7:42.88, #2 CIS [Chris Brens (1:55.7, PB), Braden Novakowski (1:55.5), David Burr (1:57.8, PB), Matt Hulse (1:53.7)]


MEN’S 4x400m RELAY:  3:22.26, #2 ALL TIME; #5 CIS [Mikey Prime (50.4, PB), Adrian Heller (49.8, PB), Michael Nishiyama (51.2, PB), Russell Morrison (50.8)]


SILVER MEDAL PERFORMANCES

ELIZABETH MILLER:  1500m – 4:42.95, PB

Leslie Sexton who hasn’t run recently because of an Achilles tendon issue laid it on the line for her teammates this weekend.  She played rabbit for the 3000m girls and then for the 1500m girls.  She led Liz and Deborah Lightman from McGill through a fast 1000m pace before turning the race over to them to decide.  Liz made the most of Leslie’s efforts as she posted her fastest ever 1500m.  We’ll have to wait until we see the OUA start list to know if it was fast enough to earn her a spot in the fast section.  Liz did her job and put it on the line… now its wait and see….  Regardless of the outcome Liz is prepared to hammer out another fast 1500m at OUA’s.  Medals and points have been earned out of the “slow” section in the past… so anything is possible!!


WOMEN’S 4x200m RELAY:  1:45.77, #11 CIS [Veronica Catry (25.1, PB), Jen Tam (26.1, PB), Michele Krech (27.2, PB), Angela King (27.1)]

Sorry Waterloo… it’s just how the scenario worked once again – we held the 5th and final spot in the OUA fast section just ahead of Waterloo – our task again was simple, find a way to beat Waterloo.  It was a three team battle between us, the Ottawa Lions and Waterloo.  Veronica gave the stick to Jen with the lead.  Jen held the lead.  Michele ran her best 4x2 race ever but gave ground to Ottawa but still held a small margin on Waterloo.  It was tension plus coming into the final leg… Angela was focused on chasing Ottawa, the Waterloo anchor on chasing down Angela.  The gaps in both directions narrowed.  It looked like Waterloo was going to take the lead on the final straight but Angela found a way to get to the line first out leaning the Waterloo anchor to secure the silver medal by 0.11 seconds.  Again the race worked in both Waterloo’s and our favour as we both moved from not being in the CIS top 12 – a must if you wish to compete at CIS Championships to now holding the 11th and 12th spots.  With any number of quality teams still ranked behind us… hopefully the gals will come up big again at OUA’s; a faster time will help them to secure a spot on the start line for the CIS Championships.


WOMEN’S 4x800m RELAY:  9:30.15, #9 CIS [Nadia Tatlow (2:25.9, PB), Elizabeth Miller (2:21.6, PB), Leah Larocque (2:16.7, PB), Natalie Desimini (2:25.8)

Despite the “pursuit” race situation, the gals hung tough and clipped 15-seconds off their Windsor time to give themselves a fighting chance at earning a CIS qualifying spot in the event.  Nadia stayed close to the McGill lead off for the first 600m then got dropped.  She worked hard to get the stick home allowing Liz to take over.  Liz chopped her PB down some more, while Leah decimated her old best.  Natalie came up a 0.3 shy of her corker of a PB posted last week in Windsor.  If there had been more bodies on the track, someone to run with no question the gals would have run even faster.  Cudo’s to McGill who in the same, less than ideal circumstance, just missed CIS standard and surge to #3 in the country.


BRONZE MEDAL PERFORMANCES

NADIA TATLOW:  1500m – 4:48.73, PB

Nadia stayed with the front runners for the first 1000m before dropping back slightly.  She stayed focused and held form to cross the line with a new life time PB in the event.


KURTIS NISHIYAMA:  HIGH JUMP – 1.90m

Oh so close… he was over 1.95m a height that would have been a new PB and all but guaranteed him a trip to the CIS Championships.   You could tell when he landed he thought he’d cleared it and was stunned when the bar came down.  What a frustrating event… Kurtis absolutely crushed 1.85m (easily a 2m clearance) and 1.90m.  He rebounded nicely from his crushing disappointment of a NH at Cornell last week, managing his warm-up and competition prep quite nicely.  This should be a nice confidence boost for OUA’s.  Not only that he’s shed the curse of McGill… this was the first time he’s jumped well at McGill; so now when he qualifies for CIS Championships he’ll know he can jump high in this facility.


BRI ESHLEMAN:  WEIGHT – 12.93m

Bri did everything right but could catch the big throw.  She rebounded from a first round foul with a 12.28m effort, then a 12.91m toss, followed by 12.82m, another foul, and a 12.93m effort.  This was unquestionably Bri’s best series ever.  If Bri can manage the competition nerves I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 13m+ throw at Championships. 


EMMA ANN YOUNG:  3000m – 10:48.60

Emma and teammate Grace Keenleyside were both sitting just off OUA standard and needed it to earn a championship spot.  Leslie Sexton led them through 2000m in an attempt to pull them to new PB’s and the time they needed.  Unfortunately neither could hang on.  Emma found a gear with about 300m to go but it was too little too late.  Nonetheless this was her second fastest 3000m ever and a great way to close a solid rookie campaign; dido for Grace!  If these two rookies put in a solid summer of training they have the potential to be real factors next year both during the XC season and on the indoor track.


NOTEABLE PERFORMANCES

ADRIAN HELLER:  4x200m – 22.5, PB; 4x400m 49.8, PB

Adrian gave up his individual events to help both relay teams improve their seed performances.  He ran phenomenal second legs on both relays posting huge PB’s in both and was a big reason the men’s 4x4 now sits #2 ALL TIME and 5th in the CIS. 


JEN TAM:  60m – 8.09, PB; LJ – 5.10m; 4x200m – 26.1, PB

Jen had herself a fantastic meet.  She crack 8.10 for the first time in her 5 year Queen’s career, and ran a great 4x2 leg to put the relay in a potential CIS qualifying spot – it would be her 4th consecutive CIS championship.  Her best jump in the LJ came about 3-inches behind the board… the possibility of uncorking a big jump is certainly there.


JEFF BARR:  1500m – 4:05.32, PB

Jeff has run exceeding well this year.  He has improved both his 1500m and 3000m times and finds himself in the CIS top 15 for the first time in his Queen’s career.

 

TYLER NIGHTINGALE:  300m – 37.13, PB; 4x200m – 23.6. PB

Tyler was on course for a wicked 300m time but ran into a “bear” on the final straight; none-the-less a great day!  He will have another chance this season to crack the 37-second mark at OUA’s.


MICHAEL FERRARELLI:  60m – 7.55, PB

Michael has persevered this year working for a few little nagging injuries.  He saved his best for his last race of the 2008 season.  Well done Mike!

 

MIKE ARNOLD:  300m – 37.53, PB; 600m – 1:27.23

Yes there are a lot of guys named Michael on the team.  This Mike came to us in January after competing for soccer in the fall.  Coach Bulak immediately recognized the raw potential he possessed and convinced him to stick things out.  He’s progressed tremendously in the three races he’s had.  He crushed his 300m PB, and front ran, for the first time, his 600m, just missing his PB in that event.  Once he gets more of a specific fitness base and learns how to race; his killer competitive attitude will help him go far. 


ATHLETES OF THE MEET

ROOKIES: 

MIKEY PRIME:  4x200m – 22.5, PB; 4x400m 49.8, PB; relay #2 ALL TIME; #5 CIS

Mikey also gave up his individual events for the benefit of the relays.  This talented rookie’s lead off-legs are the key to relay success as he keeps the team in the thick of the battle.


LEAH LAROCQUE:  1000m – 2:56.56, GOLD; 4x800m – 2:16.7, PB, SILVER

Leah put in two big efforts to come away a double medalist and put herself in a position to be a very busy woman at CIS as the 4x8 becomes a potential third qualifying event for her.

 

VETERANS:

ELIZABETH MILLER:  1500m – 4:42.95, PB, SILVER; 4x800m – 2:21.6, PB, SILVER

Liz ran two great races, posting a PB in both and coming home with two silver medals.


MATT HULSE:  1000m – 2:26.58, PB, #4 ALL TIME; #1 CIS; GOLD; 4x800m – 1:53.7, #2 CIS, GOLD

What can you say… two CIS qualifying performances, two gold medals, and the #1 and #2 position in the CIS… I’d say downright outstanding!!!


PERSONAL BESTS

WOMEN:

  1. Veronica Catry:  4x2 – 25.1           old PB 25.2
  2. Michele Krech:  4x2 – 27.2             old PB 27.5
  3. Leah Larocque:  4x8 – 2:16.7         old PB 2:23.9
  4. Elizabeth Miller:  1500m – 4:42.95   old PB 4:43.46** 200m track
  5. Elizabeth Miller:  4x8 – 2:21.6         old PB 2:24.7
  6. Jen Tam:   60m – 8.09                  old PB 8.10
  7. Jen Tam:  4x2 – 26.1          equals PB
  8. Nadia Tatlow:  1500m – 4:48.73     old PB 4:50
  9. Nadia Tatlow:  4x8 – 2:25.8           old PB 2:28

MEN

  1. Mike Arnold:  300m – 37.53            old PB 38.80
  2. Jeff Barr:  1500m – 4:05.32           old PB 4:06.55
  3. Chris Brens:  1000m – 2:28.99        old PB 2:30.66
  4. Chris Brens:  4x8 – 1:55.7             old PB 1:57.5
  5. David Burr:  4x8 – 1:57.8               old PB 1:58.8
  6. Michael Ferrarelli:  60m – 7.55        old PB 7.57
  7. Michael Ferrarelli:  4x2 – 24.2         old PB 25.0
  8. Adrian Heller:  4x2 – 22.5              old PB 22.6
  9. Adrian Heller:  4x4 – 49.8              old PB 50.5
  10. Matt Hulse:  1000m – 2:26.58        old PB 2:28.08
  11. Tyler Nightingale:  300m – 37.13     old PB 37.14** 200m track
  12. Tyler Nightingale:  4x2 – 23.6         old PB 23.?
  13. Michael Nishiyama:  4x4 – 51.2       old PB 51.5
  14. Mikey Prime:  4x2 – 22.8               old PB 23.0
  15. Mikey Prime:  4x4 – 50.4               old PB 51.0






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