Hassam Munir, Sports and Health Editor
Featured images courtesy of Amir Yazdanparast and Mike Tatarski
When the dust settled at the Toronto Track and Field Centre on Saturday evening, the Lions hustled their way to a top five finish with teams from across Canada competing at the 2016 Canadian Interuniversity Sport Track and Field Championships. The men came fourth, the women came fifth, and altogether they won a dozen medals, including three gold.
On top of that, the Lions could also be proud of successfully hosting the annual meet for the first time in history.
“It was an excellent experience to host the rest of the CIS track schools from across the country,” says the track and field team’s head coach Colin Inglis. “From the feedback we have been receiving, all the CIS schools enjoyed their experience at York.”
Despite being plagued with injuries, the Lions gave the visiting teams from across Canada the level of competition that was expected at the track meet. “I am very proud of how the team battled hard all weekend and while a few athletes had some disappointments, several stepped up and had their best performances of the year,” says Inglis. “Some major injuries to some key athletes on the men’s side played a major role in our men’s team not getting on the podium.”
The injured athletes included Ayo Agusto, a sprinter who nevertheless made it to the meet and helped the Lions’ 4×200-metre team qualify for the final and then ran a gutsy 300 metres to finish at fifth place. He was not at the top of his game of course, and would have done much better had he not been injured. An earlier injury had also ended the season for thrower Anojan Sivalingam, who was expected to do well in shot put and the weight throw.
The women’s team had to deal with several injuries as well. “Sheereen Harris was not at 100 per cent after sustaining a hamstring strain at the [Ontario University Athletics] Championship but being a true leader she fought hard to the end in all of her events,” says Inglis. “Long jump specialist Holly Pitters injured her ankle on her first attempt in the long jump and with plenty of willpower finished fourth.”
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Of course, none of this held the Lions back from shining on the biggest varsity track meet of the season. Brittany Crew continued to showcase excellent throwing, winning two gold medals and setting a CIS record in shot put with a toss of 16.96 metres. Harris, despite her injury, won a silver medal in the women’s 60-metre sprint and a bronze medal in the women’s 300-metre sprint.
“Both of these ladies are true competitors and know what is required to bring their A-game to each and every competition,” says Inglis. “They are both extremely committed to their training and [have made] many sacrifices in their lives to get all of their training in on a daily basis.”
Also reaching the podium were Chris Preece, who won a silver medal in the weight throw, and Bismark Boateng, who won a silver medal in the men’s 60-metre sprint. An impressive performance came from David McKay, who picked up his fourth consecutive CIS gold medal in the pole vault.
Inglis hopes that hosting the CIS championships will have a positive effect on the Lions’ track and field program and team. “I believe we put our program, department, and school on the map as the feedback on the CIS Championships was positive,” he says. “For the athletes on our team who did not qualify to compete, we can only hope that watching the meet provides some inspiration for next year.”
He also hopes that the team’s success at the CIS track and field meet will help draw more community attention to the Lions’ program. “At times, our team feels that they are forgotten by the greater York community,” he says. “When it comes to our administration and fellow varsity athletes, they have always supported our program. We can only hope that the marketing campaign for the CIS Championships, as well as hosting the event on campus, will create a buzz for our program next year.”
With so many outstanding student-athletes graduating this season, next year will be a fresh start for the program. “Our team will be a lot younger next year, but looking within our conference, Windsor, Guelph, and Toronto are also losing key members,” says Inglis.
“As a result we will be leaning on new athletes next year, as we begin a rebuilding of both programs. With some key recruits we will still be competitive and with any luck will be contending for a CIS title again in a couple of years.”
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