Arslan Ahmed | Sports Editor
Featured image: York finishes sixth in U Sports ranking in track and field. | Courtesy of York Lions
York had a successful 2017-2018 track and field season, as they finished sixth in U Sports ranking out of 56 universities.
The success York had in track and field was phenomenal. York stood out by posting excellent times in the 60 and 300 metre races.
Christy Ihunaegbo represented York in the 300 metre race. A second-year student, Ihunaegbo took strides as an athlete this season. She improved her time significantly from 39.45 seconds, to 38.21 seconds. The 38.21 seconds recorded solidified her time as the the third fastest among 198 other times posted.
Xavier Joseph posted the second fastest time for 60 metres at 6.86 seconds, improving his time from the 7.10.
Demari Grant posted the seventh fastest time, crossing the finish line at 6.94 seconds.
The third Lion posting a top 10 time for the 60 metre race: Xavier Jehovah. Jehovah claimed the ninth best time across Canada by posting a respectable time of 6.95 seconds.
Jehovah not only excelled at the 60 metre race, but represented York in the 300 metre race. At the OUA championship, Jehovah posted a remarkable time of 34.24 seconds—eighth fastest amongst Canadian university track athletes.
Kayden Johnson won the OUA championship by a mile after posting a time of 7.92 seconds. Notably, he improved his time significantly from a high of 8.21 seconds.
York not only succeeded in individual competitions, but also in team events. At the OUA championships, York managed to finish seventh in the men’s 4×200 metre race and fifth in the men’s 4×400 metre race.
Holly Pitters, after posting a satisfactory 5.73 metres in long jump on January 12 at the Annual Can Am Classic, responded by upping her performance and jumping a terrific 5.92 metres two weeks later—which was good enough for the second farthest jump by a female track and field athlete amongst Canadian universities.
However, Pitters was not satisfied with earning the second best performance in long jump, so what did she do? She won first place at the OUA championship for triple jump, and posted the farthest jump of the season amongst all athletes.
Pitters leaped for 12.52 metres at the championship and left the competition in the dust. Since she has a knack for improvement, Pitters brought her triple jump score up from 11.45 metres earlier in the season.
The Lions women posted the second best time amongst Canadian universities in the 4×400 metre race—a speedy time of 3:43.88.
Although, this success could not be translated into the 4×200 metre race. York women finished the race with a time of 1:41.95—good for 12th best out of 27.
With many returning athletes looking to build on this year’s success, next year should yield even more positives for the York track and field team.
