The X-Men track & field team travelled to Montreal this past weekend and competed in the15th annual McGill Team Challenge. The event featured some 650 athletes and was billed as the largest indoor meet in Canada.

The X-Men had runners competing in the 60 and 300m dashes, along with the 600, 1000, 1500 and 3000m runs and the 4x200m, 4x400 and 4x800m relay races. One X thrower competed in the shot put and weight throw events.

In the 60m dash, three X-Men competed in the preliminary round but failed to qualify for the final amongst the field of 66 runners. Cauchy Muamba ran 7.42, followed by Derek Burden (7.70) and Connor Demone (7.77). The winning time in the finals was 6.73 seconds.

In the 300m dash, Burden (39.28) and teammate Olajide Ojuawo (39.30) came in 47th and 49th for StFX in a fast race that featured a top time of 34.55. Kyle Tramble was the top X-Men finisher in the 600m race in 28th place with a time of 1:25.81. Also competing were Nathaniel Minichiello (1:29.87) in 41st, Ryan Hawkrigg (1:30.54) in 43rd and Stu MacNeil (1:32.46) in 44th.

The highlight of the meet for the X-Men was the men’s 1000m race where fifth year veteran X runner John Corbit took home the gold as the race champion. Corbit ran first across the finish line with a time of 2:26.46, the second fastest time posted in the CIS this year. His time automatically qualifies him for the CIS championship in March. Ryan Hawkrigg also competed in the 1000m race for StFX and came in 30th spot at 2:48.36.    

Corbit just missed a top 10 showing in the 1500m as he placed 11th overall at 3:59.52. Teammate Petr Doubravsky was able to crack the top 10, placing fifth at 3:55.64. Connor McGuire (4:10.34) was 34th, followed by Kenton Sportak (4:13.62) in 41st. Finally, in the men’s 3000m race, Robert Winslow was the top X-Man placing 11th with a time of 8:46.99, while McGuire ran in 13th place at 8:54.97.

Cuachy Muamba, Derek Burden, John MacLellan and Olajide Ojuawo ran in the men’s 4x200m relay race and came in 11th place amongst 13 teams with a time 1:35.84. Ottawa (1:27.72) won the race followed by Windsor and York in second and third spots. Ojuawo was also a member of the 4x400m relay team, along with Nathaniel Minichiello, Stu MacNeil and Ryan Hawkrigg. This team came in 10th spot with a time of 3:34.59. Ottawa again took first (3:21.24) followed by York and Guelph.

The X-Men 4x800m had a strong showing, coming in fourth spot at 7:48.20, three seconds off the third place Queen’s Golden Gaels (7:45.80). Sherbrooke won the race in a time of 7:41.46 and Laval was second at 7:42.80. StFX relay team members included Kyle Tramble, John Corbit, Petr Doubravsky and Kenton Sportak.

The StFX team did not have any jumpers competing at the McGill meet, however Stewart Walsh represented X in the sot put and 35lb weight throw events. Walsh placed 11th in a field of 23 in the shot put, throwing for 12.12m and was 7th in the weight throw with a 12.10m throw.

In the overall team standings the X-Men placed 11th in a field of 14 teams with 8 points. Guelph won the meet with 92 points, followed by Western (81.5) and Sherbrooke (46.5).

Next on the indoor schedule for the track and field squad is a meet at Dalhousie University on Saturday, Feb. 6th.