Antigonish, NS – StFX track & field athletes opened 2019-20 competition Saturday at the Athletics NS Last Chance meet in Halifax in their first competition of the season.
The blue and white sent a contingent of jumpers and sprinters in various men's and women's events.
In the women's jumping events, freshman Riley Van den Heuvel set a new school record in the high jump with a 1.63m result. She eclipsed the previous record of 1.56m set in 2010 by Rebecca Bell. VandenHeuvel also competed in the long jump and came fourth with a 4.84m jump.
Veteran fourth year Jumper Lani Deakin came third in the long jump (5.10m) and won the triple jump with a 10.44m jump. Erin Brennan was sixth in the long jump (4.49m) and she came third in the hurdles with a time of 10.28, behind teammate Megan Graham who was second at 9.26.
In the 60m dash, Samantah Taylor came second overall amongst a large field of 46 racers, finishing with a time of 8.01. Meg Mary Krawchuk was sixth for the X-Women (8.25) and Deakin placed seventh (8.33).
Taylor also did well in the 300m race, coming first with a time of 42.64. Graham was behind her in second place at 42.90 and Krawchuk was fourth at 44.18.
Fourth year X-Women dual-sport athlete Catherine Kennedy took top spot in the 600m event, crossing the line at 1:40.07. Freshman Mira Alexander was fifth (1:44.30) and Meaghan Boatsmith was seventh (1:48.44).
In the men's running events, third year sprinter Eric Sutton came third in the 600m race with a time of 1:26.89 and was the top X-Men in the 300m, coming seventh at 36.81. Justin Major placed fourth in the 600m (1:29.28) and was 10th in the 300m (38.25). Johnny West came eighth in the 300m sprint with a 37.77 result.
The men's 60m dash featured 44 competitors. Brad Barclay was the top X-Men in sixth place, clocking in at 7.22. West came 11th at 7.31, while freshmen Logan Coulet (7.33) and Skeets Green (7.49) were 12th and 18th, respectively. Curtis Kuzmyk (7.65) and Aidan McMann (8.28) also competed for X.
In the jumping events, Coulet set a new StFX school record in the high jump with his 1.98m result. He surpassed the previous record of 1.86m set by Jordan Tyrell in 2016.
In the long jump, fourth year veteran Kirishnia Cooper came first in both the long jump (6.31m) and the triple jump (13.00m) for age 20-34. Greene came third in the long jump (6.20m) for age 18-19.
Logan Coulet and Riley Van den Heuvel were honoured as the StFX Subway performers of the meet for their record-breaking performances.
The track & field team now has a break in the competition schedule and will be back in action in the New Year on January 11th at the Jump Start Athletics Open in Moncton, NB.
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Courtesy StFX Sports Information