The Queen’s track and field team visited the Louis Riel Dome for the Ottawa Winter National Invitational Feb. 2 and came home with an impressive 12 medals, including four golds and six silvers. Head coach Melody Torcolacci said she was pleased with the results.
“The kids went in and performed up to their ability, and they had some excellent results,” she said. “It was a small crew but still pretty outstanding.” Among the top performers was Leslie Sexton, who set a new Queen’s record with a time of 17:06:62 in her silver medal-winning 5,000-metre performance. “Leslie has been having a phenomenal season,” Torcolacci said. “It’s been a dream season for her. Everything she’s done, she’s just smashed her previous bests with it.” Torcolacci said the race’s high-calibre nature made Sexton’s performance more impressive.
“It was an invitational 5,000 metres,” she said. “There were non-university athletes, people training for marathons and a much higher level of competition.”
Veronica Catry gave one of the Gaels’ four gold-medal performances of the day in the 60-metre dash. “Veronica Catry has had an outstanding season as a rookie,” Torcolacci said. “She has yet to be shut out of medals this year. She has improved every single meet out and has put herself as one of the top sprinters in the country.”
Other gold-medal winners included Bri Eshleman in the weight throw, Jen Tam in the long jump and James McCracken in the 3,000-metres. The Gaels returned home with five Queen’s all-time top-10 performances, six OUA Top 8 Standards and 20 personal best times from their athletes. The Gaels’ next meet will be the Windsor Team Challenge at University of Windsor on Feb. 9. Torcolacci said the next meet will be a different scenario.
“It’s head-to-head competition against athletes they’re going to have to beat at OUAs,” she said. “This past weekend it wasn’t so much about beating the other person than it was about beating the clock. … Our goal is to get as good a performance as we can out of people, battle for medals and get as many qualified for nationals as possible.” Distance coach Shane Lakins said the team also has some specific goals for the upcoming meet.
“We are taking our OUA team to this competition,” Lakins said. “We’re looking to make the CIS standard in several events with our athletes. We’d also like to come home with OUA standards in the 4×8 relay on both the men’s and women’s side.” With the team’s outstanding performance this past weekend, the Gaels look to be on track for a solid performance at OUAs next month. “We’re expecting big things over the next four weeks as we get ready for the Ontario and national championships,” Lakins said. “The next four weekends are pretty important for us.”
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