A great career as a Gael has sadly come to an end for the golden boy.
Over the past several weekends, Jude Wheeler-Dee, ArtSci ’26, competed in his final competitions as a Queen’s Gael. Tagged as the Queen’s Track and Field golden boy by The Journal three years ago, Wheeler-Dee has continued to live up to the nickname. He’s broken school records, collected gold medals, and now looks to continue to add to his trophy case in his final championship season.
Wheeler-Dee sat down with The Journal to help explain and relive the whirlwind past four weeks and the distance track season as a whole.
Beginning on Feb. 20 and 21 at the OUA Championships in Toronto, he collected a silver medal in the Men’s 1500M and a bronze medal in the 4x800M team event, alongside his teammates Tanner Hueglin, ArtSci ’27, Ian McCosham, Kin ’28, and Owen Danby, ArtSci ’28. The 4x800M race was what Wheeler-Dee described it as “heartbreaking” because they narrowly just missed out on qualifying for the USports championship.
“We were in a really good spot, and we did everything we can, it’s just the reality of the sport,” said Wheeler-Dee.
Qualifying for two races at USports National championships, the 1500M and the 3000M, Wheeler-Dee travelled with teammates Hueglin and Elizabeth Vroom, Sci ’27, to Winnipeg, Manitoba on March 5th and 6th. The first race on the docket for Wheeler-Dee was the 3000M, where he would win with a final time of 8:16.66. He then the following day would take home the gold in the 1500M with a time of 3:46.38.
Wheeler-Dee described going back to Manitoba as “unfinished business.”
“The last time we were [in Manitoba], I was just off the podium, so definitely had a little chip on my shoulder going back into that venue,” said Wheeler-Dee.
The 3000M race was an exciting one, to say the least, as Wheeler-Dee described their strategy going into it as “hurt early,” meaning they wanted to push the pace and take some of the guys out of it. “We knew there were guys with pretty wicked kicks, so basically had to push 2000M out,” Wheeler-Dee said.
Coming off the high of the double gold, Wheeler-Dee, alongside teammates Angus Skinner, ConEd ’27 and Roman Miranov, Comm ’26, were invited to the FISU World University Cross Country Championships, a competition where the highest-ranked university students compete. This year, the event was held in Italy on Mar. 14 and 15. Wheeler-Dee would finish fifth overall in the Men’s Short race with a time of 8:48.
“Being able to represent both Queen’s and Canada, at the same time, is a really unique opportunity,” Wheeler-Dee said. “I think FISU’s a great opportunity that I don’t take for granted, especially special with two of my best friends to cap off the athletic season.”
The craziness of the schedule hasn’t allowed Wheeler-Dee to reflect on the season, but “riding the high” of the success.
Tags
career, Gael, Golden boy, Jude Wheeler-Dee, Track and field
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