Cougars were right on track
Mar. 1, 2010 - Regina Leader-Post
By Ian Hamilton
When Bruce McCannel competed for the University of Regina Cougars men's track and field team, he won multiple individual Canada West titles but not one team championship.
On Saturday, in McCannel's first appearance at the conference meet as the Cougars' interim head coach, he finally got to savour a team crown.
Regina's men won their first-ever Canada West title Saturday, outpointing the Saskatchewan Huskies 101.5 to 89 at the conference meet in Edmonton.
"I'm really excited for them," McCannel said from the Alberta capital. "Every event they needed to perform well in (Saturday), they did, and every point they needed to scoop up, they did. They did a great job."
"After the cross-country team won Canada West for the first time (in the fall), that was the first time we'd ever had a distance team with depth," noted fifth-year Cougars athlete Les Andersen. "We thought, 'Finally, everything has come together.'
"We've always had great jumpers but we've never won. This took everyone to win. We had a good distance team and we were good in everything else."
And that led to a title.
The squad got gold medals from Kelly Wiebe (3,000 metres), Justin Baker (60m hurdles), Jeremy Eckert (high jump), and the 4x200m relay team. Andersen (triple jump), Eckert (pentathlon), David Walford (long jump) and Chris Pickering (shot put) won silver medals.
All of those who recorded top-two finishes qualified for the CIS championships, March 11-13 in Windsor, Ont.
Andersen (60m hurdles), Walford (triple jump), Connor MacDonald (long jump), Mason Foote (60m) and the 4x400m relay team won bronze medals.
The Cougars got their other points from Andersen (fourth in the 60m, sixth in the long jump), MacDonald (fourth, high jump), Pickering (fourth, weight throw), Baker (fourth, pentathlon), Ian Jestadt (fourth, triple jump), Tait Nystuen (fourth, 600m), Uzair Ahmed (fifth, 60m hurdles), Mychael Windrum (fifth, 60m), the 4x800m relay team (sixth), and Wiebe (seventh, 1,500m).
Eckert personally accounted for 15 points, while Andersen had 13 points individually. He also ran on the 4x200m (which earned 10 points) and 4x400m (eight points) relay teams.
"I wanted five medals," Andersen said with a chuckle. "(Foote) beat me out in the 60 metres, but I ran a good time, so I was pretty happy about that."
Regina's women's squad finished fifth with 38.5 points. Saskatchewan won the title with 119.5 points.
Nicole Breker claimed three medals for the U of R, winning gold in the long jump and bronze in the 60m hurdles and triple jump. Robyn Bauck earned a gold in the triple jump and Amanda Ruller picked up a silver (and set a school record) in the 60m.
The Cougars also got points from Caitlin Fowler (fourth, shot put), Alison Jestadt (fourth, triple jump), Keisha Sharp (fifth, triple jump), the 4x200m relay team (fifth), Bauck (sixth, 60m hurdles), Emma Dyck (sixth, weight throw), Shalane Haselhan (sixth, high jump), and Merissa Margetts (sixth, 60m).
The prospects for the women's team took a serious hit Friday when Chelsea Valois -- who was to compete in three individual events as well as the 4x200m and 4x400m relays -- was scratched after aggravating a heel injury in her first event of the meet.