By Dale Miller
If one word could be used to sum up the track team’s performance at the CIS Championships it would be a resounding “good.”
“We did good, we are really happy with our performance,” said Head Coach Doug Lamont. “The women placed second with 48 points, that was better than the expected 43 points. We just came up short against a stronger Saskatchewan team.”
With a bronze in the 4X400 relay, the men’s team came at an unsurprising tenth place overall finish, but with the points for the men and women combined, the U of C team placed third.
The highlight of the meet was the performances of pentathletes Jessica Zelinka and Trevor Phillips.
Zelinka won gold in the pentathlon, which was a CIS record; she won the 60m hurdles, and was a member of the 4X200 relay team, which also won gold. This stellar performance was good enough to make Zelinka the athlete of the meet.
Trevor Phillips came through with a big win in the pentatlelon, which–like Zelinka’s–was also a CIS record.
“It was an awesome experience,” remembered Phillips. “The hurdles were better than expected, the rest was mediocre–they weren’t superstellar.”
This was Phillips’ last year in CIS competition as he is graduating at the end of the year.
“I’m retiring so you won’t see me back.”
After four years of competing in the CIS, Phillips has some fond memories of the organization.
“I’m really surprised with how good CIS competition is, I really got into it,” said Phillips. “There were always people to rise to the challenge, always good people to compete with.”
Phillips was the 2000 Rookie of the Year so these accomplishments fulfilled the promise that he showed in his first year.
“I started high, went low and finished higher,” said Phillips.
“The road of life is never flat,” added Lamont, who was listening in.
Overall, the CIS Championship was a good finale to the year. There were 26 personal bests set, with 21 of 26 people scoring points for the team.
“Everyone did better or as good as expected,” said Lamont. “We are looking forward to next year since we have a good young team. We are only losing two women and three men.”
Looking ahead, Lamont only has good predictions for next year.
“First for the women.”