Tracksters off to a very strong start

By Aritra Das

While most of us spent the weekend coming to grips with the fact that another semester is upon us, the men and women of the Dinos track and field team were busy running, throwing or jumping at the 2005 Golden Bear Open track meet Jan. 14-15. Although team statistics and scores weren’t kept in this open meet, the Dinos did see some solid individual performances from a number of athletes competing in a variety of events.


The lady Dinos performed very well as a group, highlighted by some exceptional individual performances from Jessica Zelinka, Candace Laverty, Shannon Slater, Lindsay Winter and Renee Kaylor.


Zelinka won the 60m hurdles final with a searing time of 8.42S. By throwing for a distance of 13.01m, she also tied for first place in shotput. In addition, Zelinka was the top university competitor in the long and high jump events with jumps of 5.46m and 1.7m respectively.


Candace Laverty won the triple jump competition–jumping for a distance of 11.39m. The lady Dinos dominated the triple jump, with four Dino athletes placing within the top five.


In the medium distance races, Shannon Slater registered two wins in the 1000m and 1500m events, with times of 2:57.64 and 4:37.57 respectively. Lindsay Winter won the 3000m race in 10:45.2 with teammate Barbara Reikie finishing only two seconds behind. The 600m dash was won by Renee Kaylor in a time of 1:34.99, with teammate Veronique St. Pierre four-hundredths of a second behind in second place.


Our ladies also fared very well in the 4X200m and 4X400m relay events, winning both events with times of 1:46.55 and 3:56.72 respectively. As a team the lady Dinos had a very strong showing and are expected to contend for a national championship this season.


The men’s team saw some good individual performances in the medium distance events, with a fourth place finish by Travis Saunders in the 1000m race. A time of 4:07.4 secured a third place finish in the 1500m event for Geoff Kerr. Andre Carruthers came in second in the 3000m event, only a few seconds behind the winner. Mark Swanlund finished in third spot with a jump of 6.72m in the men’s long jump. John Fairbairn’s jump of 13.3m was good for second place in the men’s triple jump event.


The Golden Bear Open track meet was only the second major meet of the season. As the season progresses, times and distances will improve. The Dinos women should be in contention for a national championship and the men will undoubtedly improve their performance.