While the Dinos track and field squad excelled in many events at the 2005 Canada West Track and Field Championship Feb. 25-26, the document used for the results reported in the last issue of the Gauntlet was unfortunately not the right one. The following are correct results and will hopefully clear up the mass confusion and controversy experienced from last issue… or not.
Although the Dinos men mustered a mediocre sixth place with 16 points, the women flourished, finishing first and flaunting their 135-point total for the rest of the west’s schools to see.
Decorated Dino Jessica Zelinka met and exceeded the already astronomical expectations everyone had set for her, earning three golds and three silver medals. For her incredible performance she was awarded Female Track Athlete of the Meet honors.
Her biggest success was the pentathlon. Since it is her strong suit, it comes as no surprise that she won the gold. What is impressive is that she placed first in all five events, giving the competition no chance to come near her 4,326 points. She shattered her previous CW record set last year and blew her nearest competitor away by almost 1,000 points. Dino Karen Baerg managed fourth in the event with 3,271 points.
Another gold came from the 60m hurdle, which Zelinka finished in 8.44s. Dinos Diana Gruber and Jessica King were just over a half-second behind in fifth and sixth respectively. A top finish in the long jump rounded out Zelinka’s golden performances.
She made her way to the silver side of the podium in the 60m dash, with Gruber not far behind in fifth. A bitter-sweet silver came from the shot-put, an event Zelinka lost by four centimetres because she had to leave to make the high jump.
Our ladies dominated the longer running events as well. In the 600m run, Veronique St. Pierre, Jackie Jones and Renee Kaylor hustled to second, third and fourth respectively.
The real story though, was Shannon Slater. She took gold in the 3000m event, silver in the 1500m and bronze in the 1000m. Her teammate Heather Sim followed closely in the 1500m, taking a bronze. Sim and Kaylor chased Slater to fifth and sixth respectively in the 1000m run. Lindsay Winter also earned some points, placing fifth in the grueling 3000m race.
In crazy relay action, our ladies graced the podium in all three distances. The longest race, the 4X800m, was eight-second Dino mastery, with an all-star team consisting of Sim, Jones, Slater and Kaylor. The 4X400m squad eased their way into a golden four-second win. The team featured superpowers Megan Czajkowski, Jones, Kaylor and St. Pierre. In the 4X200m the Dinos settled for silver.
Instead of jumping for joy, as most winning teams do, the Dinos did it for points. Zelinka, Rachelle Nelson and Baerg were second, third and fourth respectively in the high jump. Zelinka had to miss her last high jump attempt for a pentathlon event she couldn’t miss. What she ended up missing was a gold medal by three centimetres.
In the triple jump, the Dinos placed four ladies in the top six, with Tricia Palmer, Candice Laverty, Kim Tse and Nelson hurling themselves to first, fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Baerg turned up the voltage in the pole vault, placing fifth amongst a field of tough competitors.
On the men’s side, in running events, Geoff Kerr almost hit the podium, managing fourth in the 1500m event. Brad Hove cracked the top five, placing fifth in the 1000m run while sticking to sixth in the 1500m.
John Fairbairn stood proudly on the podium for the Dinos men, earning bronze in the triple jump. He was followed by teammate Matthew Ng who placed fifth.
With their CW championship now in the past, the Dinos look to Winnipeg, where they head to fight for a national championship Mar. 10-12. Hopefully the powerful ladies team will bring home something the volleysaurs couldn’t. And I don’t mean a Manitoba keychain.