The Dinos track and field squad’s season climaxed Mar. 9-11 as the University of Saskatchewan hosted the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Indoor Track and Field Championship. The Dinos sent 13 women and seven men to fight for the titles.
While the men had a few successes, the small number of athletes only managed a tie for 13th with 14 points. The University of Windsor Lancers won the championship with 50 points.
Just over two seconds off the winning pace, Geoff Kerr won the silver medal in the 3,000-metre run. In the 300-metre dash, Andrew Dargie was fourth while Trent Ratzlaff placed fifth in the 600-metre run. Dargie and Ratzlaff, along with Geoff Bullen and Mike Saizew, were members of the bronze-medal-winning 4X400-metre relay squad.
On the ladies’ side, the story was a bit different. After being fifth for the first two days of competition, the Dinos ladies managed to crank out a few extra points the last day to secure third spot with 45 points. The Lancers and University of Toronto Varsity Blues were first and second with 59 and 49 points respectively.
The ladies had the most success in the 600-metre run. Despite having the fastest time in the heats with 1:32.85, Renee Kaylor placed third in the final. Fortunately, the spot at the top was taken by her teammate Holly Ratzlaff. She won the event by more than a second with a time of 1:31.79. Kaylor was also third in the 1,000-metre run.
Diana Gruber grabbed gold in the long jump with a 5.87-metre leap. She also placed fifth in the 60-metre dash. The Dinos excelled in the triple jump, with four ladies placing in the top 10. Tricia Palmer’s 11.91-metre jump secured her the silver medal while Kim Tse, Rachelle Nelson and Karen Baerg were sixth, eighth and ninth respectively. Palmer earned a second medal in the pentathlon, where she won the bronze with 3,452 points.
Shannon Popowich came oh-so close to the podium in both the 1,000- and 1,500-metre runs, placing fourth in both events. Like the men, the ladies’ 4X400-metre relay team was third. Ariana Binotto, Kaylor, Tessa Gray and Ratzlaff made up the squad.
With the track and field season through, many of the athletes will begin training for cross-country running soon, others will bask in the spring sun awaiting excitement.