Western Ontario Athletics

Results from Western's track and field meets over the weekend included two school records, a number of personal bests and some solid performances at the Notre Dame Meyo Invitational and the 39th Annual York Classic.

Notre Dame Meyo Invitational Full Results - Click Here
York 39th Annual York Classic Full Results - PDF, Click Here / York 39th Annual York Clasic Full Results - HTML, Click Here

At Notre Dame's Meyo Invitational, Western broke two school records in a meet featuring some of the best of NCAA Division 1 talent.

Kyle O'Neill (Vienna, Ont.) set a new record in the men's 3000m, breaking the old mark set in 1974, while the women's 4X400m relay team also set a new school mark. Western's women's 4x400m relay team of Jen Cotten (Barrie, Ont.), Jenessa Olson (Ilderton, Ont.), Jen Ricks (Barrie, Ont.) and Lisa Grieve (London, Ont.) ran 3:48.51 for a school record, placing 11th

O'Neill's time of  8:13.92 at Notre Dame is almost two seconds better than the previous standard of 8:15.4 set by Ron Falck on Feb. 23, 1974, over 36 years ago. Falck has a most impressive resume as a Western Mustang and was inducted into our Hall of Fame in 2008.

O'Neill also surpassed all-time great Guy Schultz, now Western's intramural sports coordintaor, who is the only Mustang to win CIS gold in Cross Country and Track & Field (in fall 1997 he set the Thames Valley Golf Course record for 10km of 30:57 which still stands today, and gold in that winter's 1998 CIS Track and Field Championship at Windsor in 8:16.51). 

Two other all-time Mustang greats - Fraser Bertram (8:18.65 in 3000m, for 4th place at 1991 CIS Championships) and Rob Tyndall (8:19.68 for silver at 1991 CIS Championships) - have also had success in this distance.

"Kyle is in very good company, and once again he has more than lived up to the handle "Real Deal O'Neill"," said Western cross-country head coach Bob Vigars. "We are all very proud of Kyle."

The high level of competition helped several Mustangs to produce some of their best-ever performances. Here is a list of the Mustangs competing at Notre Dame:

Men
Kyle O'Neill, 3000m, 10th, 8:13.98, pb (school record)
Ryan Huff 3000m, 26th 8:32.57 pb
Matt Suda 3000m, 33rd 8:40.24 pb
Jason Kerr 60m, 10th 6.90
Rob Gooch 500m, 10th 1:05 45 pb
Elias Granillio 300m, 16th 35.45 pb
Scott Leitch 300m, 19th 35.62 pb
4X400m team of Kerr, Granillio, Leitch and Gooch ran 3:16.32 placed 10th and a season's best
 
Women
4 x 400m team (Jen Cotten, Janessa Olson, Jen Ricks, Lisa Grieve) ran 3:48.51 for a school record, placing 11th
Lynn Mockler 3000m, 33rd 10:02.00 pb
Jen Ricks 1000m, 22nd 3:58.30 pb
Jen Cotten 300m, 19th 40.28 pb
Mila Simulik TJ 10th 11.99m
Alicia Smith TJ 14th 11.82m season's best
 
At York, in the 39th Annual York Classic Western had 32 finishes in the Top 8.  

Western Mustangs track and field head coach Vickie Croley said this meet ended up being larger than it had been in past years with almost 500 athletes.  

"(There were) mostly OUA schools and some partial teams due to athletes also competing at Notre Dame," she said. "None the less, the meet was competitive." 

Highlights for the Mustangs women included a first place for the 4X200m relay team of Brenna Thomson (De Winton, Alta.), Sherelle Solomon (London, Ont.), Cassandra McCaig Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) and Vanessa Brathwaite (Brampton, Ont.) in a time of 1:42.70.

Emily Coxhead (London, Ont.) finished second in the 60mH (9.15 seconds) and Lacey Van Der Marel(Stoney Creek, Ont.) second in the long jump (5.29m). Thomson established herself as a threat to make the OUA 60m final by placing fourth (7.84 seconds).  

On the men's side Dan McDonald (Coboconk, Ont.) threw his second-best throw in his career in the shot put (15.10m) to take gold. McDonald also placed third in the weight throw with a toss of 14.13m. Rookie Jared Chapman (Victoria Harbour, Ont.) showed that he will be a threat at OUAs adding to the depth of the Western male long jumpers with a jump of 6.83m and third-place finish.