OTTAWA – A trio of Western Mustangs track & field athletes have been named to Team Canada for the Summer Universiade to be held in Kazan, Russia from July 6-17, 2013. Mustangs Robin Bone, Matt Brisson, and Taylor Stewart will represent Canada on the international stage along with Mustangs coach Frank Erle who was named to the Team Canada coaching staff.
"I'm extremely proud of the athletes and coach Frank Erle that have been named to the FISU team to compete in Kazan, Russia in July,” said Mustangs head coach Vickie Croley. “In my 20 years of coaching at Western the only other athlete to have qualified for this team was Western’s great heptathlete, Jen Cotten in 2011. This is not an easy team to make and for three of our athletes to do so as well as four others to have been very close is a huge testament to the success of our program and coaches."
Robin Bone, a first-year Bachelor of Management and Organizational Studies (BMOS) student and pole vaulter, qualified for the Canadian squad with a vault of 4.22 metres on May 5th at TD Waterhouse Stadium, a mark that stands as a pending Canadian junior record. The pending record continues the London native’s phenomenal rookie season that included both an OUA gold medal and CIS silver medal, while also establishing new Western pole vault records on multiple occasions.
Qualifying for the 110 metre hurdles is Matt Brisson, a third-year King’s College student from St. Thomas, who ran a 13.94 time on April 19th at the Bryan Cray Invitational in Anaheim, California, to make the team. Brisson was the only Canadian to surpass the qualifying standard of 14.00 and will be the lone Canadian to compete in this event. Brisson had a strong year for the Mustangs taking gold in the 60 metre hurdles at both the CIS and OUA Championships.
Rounding out the contingent of Western athletes is second-year social sciences student Taylor Stewart. The London native posted a 7.72 metre mark in the long jump on May 15 in Guelph to qualify for the Universiade, and then bettered that only three days later with a 7.83m jump on May 18 at TD Waterhouse Stadium. He is the only Canadian to qualify in the event. Stewart is coming off an impressive 2012-13 season that saw him capture CIS gold in the long jump and silver in the triple jump, along with taking the gold in both events at the OUA Championships. Stewart also set multiple Western records in the long jump this season.
Western’s horizontal jumps coach Frank Erle will also travel to Russia as part of the Team Canada coaching staff. Erle is a long-time Western coach and has had 17 athletes qualify for the CIS Championships over the past two seasons, including two 2013 gold medalists in Stewart and triple jump champion Caroline Ehrhardt.
Mustang sprinter Brenna Thomson has been selected as an alternate for the Canadian team. Thomson ran a personal best 23.79 time in the 200 metres to surpass the 23.80 qualifying time, ranking her third in her event and earning a spot as an alternate.
