Disappointing fifth for trackettes

By Aritra Das

Although the University of Saskatchewan Huskies cleaned up at the 2005 Canadian Interuniversity Sport Track and Field Championship Mar. 10-12, the Dinos women’s track and field team finished strongly in fifth place. Despite a slow start accumulating points in the initial events of the championship, the Dinos women rallied back with strong performances in the medium, long-distance and relay events.


After a superb start in the women’s pentathlon, Dinos star Jessica Zelinka was injured on the first day of the meet, and had to withdraw from competition.


Arguably one of the most valuable members of the Dinos, Zelinka’s presence was sorely missed. Even without one of their prominent stars however, several Dinos women emerged with solid performances, powering the team to their fifth place finish.


Heather Sim finished in third place in the women’s 1,500m final with a time of 4:32:83. Renee Kaylor and Shannon Slater finished fourth and fifth respectively in the women’s 1,000m event. Kaylor also placed fourth in the women’s 600m event, less than a second behind the winner.


Powered by the strong middle and long-distance athletes, the Dinos women also claimed second place in both the 4X400m and 4X800m relay events. Even in the 4X200m relay, the ladies placed third.


Other notable performances include Jessica King’s fifth place finish in the women’s 60m hurdles final. Diana Gruber’s time of 8.97s in this event also put her within the top 10.


Rachelle Nelson placed ninth in the women’s high jump final, clearing a height of 1.55m. In the women’s triple jump, Candace Laverty placed ninth, leaping a distance of 11.1m. She was followed closely by teammate Rachelle Nelson, in 10th place, with a jump of 10.89m.


The Dinos women came into the championship with high hopes, and left with a fifth place finish despite an injury to one of their best athletes. With only Sim attaining an individual medal, it took a complete team effort to place fifth in this highly competitive national level track meet. Hopefully, next year things will work out more in their favour.

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