By Laura Bennet
Talent: The team was composed of essentially the same members as last year, with the notable absence of Jessica Zelinka, who scored half of the Dinos’ points in last year’s team standings. However, the Dinos women had at least one competitor seeded in the top-five at CIS competition in every track event except the 60 metre hurdles and the 60 metre sprint. Veteran Heather Sim and rookie Jessica O’Connell were standouts in the distance events, Holly Ratzlaff and Amonn Nelson were stars of the 600 metre and 300 metre, respectively, and Kim Tse was a force in the jumping events.
Effort: The women put in a consistent effort throughout the season and individual improvement was noticeable in several performances. The general lack of injuries was a benefit to the trackosaurs.
Coaching: Doug Lamont has been involved with Dinos track and field since 1990 and was named as head coach of the team in 2006. With the accomplishment of being named the Canada West women’s track and field coach of the year for the past two seasons, as well as several cross-country coaching titles at the CanWest and CIS levels, Lamont is clearly a qualified and effective head coach.
Achievement: The women were ranked first going into Canada West competition and met this goal for the fourth year in a row. Though they were national champions last year, they were ranked fourth entering CIS competition in 2008 and they maintained this ranking at the end.
Grade: Struthiomimus
This dinosaur lived in Alberta and apparently, could run at speeds around 80 km/h.