Track & field - Indoor Championships & McGill Team Challenge
NS Indoor Championships
The Huskies competed at the Athletics Nova Scotia Indoor Championships, January 19/20/21. With a high calibre field, and the last opportunity to secure a spot to compete at McGill, the Huskies competed excellently.
In the women's triple jump, second year athlete Ashley Murray set a new personal best and also a new SMU school record with a jump of 10.52m, while also placing 3rd among AUS athletes. Look for Murray to compete well at the McGill Team Challenge January 26th and 27th. Third year athlete Kali Gee also placed 6th among AUS athletes in the 60m hurdles.
In the men's 1500m, first year athlete Andrew Peverill outkicked some of the top athletes in the conference to finish 1st in a time of 3:56.45, while also setting a new SMU school record in the process. Peverill is now currently ranked 12th in the USports rankings for the men's 1500m and will look to have a strong performance at the McGill Team Challenge this upcoming weekend.
Drew Lefrank placed second in the men's 1000m with a time of 2:40.05, while second year athlete Stephen Goodyear placed 3rd in a new personal best time of 2:40.72 and secured his spot to compete at McGill. First year athlete Owen Bachelor placed 5th and Ian MacDonald placed 8th in the race.
Multiple Huskies sprinted to personal bests in the 60m with Ryan Hebb (7.44), Avran Makkar (7.45), Adrian Bah (7.48), Kotio Eastman (7.61) and Connor Macpherson (8.25) all recording personal bests and Avran Makkar also recording a personal best in the 300m with 39.36.
Matthew Smith record two 6th place finishes in the shot put and high jump, and an 8th place finish in the long jump. As the throws portion of the meet continued on Sunday, the Huskies placed well with Emily Batt and Gabrielle Walthers placing 4th and 5th in the women's shot put, and Isaac Smith placing 5th in the men's shot put.
Well done to all who competed! Next up for the Huskies is the McGill Team Challenge in Montreal on January 26th and 27th for the eight selected athletes.
McGill Team Challenge
The 23rd annual McGill Team Challenge was held in Montreal on January 27/28. The HSMU team was composed of 8 selected athletes who had performed well in the meets leading up to this weekend. The Huskies had a strong showing and competed well against some of the best in the country.
The meet started Friday with first year's Avran Makkar and Matthew Carlton competing in the 60m dash. Both competed well with Makkar and Carlton finishing 3rd and 2nd in their heats respectively. Both will benefit from the experience come AUS Championships time in month.
Next up for the Huskies was the 1000m, which was represented by Jonathan Peverill, Drew Lefrank, Stephen Goodyear and Owen Bachelor. Peverill and Lefrank competed in the same heat, each slightly bettering their personal bests with Peverill posting a 2:34.35 for 5th in the heat and Lefrank a 2:35.45 for 7th in the heat. Goodyear and Bachelor competed well in their heats posting times of 2:42.05 and 2:45.94, while both placing 8th in their respective heats.
The first day was wrapped up with the 3000m where first year Andrew Peverill would finish 2nd in his heat and 10th overall in the event. Peverill not only set a personal best, but broke his own school record with a time of 8:28.66.
The second day of competition started Saturday with Ashley Murray placing 5th in her heat of the 60m hurdles. Murray followed up her hurdles with her strongest event, the triple jump, where she placed 9th overall with a jump of 10.41m.
The Huskies were then represented in the 300m with Matthew Carlton and Avran Makkar placing 2nd and 4th in their heats.
The competition concluded for the Huskies with the 1500m where Andrew Peverill placed 4th overall in the event against many of the top ranked men in the country with a personal best, and school record time, of 3:53.35. This ranks Andrew top 12 in the U Sports rankings and number 1 in the AUS conference. The Huskies weren't done there, with Jonathan Peverill, Stephen Goodyear and Owen Bachelor all finishing with personal best times. Peverill placed 5th posting a personal best time of 4:02.