CUE Host Grand Prix #1 to Kick Off the ACAC Track Season
EDMONTON, AB (January 21, 2023) – The starters gun went off and just like that we are back to the track for the ACAC Indoor Track season as Concordia University of Edmonton hosted the first event of the Running Room Grand Prix series at the Kinsmen Sports Centre.
Starting things off was the women’s 300 metre dash where Cherise Carter of the STMU Lightning crossed the line first with a time of 45.53s, followed by Kerigan Frampton (SAIT) and Kammy Park (RDP). On the men’s side, Kwasi Framp of the Trojans would take the top spot with a time of 37.71 followed by Justin Jager (MHC) and Orin May (LC).
In the 600m event, leading the charge in the women’s event was Jasmin Salmon of SAIT posting a time of 1:48.40 followed by Kammy Park (RDP) and Sidney Cusak (UAA). Taking the podium in the men’s event was Ethan Durant (1:26.79) of RDP followed by a close battle between teammates Jonah Hennig (1:34.06) and Logan Danyluk (1:34.10) of Lethbridge College.
The Women’s 1000m saw Jenica Swartz (RDP) lead the way posting a time of 3:10.92. Jasmin Salmon of SAIT would edge out Taylor Chamberlin of the Thunder for the 2nd spot. On the men’s side, Owen Stewart of the Kodiaks stunned the building by crossing the line ahead of defending champ, Leonard Chesoo, of CUE by milliseconds with a time of 2:38.63. Trojan’s Tofik Said would take the third spot with a time of 2:40.47.
Thunder’s Taylor Chamberlin had some room at the finish line in the women’s 1500m event posting a time of 5:21.66 followed by Justine Larson (5:31.44) of RDP and Rosie Bouchard (5:51.68) of Lethbridge College. In the men’s event, it was a close battle between (1) Keiran Marchand (SAIT), (2) Leonard Chesoo (CUE), and (3) Daniel Szucs (RDP) who all finished within seconds of each other.
Myah Cota of Red Deer was able to maintain a solid pace in the women’s 3000m event finishing with a time of 12:21.48. Behind her was Josephine Bennett (12:36.04) of Prairie College and Pyper Gill (12:36.63) of Medicine Hat College. In the men’s long distance event it was Cooper Williams of the Kodiaks taking the top spot with a time of 8:56.15 followed by Moktar Said of SAIT and Daniel Szucs of Red Deer Polytechnic.
The 4x200m women’s relay saw a strong performance from the Red Deer Queens team as they posted a phenomenal time of 1:58.56. Behind them was the St. Mary’s Lightning (2:00.49) and the Medicine Hat Rattlers (2:05.60). The men’s event was much closer coming down the stretch as the Kodiaks would claim top spot with a time of 1:37.84 followed by RDP (1:40.15) and MHC (1:43.73).
The day concluded with the ever-exciting 4x400m relay events. On the women’s side it was the Trojans crossing the line first with some room showing a time of 4:30.86 followed by RDP (4:39.48) and MHC (4:45.72). In the men’s event it was the Kodiaks who once again led the charge by posting a time of 3:39.79 followed by the Trojans (3:43.84) and the RDP Kings (3:48.42).
The unofficial team standings on the women’s side after the first event have RDP in first place with 72 points, SAIT in the second spot with 40 points, and STMU in third with 31 points. In the men’s standings, The Kodiaks hold the spot with 73 points, not far behind them are the RDP Kings with 60 points, followed by the Trojans with 47 points.
The next Grand Prix will take place on February 18th at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre hosted by Red Deer Polytechnic.
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Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder Athletics
The Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder Athletics program has a proud history of excellence at the highest levels both provincially and nationally. The Thunder have been a part of the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference (ACAC) since 1992 and have more than 200 student-athletes representing the school in the sports of badminton, basketball, cross country running, curling, golf, hockey, indoor track, soccer and volleyball. To learn more about Thunder Athletics, please visit http://www.gothunder.ca/.