Top 12 finishes from Vivian Ogor, Liv Sands and Hannah Hagerty headlined day two of Athletics
Top 12 finishes from Vivian Ogor, Liv Sands and Hannah Hagerty headlined day two of Athletics on Tuesday in Bochum, Germany.
Ogor (Waterloo, ON / Western University) – who qualified for the semi-finals in the women’s 100m on the opening day of competition – dropped her time in all three races of the event. The U SPORTS National Champion and school record holder in the 60m ran 11.70 in her opening race on Tuesday to qualify for the final, six tenths of a second faster than her round one time. In an extremely fast final, she blazed to seventh overall in a time of 11.65.
Western teammate Liv Sands (London, ON) finished eighth overall in the shot put final, with her best toss coming on attempt three, 15.96m. Additionally, Hannah Hagerty (Regina, SK / University of Saskatchewan) finished 11th in the women’s long jump final, at 5.65m.
Four other Canadians qualified for either semi-finals or finals on Tuesday, with 13 competing overall.
Favour Okpali (Lagos, Nigeria / Western University) – who broke a 41-year Mustangs venue record this past year in the 600m – surged ahead of Marlie Viljoen of South Africa in the closing 100 metres to punch her ticket to the women’s 400m final in a time of 52.84 seconds in the semis.
Two-time U SPORTS national champion Aidan Grout (Maple Ridge, B.C. / University of Toronto) also qualified for the finals of high jump, passing the bar on all three of his attempts, including 2.13m, which tied for the highest leap along with nine other competitors. The jump was the same height he passed when he won his first national title in 2022.
In the men’s 1500m, Jonathan Podbielski (Regina, SK / University of Regina) advanced to Thursday’s final, crossing the line in 3:44.16 for third place in his heat and seventh overall. The Cougars Varsity Male Athlete of the Year kept with the lead pack for the entire duration of the race, crossing the line less than two tenths of a second behind Mehmet Celik of Turkey.
In the women’s 800m, Western’s Sophie Coutts (Toronto, ON), whose twin sister Chloe is also on Canada’s roster, ran to a personal best of 2:05.04 to qualify for the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Shelby MacIsaac (Riverview, N.B. / University of New Brunswick) – the first woman in UNB history to break the 40 second barrier in the indoor 300m – got the day started with a personal best, crossing the line at 1:00.22 in the women’s 400m hurdles. The time was a second faster than her prior PB.
In the men’s 400m hurdle semi-finals, Windsor Lancers team MVP Benjamin Tilson (Windsor, ON / University of Windsor), kept with the pack until the final straight of an extremely close race. He finished the race in a time of 51.69 seconds.
Elsewhere, Alec Purnell (Dundas, ON / McMaster University) got the crowd to their feet in heat three of the 1500m, staying with the lead pack of three until the final 100m. He finished tenth overall amongst 29 runners.
Other results from Canada included a 54.82 second result from Paige Willems (Saskatoon, SK. / University of Saskatchewan) in the women’s 400m semis, as well as a 10.49 second finish from Travis Campbell (Toronto, Ont. / University of Guelph) in the men’s 100m semis. Julia Agostinelli (London, ON / University of Toronto) rounded out the day with a time of 2:09.00 in the 800m.