Stretching their Wings - Mid Season Update
Now four weeks into their 2016 Outdoor campaign, the UBC Thunderbirds Track and Field team approaches the mid way point of their collegiate season riding a wave of success that they hope will carry them all the way through to the NAIA National Championships in just over a months time. With 20 automatic qualifying “A” standards already posted as well as a slue of personal best performances, the ‘Birds team under the tutelage of first year head coach Laurier Primeau looks poised to improve upon their combined 5th placing from NAIA Nationals a year ago in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Starting their season off at home with the annual UBC Open March 24-25th, the men and women in the blue and gold wasted no time in punching their tickets to Gulf Shores, tallying 9 “A” standards over the course of the two day meet. Leading the way for the ‘Birds was Junior Sarah Korpach, who followed up a personal best performance of 63.02 in the 400h with a commanding anchor leg on the women’s 4x800 relay, achieving “A” standard in both events. Also notching 2 auto-qualifiers at the Open was sophomore Nicole Lacis, who posted marks of 4:37.36 in the 1500m and 11:02.92 in the 3000m Steeplechase, following behind fellow A standard qualifiers Kirsten Lee (4:36.03) and Madelyn Brunt (10:57.41) in the metric mile and steeple respectively. On the men’s side, the Open was highlighted by the 10,000m event, where SR. Evan Elder and JR. Jesse Hooton traded off leading roles over the 25-lap monster en route to “A” standards of 30:59 and 31:08 respectively. This years UBC Open also served as the battlegrounds for the 14th annual Achilles Cup Dual meet between UBC and cross-town rival Simon Fraser University. The Clansmen took this years title by a margins of 72-43 on the women’s side and 59-54 on the men’s.
Next up for UBC was the Emilie Mondor Memorial held April 9th at SFU. Under sunny skies and ideal conditions the Thunderbirds punched several more tickets to Alabama, with Natalia Hawthorn and Sandra Kilmartin each taking home “A” standards in the women’s 1500 and John Gay following suit on the men’s side of the same event.
For their next competitive appearance, UBC sent a contingent of endurance athletes to the storied Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon to compete at the annual Oregon Relays meet in search of more “A” standards. Capitalizing on fast fields in the invitational 5000m section, ladybirds Hawthorn, Lee, and Brunt each made easy work of the NAIA standard of 17:36.3, all running huge personal bests of 17:03, 17:12, and 17:22 respectively. Minutes later, in the men’s 5000m invitational, Jesse Hooton and John Gay followed suit with PBs of 14:26 and 14:36, giving them their second (Hooton) and third (Gay, including 3000m SC) “A” marks of the season. Wrapping up the weekend for the birds was middle distance specialist Lukas Jarron. Taking advantage of mild opening paces, the hard kicking junior from Ajax, Ontario put his wheels over the last lap to good use, making short work of the auto-marks in both the 1500m and 800m by running tactically flawless personal (1500) and seasons (800m) best times.
Up next on the calendar, UBC will send a contingent composed primarily of power/speed athletes down to Southern California for a 10-day competitive trip. With hot times posted thus far in their march towards Alabama, the ‘Birds will hope that the addition of hot weather down south will be the extra ingredient they need to keep the A standards rolling.
John Gay
BA 2018 | International Relations
XC, 1500m, 5000m, 3000m SC
