Business as usual for Lancers track and field
By Michal Tellos
Sports Editor
February 4, 2009
 It’s been business as usual for the men’s and women’s Lancers track and field teams so far in 2009. Both squads have been consistently medaling at tournaments, and both are currently ranked first in Canada.
The latest successful outing was at an open tournament in Findlay, Ohio, which is coincidentally the hometown of Ben Roethlisberger. Needless to say the town was electric before the Lancers even arrived.
They might not be winning this year’s Super Bowl, but the Lancers certainly made a statement.
The team finished with six gold, eight silver, and five bronze medals.
At the head of Lancer victory was long-time star Jamie Adjetey-Nelson who stole the show in his signature event – the pentahlon.
“Jamie Adjetey-Nelson opened up in the Pentathlon with a new school record, and the most number of points anyone has ever gotten in the CIS, so he had a great competition,” said Head Coach Dennis Fairall.
Although the record won’t officially go into the books because it didn’t happen at a CIS event, Adjetey-Nelson has won gold in the pentathlon before with lower scores.
He finished the event with a score of 3,971.
Also strengthening his grip was senior Derek Watson, who is already automatically qualified for the CIS Championships in March.
Watson won gold in the high jump, but is actually ranked first in Canada in two other events as well, as he is the top competitor in long jump and triple jump in addition to high jump.
The next big event in Windsor will be the Team Challenge, a medium-sized tournament with top OUA teams and a few American teams attending, but it will be another massive stepping stone going into the OUA Championships, which take place at the end of the month.
“It’s an important meet for us because it gives us an opportunity to run CIS distances and to compete at home, where our Nationals are obviously being held,” said Fairall.
The event will also function as more than a simple track meet.
“We’re honouring and recognizing our tenth year anniversary CIS cross-country team that won the first ever men’s title in the fall of 1998, and the women’s 1999 team won the indoor track title. And we’ve got a lot of recruits coming to town,” added Fairall.
Additionally, scores of young Lancer prospects will be brought to Windsor to view the facilities, residential areas, and meet with fellow team-mates.
Fairall noted how strong the crop of young athletes is this year, even locally.
This makes the Team Challenge even more important, because the success of it will partially determine how strong the team will be next year.
Rankings may not tell the whole story, but they have certainly stood in favour of the team so far.
“We have to keep healthy. The only ranking that counts is the one at the end of the year. Rankings are just that, they don’t mean anything,” said Fairall.
The OUA is highly competitive this year.
“It’s been a good season for us so far, but I think we’ll drop one or two spots after this weekend because some other teams had some big performances. Both the men’s and women’s are very competitive though and I think we’ll compete for a national title. The OUA is very strong in track this year,” said Fairall.
Fairall added that the men’s team may have a slight edge over the women’s, as they are very strong in essentially every category except for weight throw.
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