Lancers sweep CIS Championships at home
By Michal Tellos
Sports Editor
March 18, 2009
 It was a weekend for the Lancers to remember, and the best part was that everything happened at home.
For the first time in history, the home team captured both the men’s and women’s CIS track and field title, as from March 12-14, the Lancers put on a team performance that couldn’t be beat.
It was also the first CIS title since 2006 for either team.
The men won with a dominating performance of 145.5 points in a field where the next best team, the Sherbrooke Vert et Or, had but 72 points.
The women however, battled, and they beat the rankings, edging the favoured Guelph Gryphons out by just one point, 91-90, avenging the OUA title loss just two weeks prior.
Head Coach Dennis Fairall earned the men’s and women’s CIS coach of the year title, the first time someone has won both awards in the same year since 1992, when he himself performed the feat.
The first day was characterized by tremendous Lancer success led by seniors Jamie Adjetey-Nelson and Derek Watkins.
Adjetey-Nelson, the eventual male athlete of the meet, broke his own CIS record in the pentathlon, scoring 4,075 points for the gold, while Watkins scored 3807 points for the silver.
Also kicking her successful CIS run off early on was Noelle Montcalm, a third-year sprinter who has come to the spotlight this year. She took the bronze in the 60m, in a race that saw the gold medal winner break the CIS Championship record.
The men took a quick lead in the standings in day one, and never looked back. Day two put the issue to rest completely.
Friday’s events had many highlights, but possibly the most impressive was Ben Warnock’s gold medal in the long jump, an event that saw the Lancers claim the top five positions to earn 33 points.
Warnock’s performance was characteristic of the Lancers at the meet, as it involved a great step up in terms of intensity and results.
“It was exciting. At OUs I came in fifth, I didn’t really jump very well, so this is a good way to go out. One through five for the Lancers, that was spectacular,” he said.
Warnock tied his personal best indoor jump of 7.19m.
Adjetey-Nelson picked up his second medal in the event.
The day also saw Watkins claim his first gold of the meet, as he did so relatively uncontested in the high jump, an event that saw Adjetey-Nelson take bronze as well.
Day two was also a major turning point for the women’s team, who took the lead for the first time.
One key moment was Raeleen Hunter’s second place finish in the 1,000 metres, an event that she was seeded tenth for.
“I really just wanted to go big. I knew I had it in me, I was training really well, so I just went out and did exactly what I planned to do. To sort of kick back, go at my own pace, and then kick it into gear. And it worked out, so I was just very happy to be able to do that for the team,” explained Hunter.
Montcalm also continued to shine on day two, as she claimed two silver medals, one in the 60-metre hurdles, and one in the 300 metre.
The men clinched victory early on in the third day, and the Lancers then began to focus almost solely on the women’s team, which did not disappoint.
Montcalm earned her fourth medal, and first gold, in the 4x200 metre relay. Although the women took a considerable lead at this point, Guelph’s Lindsay Carson captured her third gold medal of the meet to help put the Gryphons up by four points in the last race.
The last event was the 4x400 metre, and the Lancers ultimately placed fourth in the event, beating out Guelph who placed ninth.
The competition was not decided until the last second, and it was the women’s Lancers who ultimately came out on top by one point.
Highlighting the final day for the men was Watkins earning his second gold medal in the triple jump, and Adjetey-Nelson anchoring a second-place 4x200 metre relay team to earn his fourth medal of the games.
Fairall was thrilled with the result, especially considering how contested the women’s field was.
“Because you’re really only half-satisfied if you win one of two, especially if it’s close. If it’s not close then winning one national championship is great in itself. This is the first time anyone has ever won two national titles on their home court. We’ve hosted probably eight or ten times and we’ve never won two titles. I told the team that and they responded,” he said.
Although there were certainly individual success stories for the Lancers, each one of them would speak to the team nature of the sport in hard-fought situations. The depth of the teams was unparalleled.
“There is so much depth. Before we had a couple of guys, but depth-wise this team is by far the best,” said Warnock of his men’s squad.
“Our team is great in depth. We really stepped up this year. Me and Derek Watkins scored a lot of points but without us they still would have done really well. It looks really good for the future and it’s a strong team,” added Adjetey-Nelson.
The depth of the women truly showed itself as well, as the team managed to win the title without fifth-year star Hannah Eberhard, a two-time all-Canadian last year.
“It’s unfortunate because she [Eberhard] is in her final year, so I’m sure she’s disappointed. But at the same time it’s great that others step up. And that’s what we’ve always had. You never know what the surprise is going to be,” said Fairall.
“I’m really happy with how the meet went, not only with myself but with the whole team. Girls that we weren’t expecting to get points, got points, and that all contributes to the team,” said Montcalm.
“Even though people score individually, we all contribute in some way. Even if you didn’t make the OUA roster, you’re still part of the team. Look at Lancer corner,” she added.
Co-captain Hunter was also elated with the results.
“I don’t know, it’s beyond explanation. I can’t even talk. Coming into this school, I came here for the team spirit, for the team, and in the end we did it as a team. It was just phenomenal, waiting to find out what would happen,” she said.
Fairall also noted the nature of the Lancers’ competitors as a motivating factor of victory.
“Each player feeds off another because they don’t want to be the one to disappoint. Not everyone will always perform up to their potential, some people can just have bad days, but when it’s all said and done hopefully more people have good days than bad.”
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