Amonn Nelson

Amonn Nelson of Calgary surprised many with her 200m victory in the Knights of Columbus Indoor Games in Saskatoon as she ran 24.44 easing away from Shelise  Williams of the United States  and Carol Rodriguez of Puerto Rico by almost 4/10th of a second.  Justyn Warner of Toronto was edged by 1/100th as Cordero Gray of the United States ran 5.76 seconds. Brittney Reese of the  United States  ran 6.23 seconds beating Miana Griffiths of Toronto by 3/100th

2012 Knights of Columbus Indoor Games  Invitational Events Results,  Thursday, February 2

The Star Phoenix Men’s 50 metresFinal

1 Gray, Cordero United States 5.76

2 Warner, Justyn Canada 5.77

3 Connaughton, Jared Canada 5.79

4 Williams, Rubin United States 5.84

5 Redrick, Philip United States 5.86

6 Wells, Evander United States 5.87

7 Adu-Bobie, Richard Canada 5.89

Saskatoon Fastprint Women’s 50 metre Final

1 Reese, Brittney United States 6.23

2 Griffiths, Miana Canada 6.27

3 Golladay, Michaylin United States 6.47

4 Olupona, Toyin Canada 6.47

4 Mayo, Gabby United States 6.47

6 Morris, Brooklyn United States 6.51

7 Nelson, Ammon Canada 6.61

8 Dugas, Marie-Eve Canada 6.74

Knights of Columbus Cash Lotto Women’s 200 metre Final

1 Nelson, Ammon Canada 24.44

2 Williams, Shelise United States 24.80

3 Rodriguez, Carol Puerto Rico 24.86

4 Kuspira, Katelyn Saskatoon Track 25.31

5 Omene, Ese Canada 25.40

University of Oregon track and field fans are accustomed to great performances from Canadian-born multi-eventer Brianne Theisen.

So much so, that a fourth straight NCAA indoor pentathlon title and a third NCAA outdoor heptathlon title are practically foregone conclusions in 2012.

With all due respect to Theisen’s collegiate rivals, she has fairly dominated the multi-events at the NCAA Division I level, much like her male predecessor (and fiancee) at Oregon, Ashton Eaton.

Last week, Theisen set her third successive NCAA indoor pentathlon points-total record (4555)—which also broke a 30-year-old Canadian national record. This, coming in her debut competition after forfeiting the entire 2011 outdoor season with a back injury.

So who could blame a girl for wanting to get down to some “unfinished business” in pursuit of one last season of individual—and possibly even multiple team titles—in this year’s NCAA indoor and outdoor championships?

Yet even with that lofty goal on Theisen’s 2012 to-do list, there looms a larger, Olympic-sized quest on the distant horizon.

And that task will require Theisen, 23, to return to Canada to face some pretty good competition from two compatriots the American press frequently overlooks—Jessica Zelinka and Ruky Abdulai.

Zelinka, 31, is a multiple Canadian national champion and Pan American Games winner (2007) who took some time off in 2009 for the birth of her daughter. She then came back to claim a silver medal in the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Abdulai, 27,  is an Olympic long jumper (Beijing 2008) who only recently took up the grueling seven-event heptathlon. She became the Canadian national champion in 2011 in a narrow win over Zelinka.

Both women are experienced international athletes who have competed against the world’s best.

Following is a chart showing each woman’s outdoor best in the heptathlon:
Jess Zelinka                      Ruky Abdulai                   Brianne Theisen
100H 12.97                                    13.60                                 13.39

HJ  5′ – 10.5″                                 6′ – .75″                             6′ – .50″

SP 49′ – 1.5″                               38′ – 5.5″                              41′ – 1.75″                                     

200 23.64                                  24.15                                  24.10

LJ 20′ – 3.5″                              22′ – 1.5″                              19′ – 9.5″

J 145′ – 2″                               163′ – 5.5″                             148′ – 0                                          

800 2:07.95                            2:13.11                                  2:12.62                                           

6490                                  6212                                  6094 Best score
While it may seem a bit premature to speculate on Olympic matters in early February, make no mistake, London is the pre-eminent thought in the back of every athlete’s mind this year.

Expect Theisen to compete sparingly as a multi-eventer this collegiate season—except in the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships.

Her primary function will be to contribute in individual open events. Then, as Olympic qualifying commences across the globe in June, sparks will begin to fly in earnest.

And even as America’s eyes are turned toward Eugene, Ore., for the US Olympic Track and Field Trials from June 22 to July 1, more than a few interested eyes on the University of Oregon campus will be gazing north of the border.

Ruky Abdulai

The Second Annual Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome Indoor Track Classic is set for Saturday, February 4^th at the Richmond Olympic Oval.  Several British Columbia athletes will attempt to record the top marks in Canada for the 2012 indoor season.  Indoor track has not been available in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island for decades and the Track Zone at the Richmond Olympic Oval is an extraordinary legacy from the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.  This facility provides great opportunities for the sport of track and field athletics to re-establish the tradition of competition during dark and wet winter season.

One athlete has her eyes focused clearly on the London Olympic Games.  Other younger athletes dream not of London but of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The goal of all the athletes is to be the best they can be, to achieve their personal best.

Ruky was the winner of the National Championship Heptathlon in Calgary in June of 2011. She went on to represent Canada at the World Championships in Daegu, Korea where she recorded her personal best in the seven event challenge. Her performances of  24.50 (200m), 2:15.29 (800m), 13.60 (100mH), 1.80m (HJ), 6.30m (LJ), 11.72m (SP) and 46.35m (Jav) gave her a total of 6212 points.  This ranks the Simon Fraser graduate as 17^th in the world.

Ruky will compete in the 60m hurdles at the Jerome Indoor Classic.  Her personal best is 8.54 seconds set in 2008 at the NAIA indoor championships.  She holds the Richmond Olympic Oval record for the 50m hurdles with her 7.72 mark set in 2011.  She will also throw the 4kg shot put.

Georgia Ellenwood

Georgia Ellenwood and Carolyn Sutherland of the Langley Mustangs have been identified as potential candidates for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.  They are reaping the rewards of a successful 2011 track and field season. Both were recognized for making the qualifying standard for the Olympic Development Program.  Administered by Sports Canada, the program provides guidance, structure and financial resources to athletes.

Sutherland made the 5.79 m standard in long jump with a personal best of 5.81 m and Ellenwood easily made the 4666 point standard in the heptathlon with her Canadian youth record of 5043 points. The Olympic development program targets athletes that will be 23 – 30 years old during the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. These girls are on the right track to fulfill their Olympic dreams

Georgia Ellenwood will compete in the high jump and 60m hurdles while Carolyn Sutherland will run the 60m, both in the youth division.  Georgia holds the youth record in the ROO of 1.64m.  Georgia will need a personal best to improve on her 2012 high jump of 1.71m, which leads the Canadian youth division.  This multi-event athlete will one to watch for the future.

Brendon Restall

Brendon Restall of Victoria startled the track world last year when he ran 47.26 in the 400m at the World Youth Championships taking 7^th place. He won the BC High School title in 47.39 in a close race over Hodson Harding’s 47.53 and Nathan George’s 48.78.

Brendon will graduate from high school this year and is reportedly headed for the University of Victoria this fall.  He is coached by Dacre Bowen in Victoria who is a graduate of the University of Oregon.  The best 2012 indoor youth mark in Canada is 49.90 set by Alex Tourigny-Plante of Quebec.  This mark will be a target for Brendon this Saturday.

Asianna Covington currently leads the Canadian indoor lists with her shot put mark of 11.87 in the youth division.  This Richmond Kajak thrower was the Flag Bearer for the Canadian Team in 2011 at the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Isle of Man.  She will be seeking the 12.0m target.

Maria Bernard of the University of British Columbia tops Canada list in the junior division 3000m with her 9:55.37.  Saturday, this freshman student will run the 1500m where she may have a shot at displacing the 2012 indoor leader Evelyn Anderson of Alberta’s mark of 4:48.66

Devan Wiebe is another UBC frosh who has an opportunity to move to the top spot in Canadian junior rankings in the 800m for 2012.  The current leader is Michelle Molodynia of Ontario with her mark of 2:17.98. Devan has run 55.61 and 2:12.14 for the 400m and 800m outdoors in 2011 and took the silver medal at the Western Canada Games 400m.

Alison Williams

Alison Williams who will also run the 800m but in the youth division where she will need to beat Canada’s best time of 2:16.49 set by Megan Rempel of Ontario.  This Ocean Athletics athlete will try to keep the family tradition in this sport alive along with her brother, Jack who is in his first year at the University of BC.  Jack is running the1500m and is capable of improving on Canada’s best junior time of 4:01.41 set this year by Davis Guenther of Saskatchewan.  Their parent’s, Lynn Kanuka and Paul Williams are legends in the international track world as Olympians and Canadian record holders.

Jack Williams

Tickets are $5 and sold only at the door.  The TELUS Jerome Outreach Elementary Relays start at 10am and the Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome Indoor Track Classic start at 11:20 with the opening ceremonies.  Further details at www.harryjerome.com

O

Asianna Covington

Asianna Covington will compete in the second annual Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome Indoor Classic featuring the TELUS Jerome Outreach Elementary Relays set for Saturday, February 4^th at the Richmond Olympic Oval new track and field facility.

She currently leads the Canadian indoor lists with her shot put mark of 11.87 in the youth division.  This Richmond Kajak thrower was the Flag Bearer for the Canadian Team in 2011 at the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Isle of Man.

Maria Bernard photo by Josh Curran

Two other athletes who will compete this Saturday currently lead the Canadian list in their events.  Maria Bernard of the University of British Columbia tops the junior division 3000m with her 9:55.37.  Saturday, this freshman student will run the 1500m where she may have a shot at displacing the 2012 indoor leader Evelyn Anderson of Alberta’s mark of 4:48.66

Georgia Ellenwood leads Canada's youth high jumpers

Georgia Ellenwood of the Langley Mustangs will need a personal best to improve on her 2012 high jump of 1.71m which leads the Canadian youth division.  This multi-event athlete will also run the 60m hurdles.

Tickets are $5 and sold only at the door.  The TELUS Jerome Outreach Elementary Relays start at 10am and the Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome Indoor Track Classic start at 11:20 with the opening ceremonies.  Further details at www.harryjerome.com

Record Breaking Weekend for Canadian Track and Field

The 2012 athletics season is only a few weeks old and yet we are already seeing Canadian records falling, three track and field athletes broke Canadian indoor records this weekend; all records are pending ratification.

Julie Labonté of Ste. Justine, Que., bettered her Canadian Indoor record in the shot put for the fifth time. Labonté won at the Razorback Invitational on Saturday with a new personal best and national mark of 18.01-metres.

Sarnia, Ontario’s Brittany Lewis claimed the indoor junior 600-metres record with a time of 1:29.96 in Bloomington, Indiana. Her performance currently marks the fastest Canadian time in the women’s 600-metres event this year.

Brianne Theisen photo by Doug Beghtel

Brianne Theisen of Humbolt, Sask., returned to competition in a big way on Friday after a back injury that kept her out for most of the 2011 season. Theisen broke the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Canadian Indoor Pentathlon records, scoring 4555 points to win the difficult five event competition. She bettered Jill Ross-Geffen’s of 4550, originally set in 1982 by five points.

Other notable performances

2012 AO Combined Events Preparation Meet #1, Toronto, Ont., January 29   
Complete Results

Justyn Warner by Reese Raybon

Men’s 60-metres
1. Justyn Warner, 6.59 (Personal Best)

Women’s 60-metre Hurdles
1. Nikkita Holder, 8.20 (Personal Best)
2. Phylicia George, 8.21 (Personal Best)

2012 University of Washington Invitational, Seattle, Washington, January 27-28

Complete Results

Men’s 3000-metres
1. Cameron Levins, 7:48.25 (Meet Record)

Women’s 3000-metres
3. Malindi Elmore, 8:59.95

Men’s 5000-metres
1. Cameron Levins, 13:42.90 (Meet Record

Nathan Vadeboncouer on right with Roy Boss

Nathan Vadeboncouer of Winnipeg is stepping down from this usual 400m to the indoor sprint distance of 60m.  He will face Dennis Nicolas of Simon Fraser who won the inaugural sprint in the Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome Indoor Track Classic at the Richmond Olympic. This year Jerome Indoor is on Saturday February 4.

Keefer Joyce

They will be joined by Keefer Joyce of Kelowna who moves up from the youth division this year.

Devan Wiebe

Devan Wiebe will move up from the 400m distance to the 800m.  The Lord Byng graduate is now a student at the University of British Columbia.  The track record held by Devan, will be challenged by Maureen McCulligh of Victoria and Peggy Noel of Ocean Athletics.

Maureen McCulligh

Tickets are $5 and sold only at the door.  The TELUS Jerome Outreach Elementary Relays start at 10am and the Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome Indoor Track Classic start at 11:20 with the opening ceremonies.  Further details at www.harryjerome.com

RICHMOND OLYMPIC OVAL Indoor Track and Field Records 2011 200m flat indoor pulastic surface

Men Open

50m 6.16 Dennis Nicolas 89 Unattached

400m 50.63 Adam Paul-Morris 92 UBC

800m 1:55.90 Nigel  Hole 89 UBC

1500m 4:04.40 Jack Williams 93 Ocean Athletics

3000m 8:30.74 Jordan Smith 90 UBC

50mH 7.81  Jesse Lynch 93 Langley Mustangs

4x200m 1:36.81 St Georges School

4x400m 3:34.22 Coquitlam Cheetahs

High Jump 1.95 Alvin Los 93 Langley Mustangs

Standing Long Jump 2.90 Justin Savido Vancouver College

Shot Put 12.73 James Turner 93 Kelowna

Women Open

50m 6.72 Shai-Anne Davis 93 Kajaks

400m 58.21 Devan Wiebe 93 Vancouver Olympic

800 2:16.62 Devan Wiebe 93 Lord Byng

1500m 5:00.74 Heather Slinn 92  UBC

50mH 7.72 Ruky Abdulai 85 Valley Royals

3000m  10:45.58 Micha Gutmanis 92 UBC

4x200m 1:54.18 Pitt Meadows Secondary

4x400m 4:10.58 Vancouver Olympic Club

High Jump 1.75  Ruky Abdulai 85 Valley Royals

Standing Long Jump 2.28 Haley Stewart Lord Tweedsmuir

Shot Put 9.16 Keleigh McLaughlin 90 UBC

Dylan Armstrong knows where he will be on Aug. 3.

He has plans for Aug. 4, too.

Armstrong, the world’s No. 1-ranked men’s shot putter, ahead of Americans Christian Cantwell, Reese Hoffa and Ryan Whiting, is in Scottsdale, Ariz., preparing for the start of another season.

This one is different, though, as it is an Olympic year.

That means Armstrong will spend part of the summer in London, England, site of the Summer Games, July 27 through Aug. 12. The men’s shot put competition is scheduled for Aug. 3 – qualifying in the morning, final at night – with the medal ceremony the following evening.

“It’s going well. I’ve been going hard. I really haven’t taken a break since last season,” Armstrong said Friday from Scottsdale. “I’m definitely excited for this year. I just have to keep pressing along.”

While he hasn’t yet confirmed much of his schedule, he is likely to start the competitive portion of his schedule at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, March 9-11. He also confirmed that he will compete at the 85th Kansas Relays, April 18-21, which holds its shot put competition in downtown Lawrence, and the Donovan Bailey Invitational in Edmonton on June 16. He is intrigued by the Edmonton meet as organizers are scheduling the shot put for downtown.

The first Diamond League meet that includes men’s shot put is in Shanghai, May 19.

Armstrong said he is “slowly confirming the odd meet. I have meets that I want to attend but that might change, too. It’s early. Right now, we’re just sticking to the training.”

Before heading to London, he would like to have competed in “11 or 12 meets,” including some in the Samsung Diamond League.

“They’re both important,” he said of training versus competition, “because you need to use competition to really focus on technique and really find your groove and to get sharper throughout the season.”

Armstrong, who turned 31 on Jan. 15, is coming off a season for the ages. He won Canada’s only medal, a silver, at the World championships in Daegu, South Korea. That was the first throws medal of any colour for a Canadian at a World athletics championship.

He also won the Diamond League championship. And his Canadian record throw of 22.21 metres in Calgary in June was the longest in the world in 2011.

And he won the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, setting a Games record in the process.

In December, Athletics Canada named him its athlete of the year and its outstanding athlete in field events, and also honoured him for the year’s most outstanding performance, that being the silver medal at Worlds.

We could go on, but by now you get the gist – he had a pretty good year, one that would be bettered only by an Olympic medal.

Armstrong will stay in Scottsdale – he trains at Paradise Valley Community College – until moving to San Diego in April.

“The weather is the most important thing,” he explained, adding that his coach from the National Throws Centre in Kamloops, Dr. Anatoly Bondarchuk, flies into Scottsdale on occasion.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca

Georgia Ellenwood

The Langley Mustang’s coach Kim Chapdelaine has some goals that go beyond the 2012 London Olympic Games.  Two of her athletes, Georgia Ellenwood and Carolyn Sutherland have been identified as potential candidates for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.  They are reaping the rewards of a successful 2011 track and field season. Both were recognized for making the qualifying standard for the Olympic Development Program.  Administered by Sports Canada, the program provides guidance, structure and financial resources to athletes.

Carolyn Sutherland photo by Mundo Sport

Sutherland made the 5.79 m standard in long jump with a personal best of 5.81 m and Ellenwood easily made the 4666 point standard in the heptathlon with her Canadian youth record of 5043 points. The Olympic development program targets athletes that will be 23 – 30 years old during the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. These girls are on the right track to fulfill their Olympic dreams.

Georgia Ellenwood

These 2 athletes will compete in the Vancouver Sun Indoor Track Classic set for Saturday February 4^th at the Richmond Olympic Oval (ROO).  Georgia Ellenwood will compete in the high jump and 60m hurdles while Carolyn Sutherland will run the 60m, both in the youth division.  Georgia hold the youth record in the ROO of 1.64m and with an outdoor mark of 1.70m, she may well create a new indoor record this year.

Tickets are $5 and sold only at the door.  The TELUS Jerome Outreach Elementary Relays start at 10am and the Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome Indoor Track Classic start at 11:20 with the opening ceremonies.  Further details at www.harryjerome.com

Brendon Restall

Brendon Restall confirmed today his participation in The Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome Indoor Track Classic on Saturday, February 4^th at the Richmond Olympic Oval.  Brendon startled the track world last year when he ran 47.26 in the 400m at the World Youth Championships taking 7^th place. He won the BC High School title in 47.39 in a close race over Hodson Harding’s 47.53 and Nathan George’s 48.78.

400m final at 2011 BC High School Championships

Brendon will graduate from high school this year and is reportedly headed for the University of Victoria this fall.  He is coached by Dacre Bowen  in Victoria who is a graduate of the University of Oregon.

Tickets are $5 and sold only at the door.  The TELUS Jerome Outreach Elementary Relays start at 10am and the Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome Indoor Track Classic start at 11:20 with the opening ceremonies.  Further details at www.harryjerome.com