RECAP : Smith edges Olympians for record-setting 600m win at Windsor
Sydney Smith now has the fastest 600m time in U SPORTS this season as she edged two-time Canadian Olympian Noelle Montcalm to win at the Windsor Team Challenge this weekend.
Smith's time broke the meet record which was previously held by Canadian Olympian Melissa Bishop and stood since 2010. The time also stands as Smith's personal best in the event, the third time she has established a PB this season.
Smith was trailing Montcalm - who ran 400m hurdles at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics - and York's Sonia Gaskin through the 400m point, but turned it on in the final 200m to win by two tenths of a second. She clocked in at 1:30.47, which is converted to a time of 1:29.38 to top the national rankings and set a new Gee-Gees record.
The veteran Gee-Gee didn't stop there as she anchored the 4x400 metre relay team to a first place finish. Doyin Ogunremi, Hannah Frazer, Emma Martins, and Smith combined for a winning time of 3:58.31. That was a season best time for uOttawa and ranks seventh nationally.
Ogunremi placed fourth individually in the 300m, while Frazer took seventh in the 600m and Martins was seventh in the 60m.
Another highlight performance for the Garnet and Grey saw Thomas Senechal-Becker win the high jump with a clearance at 2.05 metres. Showing steady improvement throughout the season, Senechal-Becker was clean on his first four attempts, raising the bar from 1.87m to 1.92m to 1.97m, and was the first to clear 2.02m, winning the event before establishing his new personal best at 2.05m. It is the first event win for Senechal-Becker as a Gee-Gee and saw him improve his personal best by 10 cm. He now ranks third in U SPORTS results this season.
André Alie-Lamarche placed sixth in the 1500m with a time of 3:57.50, a new personal best. The Gee-Gees men's 4x400m relay team of Zacharie Leger, Fabrice Nonez, Alie-Lamarche, and David Moulongou finished fourth just one tenth of a second back of the University of Toronto squad.
The Gee-Gees will compete at the McGill Redbird Invitational March 11 and 12 in the final weekend before the OUA Championships.
Full results from the Windsor Team Challenge are available online by clicking here.