NEWS: Silver medal for Madison Clarke is Gee-Gees highlight at nationals
Ottawa team of six finishes ninth in women's standings...
For the fifth straight season, the Gee-Gees track and field team has a national medallist. This year it is Madison Clarke as the team veteran captured silver in the 600m to cap off the 2020 U SPORTS National Championships for uOttawa.
The 600m was expected to be the premier event for the Gee-Gees and the three team members in the event did not disappoint. Clarke performed well in the 600m preliminaries on Thursday, winning her heat and posting the fastest time across both preliminary races. Maeliss Trapeau also advanced to the final, while Sydney Smith earned a point for the team by finishing eighth.
In the final on Saturday afternoon, Clarke and Trapeau jockeyed for position at the finish line with a pair of Guelph Gryphons. Clarke crossed the line with a time of 1:30.94, while Guelph's Jenna Smith won the gold with a time of 1:30.90. Trapeau finished fourth at 1:31.19, with Gryphon Sadie-Jane Hickson nabbing the bronze medal with a 1:31.08 clocking.
The national medal is Clarke's second in her Gee-Gees career, after she was a member of the bronze-medal winning 4x800m relay team in 2019. The Master's of Human Kinetics student from St. Catharines, Ont., was also close to stepping onto the podium on Friday, finishing fourth in the 1000m. Lowering her seed time by nearly two seconds, Clarke clocked in at 2:47.05 which is the third fastest 1000m time in team history.
Appearing in her first U SPORTS nationals, pole vaulter Caroline Poirier cleared 3.50 metres on her first attempt but then could not advance past the 3.65m height and finished tied for tenth.
The women's 4x800 metre relay team raced on Friday night, placing fifth with a time of 9:05.46 as the Laval Rouge et Or leapfrogged the Gee-Gees into fourth place by bettering their seed time by an incredible 12 seconds. The 4x400m relay team of Clarke, Rebecca Brennan, Sydney Smith, and Marie-Eve Dahms closed out the championship for Ottawa with a ninth place finish.
The National Championships was held in Edmonton and hosted by the University of Alberta.
Women's Team Standings:
1. Guelph, 138
2. Toronto, 86.5
3. Laval, 58
4. Saskatchewan, 51.5
5. Western, 41.5
6. Calgary, 41
7. Regina, 25
8. Alberta, 24.5
9. Ottawa, 23
10. Sherbrooke, 22
11. Montréal, 20
12. Laurier, 18
13. York, 17
14. Manitoba, 14.5
15. Dalhousie, 14
16. Windsor, 13
16. Trinity Western, 13
18. McGill, 9.5
19. Waterloo, 9
20. StFX, 6
20. Queen's, 6
22. Lakehead, 4
22. UNB, 4
24. UPEI, 3