MONTREAL – A relay gold in the last race proved to be the difference as McGill nudged past Laval to capture the men's division of the 28th annual McGill Team Challenge, a two-day track and field meet, that concluded Saturday, at Richard Tomlinson Fieldhouse, on the campus of the downtown university.
It marked the Redbirds first title since 2002 at their annual event, billed as the largest indoor track meet in Canada, which featured 702 athletes from 48 teams and clubs, including 16 universities.
Only one meet record and one fieldhouse mark fell over the weekend, and that occurred simultaneously in the men's 1,500-metres when
Jude Wheeler-Dee from the Queen's Gaels was clocked in three minutes, 42.53 seconds. That erased a decade-old mark of 3:43.21 set in 2015 by Laval's
Charles Philibert-Thiboutot.
McGill entered the 4x400, the last race of the 16-event competition, trailing Laval by one point in the men's standings. And when they dust cleared, the Redbirds swooped past Laval by the end of the opening lap and never looked back. The McGillians ended up first overall in the team scoring with 138 points, three ahead of the Rouge et Or (135). The Montreal Carabins were a distant third (99), followed by Sherbrooke (69), Queen's (42), Carleton (25), ETS (19), Laurentian (18), Moncton (17), UQAC (8), UQTR (5), Concordia (5), Memorial (4), CMR (4), Ottawa (3) and Western (0).
The Redbirds 4x400 posted a winning time of 3:17.99, currently the seventh fastest in the country and three seconds shy of a school record. They were followed on the podium by Sherbrooke (3:22.45) and Laval (3:23.57). McGill's golden quartet featured
Luca Nicoletti, a materials engineering junior from Ottawa, on the leadoff leg.
Ben Gates, a mechanical engineering freshman from Regina, ran the second leg. He passed the baton to
Sean Adams, geography junior from State College, Penn. The anchor lap was run by
William Sanders, a chemical engineering junior form Ottawa.
It was McGill's second golden performance of the meet, following in the wake of
Samuel Hepworth, a psychology sophomore from Montreal, who won the 1000m in 2:26.70. The Redbirds finished with a meet-high 12 podiums, including five silver medals and five bronzes. They were two ahead of Laval in the medal count, which collected three golds, a pair of silvers and five bronzes.
It was a great weekend for the McGill track program, other than the inability to meet the lofty qualifying standards for the national championships in Windsor, Mar. 6-8. Four competitions remain to qualify, beginning with the Middlebury "Field and Track" Meet in Vermont (Feb. 8), followed by the Last Chance Invitational at Carleton (Feb. 14-15) and the RSEQ championships (Feb. 21-22) in Sherbrooke, where all gold medalists automatically qualify.
WOMEN'S MEET RECAP
COMPLETE MEET RESULTS
McGILL HIGHLIGHTS, RECORDS & QUALIFYING STANDARDS
|
MEN'S MEDAL TABLE |
|
|
| SCHOOL |
GOLD |
SILVER |
BRONZE |
TOTALS: |
|
| McGill |
2 |
5 |
5 |
12 |
|
| Laval |
3 |
2 |
5 |
10 |
|
| Montreal |
4 |
3 |
1 |
8 |
|
| Sherbrooke |
2 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
|
| Queen's |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
|
| Carleton |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
|
| ETS |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
| UQAC |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
|
| Moncton |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
| UQTR |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
| CMR |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Concordia |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Laurentian |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Memorial |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Western |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Ottawa |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
| TOTALS: |
16 |
16 |
16 |
48 |
|
McGill Team Challenge Champions
| No. |
YEAR |
MEN (PTS) |
WOMEN (PTS) |
| 1 |
1996 |
Western, 70.5 |
York, 74 |
| 2 |
1997 |
Western, (na) |
Western, (na) |
| 3 |
1998 |
Western, (na) |
Western, (na) |
| 4 |
1999 |
Western, 76.5 |
Western, 60 |
| 5 |
2000 |
Sherbrooke, 67 |
Western, 70 |
| 6 |
2001 |
Queen's, 86.3 |
McGill, 74.5 |
| 7 |
2002 |
McGill, 75.5 |
Western, 100 |
| 8 |
2003 |
Western, 82 |
Western, 77 |
| 9 |
2004 |
Western, 62.5 |
Western, 79 |
| 10 |
2005 |
Sherbrooke, 68.5 |
Dalhousie, 63 |
| 11 |
2006 |
Sherbrooke, 50.5 |
McGill, 63.5 |
| 12 |
2007 |
Guelph, 72.5 |
Guelph, 65.5 |
| 13 |
2008 |
Guelph, 68 |
Guelph, 83 |
| 14 |
2009 |
York, 70 |
Guelph, 81 |
| 15 |
2010 |
Guelph, 79 |
Guelph, 92 |
| 16 |
2011 |
Guelph, 65 |
Guelph, 73 |
| 17 |
2012 |
York, 83 |
Western, 68 |
| 18 |
2013 |
Guelph, 124 |
Guelph, 113 |
| 19 |
2014 |
York, 83 |
Guelph, 130 |
| 20 |
2015 |
York, 104 |
Toronto, 103.5 |
| 21 |
2016 |
Dalhousie, 138.5 |
Dalhousie, 135 |
| 22 |
2017 |
Guelph, 207.7 |
Guelph, 204 |
| 23 |
2018 |
Guelph, 183 |
Guelph, 168 |
| 24 |
2019 |
Guelph, 157 |
Guelph, 197 |
| 25 |
2020 |
Laval, 159 |
Laval, 141 |
| (na) |
2021 |
(no meet due to pandemic) |
| (na) |
2022 |
(no meet due to pandemic) |
| 26 |
2023 |
Laval, 217 |
Laval, 157.5 |
| 27 |
2024 |
Montreal, 87 |
Laval, 135 |
| 28 |
2025 |
McGill, 138 |
Laval, 155 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TITLES WON (m) |
TITLES WON (w) |
|
|
Guelph (8) |
Guelph (10) |
|
|
Western (6) |
Western (8) |
|
|
York (4) |
Laval (4) |
|
|
Sherbrooke (3) |
McGill (2) |
|
|
Laval (2) |
Dalhousie (2) |
|
|
McGill (2) |
York (1) |
|
|
Queen's (1) |
Toronto (1) |
|
|
Dalhousie (1) |
|
|
|
Montreal (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-983-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
