SHERBROOKE, QUE – Robert Gerstner of Winnipeg, won one gold and a pair of bronze medals as the McGill University men's track and field team finished second of 10 schools at the RSEQ conference championships, a two-day meet that concluded Saturday.
 
The Redbirds produced 13 podium finishes, including four gold medals, six silvers and three bronzes.

Gerstner, the top-scoring McGill competitor, tallied 22 total points over three events. The 22-year-old multi-events specialist won gold in the long jump with a leap of 7.07 metres. A first-year masters student in physics who previously competed for the Western Mustangs, Gerstner added bronze medal performances in both the 60m sprint and the triple jump. His time in the 60m was 6.92 seconds, fractions shy of the school record of 6.78.

Among the McGillian highlights was gold in the 4x800m relay, which was clocked in seven minutes, 46.49 seconds. The foursome featured Montrealer Samuel Hepworth on the leadoff leg. He was followed by Ben Gates of Regina, Sean Adams of State College, Penn., and Devin Chapple, a management senior from Toronto.
 
Hepworth, a 20-year-old psychology sophomore, was the team's second-highest scorer with 18.5 points over three events. He added a pair of silver medals, in the 1,000m and 1,500m.

Gates, a mechanical engineering freshman, added silver medals in the 600m and 4x400m, while Adams, a geography junior, was also part of the 4x400.

Luca Nicoletti of Ottawa, claimed gold in the 300m, crossing the line in 34.89 seconds, just shy of the school record (34.14). The materials engineering junior also collected silver medals in the 4x200 and 4x400 relays.
 
The team's other gold medal performance was by Sacha Dernoncourt, a chemical engineering sophomore from Baton Rouge, La., who remarkably produced the winning time in the 1,000m from the slower heat in 2:28.77.

McGill's other silver medalists went to senior Kilty McGonigal (heptathlon) of Deux Montagnes, Que., William Sanders (4x400) and the other members of the 4x200 relay, namely sophomore Krescyn Moonsamy of Nanaimo, B.C., senior Ricardo Percopo of Boisbriand, B.C., and Jay Yetman, a sophomore from Ottawa.

Sanders, a chemical engineering freshman from Ottawa, also claimed bronze in the 300m.

All gold medalists automatically qualified for a berth at the U SPORTS national championship meet in Windsor, March 6-8. They also merit RSEQ first-team all-star honours, while silver medal efforts receive second-team status.

Laval won the men's division with 193 points, followed by McGill (158), Montreal (100.5), Sherbrooke (88), Carleton (36), ETS (32.5), UQAC (21), UQTR (8), Concordia (6) and CMR St. Jean (4).

LINK TO WOMEN'S RECAP
 
COMPLETE RESULTS
 
McGILL HIGHLIGHTS
 
U SPORTS NATIONAL BESTS

SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-983-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca