Cross-Trush lowers ACAC and MacEwan men's 300-metre record for third time
Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Thomas Cross-Trush broke his own Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference and MacEwan University record in the men's 300 metres for the third time since becoming a Griffin at the University of Alberta Golden Bear Open on the weekend.
He twice shattered the conference and school record last season, setting a standard of 36.15 in last year's MacEwan University Invitational. But over the weekend, he ran the distance in 35.99 at the Butterdome.
That was a competitive time amongst a field of U SPORTS sprinters, placing him 12th – not far behind winner Austin Edwards of the Saskatoon Track and Field Club, who set a new meet record in 33.75.
"He definitely stepped it up," said Griffins head coach Drew Carver of his sophomore sprinting ace – the defending ACAC champion in the distance. "Definitely he would be a contender in a Canada West program."
Griffins rookie Reece Runco finished 21st in 37.73 – a time that would have won him the silver medal at last year's ACAC Championship.
"We haven't had anybody come close to running with Tommy in a while, so that's a very good sign," said Carver. "If Reece continues to improve, I'm hoping we can end up with a 1-2 finish in the 300."
The team will find out the strength of the rest of the ACAC this Saturday when they host the MacEwan University Invitational (9 a.m., Kinsmen Field House, spectators free). If early results for the Griffins are any indication, however, they're going to be the team to beat in all sprinting events.
On the women's side at the Golden Bear Open, Valerie Schlottke was 10th in the women's 300, finishing in 41.64 – behind winner Natalie McDougall of Calgary (40.29). Teammate Amanda Ntiamoah was 14th (42.34), recording a team that also would have made the ACAC podium at the 2017 championship.
That doesn't even include reigning ACAC 300m women's champion Nikita Case (and also ACAC record holder) who ran it in 41.55 in 2017. Case instead raced the 600 at the Golden Bear Open on Saturday, finishing fifth in 1:36.39 – just off her school record of 1:36.16 and not far behind winner Julianne Labach of Saskatchewan (1:30.19).
Rookie Jocelyn Leffers placed fifth in the women's 600 U20 race in 1:48.30.
The long distance runners on the Griffins had more of a testing-the-waters type meet as they saw their first action since the outdoor season ended in November.
Scott Kohlman was 28th in the men's 1500 in 4:18.36 – more than two seconds faster than he ran at the 2017 ACAC Championship where he took silver.
Hannah Leggatt placed ninth in women's 1500m in 4:55.79, which is well back of her ACAC record of 4:36.14, but she was experimenting with a different race plan.
"The track meet for Scott and Hannah this weekend was basically a training race," said Carver. "We had a couple of race strategies we wanted to execute … and it turned out pretty good for us."
