Relay triumph the highlight as Griffins return from Sled Dog Open
Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
SASKATOON – It was an up and down track meet for the MacEwan Griffins kicking off the season at the University of Saskatchewan's Sled Dog Open over the weekend, but it closed with a bang.
The Griffins men's sprinting team bested the University of Alberta in the men's 4x200m, finishing third overall at the competition, which was full of Canada West teams.
"They have good athletes and solid coaching, so it's a tough bunch to go up against," said Griffins head coach Drew Carver. "For us to compete with them and get ahead of them was a pretty good moment."
Thomas Cross-Trush, Reece Runco, Andrei Pop and Connor Swaby finished in 1:33.65, only behind the Saskatoon Track and Field club (1:30.23) and the University of Saskatchewan (1:31.69). Alberta was fourth in 1:34.41.
While the meet wasn't great for former ACAC men's 300m record holder Cross-Trush from an individual standpoint – ("As Tommy put it, he had the toughest track meet of his life," said Carver) – his work running the opening leg of the relay helped him leave on a high note.
"He definitely had a bit of redemption in his mind because he had an unbelievably good start," said Carver. "The rest of the guys carried it through and punched out a pretty good 4x200. It's not part of our indoor, but it's still pretty good."
Swaby, a newcomer to the team this season, anchored the relay effort and showed his speed is good enough to compete with top competition in the Canada West ranks.
"Connor had a really good track meet in that he made the 60m final, which is not one of our events for ACAC," said Carver of the rookie's 12th-place finish in the finals in 7.22 seconds (winner was 7.00). "And he anchored the relay and punched out a pretty good time in his split on the relay."
Swaby was also the Griffins' top performer in the men's 300m, finishing seventh in 36.70. Runco was eighth in 36.76, while Cross-Trush settled for ninth in 36.79 – well off his top time.
"Tommy's been training pretty hard and we were hoping to go sub-35 on his 300," said Carver. "He was pretty upset. But I look at this way: it's best to have your worst track meet now. He's going to evaluate things and hopefully we'll get it together for provincials."
Other men's results included Scott Kohlman finishing third in the men's 3000 in 9:18.63, while Runco topped MacEwan's efforts in the 600m (13th in 1:27.11) and Owen Guenette was the Griffins' lone entry in the men's 1000 (26th in 2:46.55).
Carver took an entire rookie women's team to Saskatoon and had some expected growing pains.
"Almost all the first-year rookie ladies ran well and we do have to make improvements if we want to make a charge for the podium or to challenge for another banner," he said. "But at the same time, so many of them had never raced indoors before.
"We got through the nerves and jitters and times weren't too bad, so we can see improvement is needed but it's going come pretty easy for some of them. So we're pretty happy with that."
Among the highlights: Ember Large's 600m run. The former University of Alberta Panda finished seventh in 1:40.24. Emma Steele (15th in 1:47.25), Shaunice Burgers (16th in 1:47.37), Ashley Tymkow (19th in 1:48.98), Bailey Stang (21st in 1:51.95) and Cassandra Mastel-Marr (22nd in 1:52.69) rounded out MacEwan's efforts at the distance.
Tymkow was the Griffins' top performer in the 3000, placing third in 10:55.93, while Steele was fourth (11:09.19). Mastel-Marr led MacEwan's efforts in the 1000 (19th in 3:23.48).
"It was a pretty positive weekend when you look at the overall, but we recognize there's still a lot of improvements needed," said Carver.
The Griffins will host the first ACAC Grand Prix of the season on Jan. 26 (9 a.m., Kinsmen Field House).
