Posted: March 18, 2005

Athletics: Canadians make their mark at the NCAA indoor championships

MARCH 15, 2005 Ottawa – The Randal Tyson Track Centre in Fayetteville Arkansas was the home of the 2005 NCAA indoor track and field championships this past weekend. The pinnacle of the NCAA indoor track season featured twelve Canadian athletes.

The top Canadian finishers over the weekend came on the women’s side. Orillia, Ontario’s Toyin Olupona, finished second in the 60 metre dash, and helped lead the Tennessee Lady Volunteers to their first ever NCAA women’s team championship outside of basketball and from Nebraska, sophomore and Olympian Priscilla Lopes from Whitby, Ontario who had a strong weekend finishing second in the 60 metres hurdles and eighth in the 60 metres sprint.

The top Canadian on the men’s side was Ottawa’s Richard Adu-Bobie. The Florida freshman sprinted to a third place finish in the 60 metres, clocking 6.66 seconds the leading Canadian time this year. This is quite a remarkable achievement for a freshman to reach the podium in a sprint-rich nation.

Other results by Canadians at the championships included Georgia senior Krysha Bayley’s fifth place finish in the women’s long jump (6.38m); Pickering, Ontario’s Tabia Charles, a sophomore at Miami, finishing sixth in the triple jump; Illinois sophomore Yvonne Mensah placing eighth in the 60 metre hurdles; an eleventh place finish for Georgia sophomore Sultana Frizell in the weight throw; and Michigan freshman Alyson Kohlmeier who finished eighth in the first heat of the women’s one-mile but did not qualify for the finals in her event.

In the men’s events, Michigan senior Nathen Brannen, 2-time NCAA outdoor champion in the 800 metres, came up a little short on the indoor track finishing in fourth with a time of 1:47.71. He later followed up with a tenth place time in the 3000 metre event completing the course in 8:05.89. Notre Dame sophomore Kurt Benninger grabbed fourth in the one-mile run (4:02.24); Kentucky freshman Mike Mason, the pride of Nanoose Bay, British Columbia and World Junior Champion, placed twelfth in the high jump clearing 2.13 metres; and Kansas State senior Erik Sproll was seventh in the first heat of the men’s 800 metres.

Source: Athletics Canada.