McGill captures 7 gold medals at Sherbrooke meet

By Earl Zukerman

SHERBROOKE – McGill won five events in the women’s division and two more on the men’s side at the four-team Vert & Or Open track and field meet in Sherbrooke, Saturday.

Sherbrooke finished atop the women’s division with 164 points, followed by Maine (152), McGill (121) and Laval (38). The Vert & Or also won the men’s competition with 132 points, followed by Maine (121), Laval (96) and McGill (76).

Martlets newcomer Charlène Puel – whose father Claude Puel serves as head coach of Olympique Lyonnais, France’s reigning pro soccer champions – won the 1,000 metres in two minutes, 58.84 seconds. It was a solid first outing for the mathematics freshman from Nice, falling some 14 seconds shy of the school record (2:45.1) held by five-time all-Canadian Sarah Ali-Khan.

Other first-place finishes went to senior Heather McCurdy of Belleville, Ont., in the triple jump (10.80 metres), sophomore Catherine Drouin-Audet, a native of Repentigny, Que., in the 600m (1:39.01) and freshman Mélanie Myrand of Pointe Claire, Que., in the 3000m (10:25.32).

The final gold medal finish by the Martlets was in the 4x200 relay (1:48.59), which featured Majenta Whyte Potter-Mal of Montreal, Alison Cameron-Vendrig of Ottawa, Katherine Elmore of Pittsburgh, P.A., and Hilary Kellar-Parsons, from London, Ont.

For the Redmen, Lucas Lafourcade and Dong Liu, both freshmen, were the only ones to come away with a first-place finish.

Lafourcade, from the Bordeaux region in France, captured the long jump with a leap of 6.60 metres.

Liu, a science major from China, won the 60m sprint in 9.01 seconds.

The McGill track team will now prepare for an upcoming tri-meet with the University of Vermont and Middlebury College in Burlington, Vt., on Jan. 23.

The first home competition of the new year will be the McGill Team Challenge, arguably the largest university meet in Canada. The two-day event, which is expected to attract about 20 teams and 600 athletes from various CIS and NCAA institutions, is slated to be held at Tomlinson Fieldhouse, Jan. 30-31.

MARTLETS MEDALISTS:
GOLD:
Catherine Drouin-Audet, 600m, 1:39.01
Charlène Puel, 1000m, 2:58.84
Mélanie Myrand, 3000m, 10:25.32
Heather McCurdy, triple jump, 10.80m

SILVER:
Brittany Therrien, 1500m, 4:59.24
Zaria Stoffman, 60m hurdles, 9.21
Zaria Stoffman, high jump, 5.50m (tied for third)
Mélinda-Megan Rock, pole vault, 3.00m
Alana Battiston, pentathlon, 3165 pts.

BRONZE
Kate Elmore, long jump, 5.10m

REDMEN MEDALISTS:
GOLD:
Dong Liu, 60m, 9.01
Lucas Lafourcade, long jump, 6.60m

SILVER:
Daniel Kramer, 1500m, 4:14.51
Maxime Beaumont-Courteau, 60m, 9.81

BRONZE
David Faille, 60m, 7.04,
Andrew Archibald, long jump, 6.42m

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Dept. of Athletics & Recreation, Room 225 B
McGill University
475 Pine Avenue W.,
Montreal, QC H2W 1S4
CANADA
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
514-398-1956 (Fax)
www.athletics.mcgill.ca