Five medals on day one as Vikes run rampant at Canada West Track Championships

February 25, 2017

Vikes Communications

The day couldn’t have gone much better for the UVic Vikes track team as they got their 2017 Canada West Track Championships started with a bang, picking up five medals on day one of the meet being hosted in Regina, SK.

(DAY ONE RESULTS)

The Vikes men sit atop the team standings after day one with 32 points, despite competing in just three of the seven men’s finals on the day. Second-year Vike Thomas Oxland led the way, claiming gold in both the 1000-metre and 4×800-metre relay.

“The race went how I hoped it would go and I was able to get in the best position to use my kick,” said Oxland of the 1000-metre race, which saw him beat out teammate Cole Peterson for the gold medal by less than half of a second.

Rookie Chet Goerzen knocked two things off his to-do list in his first ever trip to the conference championships, his time of 8:29.83 in the 3000-metre was good enough for a silver medal as well as an automatic qualification to the U SPORTS National Championships, being hosted in Edmonton, AB two weeks from now.

The 4×800-metre relay team kept up the Vikes standard of excellence, claiming another gold medal in an event that the Vikes dominate. The team comprised of Max Serviss, Brendon Restall, Tyler Smith and Oxland comfortably cruised to victory, their time of 7:40.34 was a full four seconds ahead of second place.

On the women’s side, the Alberta Pandas jumped out to a big lead on day one with 62 points and a 16 and a half point lead over the second place Calgary Dinos.

Like the men, the Vikes women are at a disadvantage in the team standings, entering competitors into just three of the eight finals events on day one.

After Andrea Robinson, Elena Savidge and Andie Wood all scored top-ten finishes in the 1000-metre and 3000-metre races respectively, the Vikes 4×800-metre relay team pulled off a dramatic run to capture silver.

The team of Julia Greer, Alyssa Mousseau, Chloe Hewitt and Rachel Francois watched as the University of Aberta and University of Calgary pulled out to a substantial lead before pouncing to reel them back in and just narrowly miss out on the gold to Alberta.

The Vikes will try and complete their dream weekend, competing in the men’s and women’s: 600-metre, 1500-metre and 4×400-metre relay on the second and final day of the championships tomorrow. All that action can be watched live on canadawest.tv

Vikes Results:

Men:
1000-m: Thomas Oxland – 1st, GOLD (2:27.20), Cole Peterson – 2nd, SILVER (2:27.48), Isaac Penner – 5th (2:29.06), Timothy Longley – 6th (2:29.67)
3000-m: Chet Goerzen – 2nd, SILVER (8:29.83), Ben Weir – 4th (8:34.31), Derrick Evans – 10th (8:48.45), Matthew Noseworthy – 12th (8:48.79), Josh Kozelj – 16th (8:54.67), Alexander Nemethy – 19th (9:09.84)
4×800-m: Max Serviss, Brendon Restall, Tyler Smith, Thomas Oxland – 1^st, GOLD (7:40.34)

Women:
1000-m: Andrea Robinson – 8th (3:03.89), Elena Savidge – 10th (3:05.61)
3000-m: Andie Wood – 10th (10:53.21)
4×800-m: Julia Greer, Alyssa Mousseau, Chloe Hewitt, Rachel Francois– 2nd, SILVER (9:03.06)