The York University Lions will host the 34th annual York Classic track & field meet this Saturday, Feb. 5, at the Toronto Track & Field Centre.
More than 300 athletes from 13 universities in Canada and the United States will compete in the day-long event that begins at 9:30am with the pentathlon.
Left: York Lions' Patrick Russell
The York women's team is ranked ninth in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) following a third place finish at the McGill Team Challenge last weekend. Paula McLaughlin won gold at McGill in the 600m and her time of 1:32.41 was a season best as well as a CIS/Ontario University Athletics qualifying performance. McLaughlin is ranked number one in Canada in the 600m. Kristen Matthews, the nation's top ranked high jumper, finished first with a CIS/OUA qualifying performance of 1.80m.
On the men's side, Patrick Russell is ranked number one in the country in the 60m hurdles and fifth in the shot put. Russell captured gold in the 60m hurdles and bronze in the pentathlon at the last year's CIS National Track & Field Championships. He also owns the school record in the pentathlon with a score of 3791. Marlon Nangle, the OUA Rookie of the Year in 2003, is ranked second in the CIS in the triple jump, while Anthony Garber is third in the 60m.
Canadian teams from Guelph, Laurentian, McGill, McMaster, Queen's, Toronto, Western, Waterloo, Windsor and Ryerson will take part in this weekend's meet. Alfred State and Houghton, two college teams from Western New York State, will also compete.
This story was submitted by Jim McLarty, sport & recreation information officer at York.