The York University Lions track and field team hosted the 47th annual York Open meet this past weekend and had a strong showing at the Toronto Track and Field Centre, earning nine medals.
The women’s team led the way with five medals at the two-day meet. The Lions took home two medals in the triple jump. Holly Pitters won the event with a jump of 11.45m, and teammate Bailey Francis claimed the bronze medal with a best jump of 10.96m.
Rookie Rasheeda Gurley had a busy weekend, earning a bronze medal in the women’s long jump with a distance of 5.22m on Saturday after finishing sixth in the pentathlon the night before with 2945 points.
The women’s team also claimed two medals in the 4x200m relay. The team consisting of Christy Ihunaegbo, Courtney Dwyer, Shania Payne and Marvelous Agbonwaneten won the event with a time of 1:42.09, while another team of Nicolette Witherspoon, Zakiya Tavernier, Diana Boa and Monique Simon-Tucker claimed the bronze medal with a time of 1:43.82.
The men’s team also had an impressive weekend with four medals won, including a pair of golds.
Levar Russell won the men’s 600m dash with a time of 1:21.47, while triple jumper Nicholas Fyffe took home the gold medal in his event with a jump of 14.86m. Samuel Adams soared his way to a silver medal in the pole vault with a jump of 4.91m.
The men’s 4x200m relay team of Xavier Jehovah, Russell, Mark Hutchinson and Daniele Orsini ran their way to a silver medal with a time of 1:29.68.
The Lions will be splitting up next weekend when some of the team will go to Windsor, Ont., to participate in the Windsor Lancers’ annual Team Challenge, and some athletes will travel south of the border to the SPIRE NCAA Division I invitational in Geneva, Ohio.
Story by Emily Goodwin