UNews - Phillip Rockerbie

Horns track team debut is impressive

trevor.kenney — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 23:24:39 +0000

Competing for the first time as a team this season, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns track and field team jumped out of the gates and produced exceptional early season results this past weekend at the Golden Bear Open in Edmonton.

Making her debut on the university circuit, freshman Sandra Latrace served notice that she will be a threat this season in both the long jump and 60-metre sprint. In the long jump, Latrace moved to the top of the CIS rankings by more than 15 centimetres and claimed the top spot at the Golden Bear Open with a leap of 6.17 metres. The mark in the long jump was also an Alberta junior and under-23 record.

In the 60-metre sprint, Latrace moved into the CIS top 10 with a time of 7.72 seconds, which placed her second among university finishers at the meet this past weekend.

Two-time reigning CIS champion Aaron Hernandez continued to prove he will be the man to beat in the triple jump as he moved to the top of the CIS rankings with a solid meet winning jump of 15.19 metres.

The Horns other reigning CIS champion, Peter Millman, continued the team’s strong performance in the throwing events by winning both the shot put and weight throw in Edmonton. The 2015 CIS shot put champion moved into second place in the CIS rankings in both disciplines. The Pronghorns placed 1-2 in the shot put with Millman taking top spot with a toss of 16.62 metres, while teammate Ryan Sommer finished second and moved into the top ten in the CIS rankings with a throw of 14.80m.

Millman won the weight throw by nearly four metres with a toss of 18.78 metres. Rookie teammate Ben Ingvaldson made his mark in Canada West in the weight throw, finishing third with a toss of 14.64 metres in his first university meet, while Ryan Sommer was fourth.

In the women’s throwing circle, Diane Marin placed fourth in weight throw with a mark of 13.80m while teammates Lara Roth, Ariel Chessall and Amanda Weiler finished fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

On the track, the top results on the men’s side came from senior sprinter Phillip Rockerbie and rookies Matthew Knapik and Garrett Mckay. In the 60-metre hurdles, Rockerbie finished third with a time of 8.70 seconds, while Knapik was second in his 300-metre heat with a time of 36.32 seconds and McKay won his heat with a time of 36.67sec.

“Sandra’s results in the 60m and long jump were definitely the highlight of the weekend, but we had strong results from the majority of the team,” says head coach Larry Steinke. “This is the third competition for most of the teams in Canada West and our first, so to have this strong a showing is definitely promising for the rest of the year."

Next up for the Horns is a split trip on the weekend of February 5-6 when they head to Winnipeg for the Bison Classic and to Edmonton for the Alberta Indoor Games.

Horns at championships meets

trevor.kenney — Fri, 21 Feb 2014 18:40:47 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Letbridge Pronghorn athletes are busy on a number of fronts this weekend, including the swim and track and field teams that are competing at championship events.

Canada West Track Championships

The Pronghorns track and field team sends 21 competitors to the conference meet in Edmonton this year with some definite medal hopefuls.

Picking up where she left off from her freshman season, Kayla Gallagher enters the conference meet ranked second in the weight throw. If her first year was any indication though, her best is yet to come. Last year, Gallagher peaked at the right time by winning both the Canada West and CIS weight throw titles.

Joining Gallagher in the throws events will be second-year thrower Montana Forsyth and newcomer Lara Roth. Roth will also throw in the shot put event.

On the men’s side, reigning Canada West weight throw champion Peter Millman also had a good start to his second season and enters the conference meet as the top ranked weight thrower. Millman is a medal threat in the shot put as well, ranked second in Canada West. Fellow thrower Ryan Sommer has taken a big step forward this season and is a medal contender in the shot put.

Third-year hurdler and pentathlon competitor Phillip Rockerbie had some positive early season results, ranked second in the conference in the 60-metre hurdles and has an outside shot at the podium in the pentathlon. Freshman jumper Aaron Hernandez burst on to the collegiate scene this season, winning both the long jump and triple jump events at the Golden Bear open. He will enter the Canada West Championships ranked first in the triple jump and third in the long jump.

CIS Swim Championships

For the second year in a row the Pronghorns swim team heads to the CIS Championship meet with 11 athletes, but this season the Horns have a balance between the two genders.

Last year in Calgary, the Horns sent 10 men and only one female swimmer, where this year the Horns will have four women swimming, and for the first time in more than a decade, will enter relay teams of both genders in the same CIS Championship.

Fifth-year sprinter Ryan Thornley will lead the men’s side that includes Duncan Donaldson, Nick van der Sloot, Scott Hunter, Tiha Konyves, David Errington and Kurt Carolus. Thornley was the Horns lone individual medalist from the Canada West Championships, winning a bronze in the 50-metre butterfly.

In addition to the individual events, the men’s relay could threaten the podium. Entering the championships, the men’s 400-metre free relay is ranked fourth in the country.

On the women’s side, after being the lone Pronghorn to qualify for the CIS Championships last season, Kara Declark will be joined by Keri Ann Cowan, Ardelle Layden and Lauren Smythies. The increased female qualifiers have allowed the Horns to enter the relays this year and should reflect an increase in the team scoring standings.

“For the first time in over a decade the program will see both the men’s and women’s team enter relays in the same CIS Championship,” says head coach Peter Schori. “We have a very strong sprint team with some fifth-year leadership and three first-year qualifiers.

“If all the guys are firing together our men could challenge for a top 10 in the team scoring.”

The 2014 CIS Swim Championships are hosted at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto and the three-day national meet, which kicks off the CIS winter championship season, runs from Thursday to Saturday at the U of T’s Varsity Pool, with preliminaries starting at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. daily.

All finals will be webcast live on www.CIS-SIC.tv, while live results from all sessions will be available on the championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/swim/index.

Five more medals for Horns' track team

trevor.kenney — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 19:17:23 +0000

In just the team's second meet of the season, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns track and field squad continues to produce encouraging results as they prepare for the Canada West Championships.

This past weekend at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Manitoba Bison Classic, the Horns earned five medals. This comes on the heels of a six-medal performance at the Golden Bear Open in Edmonton two weeks previous.

Coming off a double gold performance in Edmonton, Horns' thrower Peter Millman continued his early season success in Winnipeg by throwing a personal best 18.01 metres in the weight throw. The throw netted Millman a gold medal for the second consecutive meet.

He then narrowly missed out on a second consecutive shot put gold, getting edged in the last round by Chris Pickering of Regina. His silver medal winning throw of 16.33 metres was just shy of the personal best he set at the Golden Bear Open.

Teammate Ryan Sommer also established a personal best in the shot put en route to a bronze medal win. His result of 15.14 metres moved him into eighth spot in the CIS rankings.

Phillip Rockerbie also medaled for the Horns, finishing third in the 60-metre hurdles with a time of 8.60 seconds. He is still ranked second in Canada West.

Aaron Hernandez, who sits in second place in the CIS triple jump rankings, had a tough weekend and didn't manage a measured mark.

On the women’s side, Kayla Gallagher won the weight throw event with a toss of 17.90 metres, while Montana Forsyth threw a personal best of 14.57m to finish fifth.

"We had a mixed bag of results for the weekend,” says head coach Larry Steinke. “Aaron had a tough weekend adjusting to the speed of the runway but a number of athletes picked up the slack and that helped to keep us ahead of both the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta and ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary in the national rankings. Things are definitely looking good heading into this weekend at the U of Alberta and then the Canada West Championships in three weeks’ time."

The Horns continue their preparations leading up to the Canada West Championships that will be held Feb. 21-22 back in Edmonton.

UNews - Phillip Rockerbie

Horns track team debut is impressive

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Horns at championships meets

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Five more medals for Horns' track team

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