Horns' Gallagher and Hernandez capture CIS gold medals

trevor.kenney — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 22:20:07 +0000

Kayla Gallagher and Aaron Hernandez are national champions.

Horns thrower, Kayla Gallagher, centre, is pictured here following her iwn at the Canada West Track Championships. Over the weekend, she and teammate Aaron Hernandez each won CIS gold.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorn track and field athletes each captured gold medals at this past weekend's CIS Track Championships at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta.

In the meet’s opening event, second-year thrower Gallagher defended her weight throw title. As expected, the event was a two-horse race for gold with a battle between Gallagher and ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Saskatchewan Huskie thrower Taryn Suttie. On her fourth of six throws, Gallagher set a new personal best for the second meet in a row and claimed the gold medal with a throw of 18.66 metres. Suttie was second with an 18.21 metre throw. No other competitors were within a metre of the top two throwers.

“Kayla rose to the occasion once again, kept her unbeaten streak alive, and continues to develop into one of the top young throwers in Canada,” says Pronghorns head coach Larry Steinke. “I'm looking forward to the next few years in her development.”

Gallagher also competed in the shot put event and finished eighth with her furthest throw of 12.69 metres.

Fresh off being named the CIS track rookie of the year, Hernandez earned the CIS gold medal in the triple jump and his first national title. Hernandez entered the event ranked second, but matched his personal best of 15.03 metres on his fifth of six jumps to claim the triple jump title.

“Aaron showed he was the class of the field despite fouling his first two jumps, adding more stress and grey hair to my life,” says Steinke. “He overcame that and just got better on each jump, and showed a lot of poise and maturity despite his nerves almost getting the better of him as well. “

Battling the flu and nerves made it a tough weekend for ‘Horns throwers Peter Millman and Ryan Sommer. Millman finished sixth in both the weight throw and shot put events, as he was well under his personal best distances. Sommer, who didn’t compete in the weigh throw, finished 12th in the shot put.

Millman leads Horns at Canada West Championships

trevor.kenney — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 22:16:23 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns track and field team captured four Canada West gold medals and a pair of individual awards at the Canada West Track and Field Championships in Edmonton this past weekend.

Peter Millman was unstoppable in both the weight throw and shot put events, winning two gold medals.

Horns thrower Peter Millman continued his dominance in the throwing circle, winning both the weight throw and shot put events. Millman set a new personal best in both events, throwing 18.82 metres in the weight throw and 16.91 metres in the shot. Fellow thrower Ryan Sommer finished fourth in both events and punched his ticket to the CIS Championships in March.

Following his double gold medal performance, Millman was named the Canada West Field Athlete of the Year.

Pronghorns rookie Aaron Hernandez also made his mark at the Canada West meet, dominating the triple jump event by nearly a metre as he reached 15.03 metres. Hernandez earned gold and was named the Canada West Rookie of the Year.

Kayla Gallagher, centre, defended her Canada West weight throw title with a dominant performance.

On the women’s side, reigning CIS weight throw champion Kayla Gallagher was once again the cream of the crop. She claimed her second consecutive Canada West title by setting a new personal best with a throw of 18.48 metres. Gallagher also beat the field by nearly a metre.

Then, despite not training shot put for much of the season, Gallagher was three centimetres short of a new personal best and missed the shot put podium by only nine centimetres to finish fourth with a throw of 13.17 metres.

"We had a great weekend with some strong results. Obviously the four gold medals and athlete of the year and rookie of the year honours were fantastic,” says Pronghorns head coach Larry Steinke. “But the team as a whole had a lot of personal bests and some great individual performances that indicate the future will continue to only look stronger for us moving forward."

Millman, Sommer, Hernandez and Gallagher all qualified for the CIS Championships that will be hosted by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta in Edmonton, Mar. 6-8.

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Horns' Gallagher and Hernandez capture CIS gold medals

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