UNews - David Errington

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.

Pronghorn swimmers medal at Canada West

trevor.kenney — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 16:47:11 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns swim team returned home with two medals and two more qualifiers for the CIS Championships (Feb. 20-22, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto) after weekend performances at the Canada West championship meet.

Senior captain Ryan Thornley earned the lone individual medal, winning bronze in the 50-metre butterfly event on Friday night. Thornley was also a member of the Horns' 400-metre freestyle relay team that produced a bronze medal later in the meet.

“We had a good championship with our best point total since the 1990’s and our first relay medal in many years," says Pronghorns head coach Peter Schori. “Both the men’s and women’s teams improved on last year’s scoring and added new CIS qualifiers. Overall I’m pleased with our team's performance and we took another step closer to the top programs in the CIS. I think the men’s free relay will be very competitive at nationals next month.”

Thornley narrowly missed a second individual medal in the 50-metre freestyle, finishing fourth by just two one-hundredths of a second. He was also sixth in the 100-metre freestyle.

The Horns men’s relay finished fourth in the 400m medley relay and fifth in the 800m free relay.

Other notable performances on the men’s side: Nick van der Sloot finished fifth in the 50-metre backstroke and sixth in the 100-metre backstroke; David Errington earned three top six finishes with a fifth place performance in the 50-metre breaststroke and sixth place in both the 100 and 200-metre breaststroke; Tiha Konyves also had two ‘A’ final appearances and finished sixth in both the 50-metre freestyle and backstroke events.

On the women’s side, Keri-Ann Cowan led the way with two top-five finishes. She placed fourth in the 50-metre backstroke and fifth in the 100-metre backstroke. Also making ‘A’ final appearances were Kara DeClark and Kiara Bodell. DeClark finished fifth in the 50-metre backstroke and Bodell was seventh in the 200-metre backstroke.

On the relay side, the women had a strong meet, finishing fourth in both the 800 and 400-metre freestyle relays and sixth in the 400-metre medley relay.

In the team standings, the Horns women’s side moved up one spot from last year’s result and finished fourth in the conference with 294.5 points, while the men finished fifth again this season but improved their point total from 293.5 last season to 310 this year and closed the gap between themselves and the Victoria Vikes.

With a couple more weeks left for other team members to meet the CIS qualifying times, the Horns currently have 11 swimmers qualified for the CIS Championships in Toronto.

Horn swimmers vye for Olympic spots

trevor.kenney — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:46:07 +0000

Eight current members of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns swim team will travel to Montreal with Olympic dreams on the line. The Olympic trials will run from Mar. 27 to Apr. 1 at the Historic Montreal Olympic Pool. Rogers Sportsnet will be covering the action live nightly (5 to 6 p.m. MST).

Ryan Thornley, Jeffery Nicol, Mat Lyola, Matthew Mastromatteo, Tiha Konyves, David Errington, Zack McAllister and Jessica Kelly will represent the 'Horns at the trials, while former Pronghorn Kristy Gabruck will also compete.

Nicol led the way for the 'Horns at the Canada West Championships this season, winning three medals at the conference meet, while Thornley was the top Pronghorn at the CIS Championship meet in late February. Thornley finished sixth in the 50-metre fly and set a new school record in the process.

The lone female Pronghorn to compete in the CIS Championship, Jessica Kelly placed in three events and earned 17.5 points. Kelly won the 'B' final in the 100-metre fly.

Thornley, Nicol, and Kelly will be looking to crack the top 8 by making it to the 'A' final.

McAllister is in his first year at the U of L and has had a great season, having competed at the Pan American Games in Mexico this past fall. He will be competing for a spot on the Paralympic Team. Unfortunately for McAllister, he is still waiting on a classification appeal, and might not know if he has qualified until after the ruling has been made.

Kelly leads pool effort with two medals

trevor.kenney — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 18:20:01 +0000

Jessica Kelly won a pair of bronze medals and Jeff Nicol brought home a silver medal as the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns men's and women's swim teams competed at the Canada West Championship meet in Vancouver this past weekend.

Kelly led the 18-swimmer contingent with bronze medal swims in the 50- and 100-metre butterfly events, setting new U of L school records in each swim. She also picked up a fifth-place finish in the 100-metre backstroke event.

Nicol, who won two medals last year in his home pool, captured a silver medal in the 200-metre breaststroke and was just short of breaking his own school record that was set earlier this season. Nicol also finished fifth in the 100-metre breast event.

On the team front, the men's squad moved up one spot from last year's performance, up to fifth place with 279 points. The women's team finished with 181 points, and was also fifth in Canada West, the same place they finished last year in Lethbridge. Host UBC Thunderbirds won both the men's and women's team titles.

In total, U of L swimmers set 57 personal best times.

"I'm ecstatic with the team performance this weekend, this is our best Canada West Championship in my six seasons," says Horns head coach Brad Mori. "Both teams finished fifth and that was our team goal from the start of the year. Our swimmers swam great. They raced the moments, taking care of individual performances, leading to a fantastic team result."

Mat Loyola (50- & 200-metre breaststroke) and David Errington (200m breaststroke) both earned qualifying times for the CIS Championships. Loyola finished sixth in both distances, while Errington also finished sixth in the 200-metre breaststroke.

Matthew Mastromatteo, Jessie Olson-Heisler, Roger Hanna, and Adam Krysiak inched closer toward CIS qualifying times, and will have two more opportunities to reach those times in the coming weeks.

The CIS Championships will be hosted by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary Dinos, Feb. 25-27.

UNews - David Errington

Horns at championships meets

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