UNews - Kristy Gabruck

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.

Swimmers earn Horn awards

trevor.kenney — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:45:07 +0000

A pair of swimmers earned Subway Pronghorn Athlete of the Week honours after their performances for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge swim teams at the CIS Championship meet this past weekend.

Fifth-year swimmer Kristy Gabruck put a cap on her post-secondary career with a pair of personal best finishes and a new school record.

For the fourth time this season, Gabruck broke the Pronghorn school record en route to a seventh place finish in the 50-metre breaststroke event.

She just missed out on breaking another school record, in the 100m breaststroke, but still managed to eclipse her personal best time by two seconds, finishing 10^th overall.

On the men's side, sophomore Jeff Nicol continued his ascent up the CIS swimming ranks. After earning his first Canada West medals in late January, Nicol moved up one place in the CIS rankings, finishing 13th in the 200m breaststroke, the only event in which he qualified for the finals.

Nicol narrowly missed the top 16 in both the 100m and 50m breaststroke events. He also swam in the 400m and 800m freestyle relays, where the Horns men's team finished 14th in both races.

Canada West swimming at Max Bell

trevor.kenney — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:35:35 +0000

Swimming highlights a busy weekend for ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns Athletics as the Canada West Swimming Championships come to Lethbridge.

For the first time in five seasons the Pronghorns swim team will welcome the Canada West conference to Lethbridge and the Max Bell Regional Aquatic Centre for the Canada West Championships.

The Horns' contingent of 17 Canada West qualifiers is five fewer than last season's qualifying group, but with seven freshmen and only two, fifth-year seniors, the team is a young group of swimmers looking to gain valuable experience for the future.

Highest ranked entering this weekend's competition is breaststroke specialist Jeffrey Nicol. Nicol has had a strong start to the season, setting a new school record in the 200-metre breaststroke. Last year as a freshman, Nicol finished sixth in the 200m breaststroke at the conference meet and will surely improve on that if he swims anywhere near his school record of two minutes, 17.83 seconds.

On the women's side, senior Kristy Gabruck has also had a strong start to the university season, setting a new school record in the 50-metre breaststroke earlier this season. She looks to close out her university career on a strong note.

The meet kicks off with a Friday session starting at 5 p.m. and two sessions on both Saturday and Sunday. Heats begin at 10 a.m. and 9 a.m., Saturday and Sunday respectively, with finals starting at 5 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Pronghorns men's and women's basketball teams play weekend home games against ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia Thunderbirds and Victoria Vikes. The men's hockey team travels to UBC to continue its playoff push and the women's hockey team hosts UBC for games Friday and Saturday nights at Nicholas Sheran Arena. Visit the Pronghorns website for a full weekend preview and sign up for Horns Weekly, the Pronghorn Athletics newsletter.

Steacy, Patzer named athletes of the year

trevor.kenney — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:50:31 +0000

Jim Steacy and Ashley Patzer were named Male and Female Athletes of the Year respectively after outstanding seasons representing the Pronghorns.

Steacy won his fifth Male Athlete of the Year honour after winning gold medals in both weight throw and shotput at the CIS track championships.

Patzer led the women's rugby team to a second straight CIS title and was the MVP of the championship tournament. Other major award winners included Megan Bach (President's Award for the student athlete with the highest academic standing) and the men's track team (Team Academic Award).

The individual sport MVPs were: Men's Soccer – Ryan Conn; Women's Soccer – Jessica Dearlove; Men's Hockey – Scott Bowles; Women's Hockey – Charlette Hainer; Men's Basketball – Danhue Lawrence and Allen Kadima; Women's Basketball – Hannah Blanchette; Men's Swimming – Jeffrey Nicol; Women's Swimming – Kristy Gabruck; Men's Track – Jim Steacy; Women's Track – Heather Steacy; Women's Rugby – Ashley Patzer.

Steacy, Patzer named Athletes of Year

trevor.kenney — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:30:20 +0000

Pronghorn thrower Jim Steacy and women's rugby fullback Ashley Patzer were named Male and Female Athletes of the Year respectively at the annual Blue and Gold Pronghorn Athletics banquet Friday night.

Over 330 athletes, administrators and special guests were in attendance for the supper and awards ceremony where former Pronghorn basketball star, Danny Balderson, served as guest speaker.

Steacy, thought to be the most decorated track athlete in CIS history, won his fifth Athlete of the Year honour, one for every year in which he competed for the U of L. Coming back from a year off to compete in the Beijing Olympics, Steacy continued his dominance of the CIS scene.

For the fifth time, Steacy broke both the Canada West and CIS records in weight throw, winning gold at both championship meets. His furthest throw of 24.08 metres in the weight throw, the last of his CIS career, was five metres better than his nearest competitor. It also beat the NCAA gold medalist by more than two metres, becoming the only CIS track mark to outdo its American counterpart.

Patzer led the women's rugby team to its second CIS title, while being named the tournament most valuable player and an all-star.

The Horns captain, and former CIS player of the year, was a dominant force at the CIS Championships leading the tournament in scoring with 34 points. The Lethbridge native was also named Athlete of the Year in 2006-07.

Megan Bach of the women's hockey team received the President's Award, rewarding the student athlete with the highest academic standing at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. Bach achieved a perfect GPA of 4.00. The men's track and field team won the Team Academic Award, as they achieved a cumulative 3.13 GPA.

Following are team MVP honours as selected by their respective teammates.

Team MVP
Men's Soccer – Ryan Conn
Women's Soccer – Jessica Dearlove
Men's Hockey – Scott Bowles
Women's Hockey – Charlette Hainer
Men's Basketball – Danhue Lawrence and Allen Kadima
Women's Basketball – Hannah Blanchette
Men's Swimming – Jeffrey Nicol
Women's Swimming – Kristy Gabruck
Men's Track – Jim Steacy
Women's Track – Heather Steacy
Women's Rugby – Ashley Patzer

Track team heads to Regina

trevor.kenney — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:35:22 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorn Track and Field team is off to Regina for the Canada West Championship meet this weekend.

For the second consecutive year, the Horns have qualified 30 athletes for the conference championship meet. Over the last two seasons, the Horns have qualified the largest teams in program history; an indication the new training facility is paying dividends.

The Horns head to the championship meet with a relatively young team and expectations are that the squad will post a number of personal-best efforts and have a handful of medal contenders. The men's team leads the way and is ranked 11th in the CIS heading into the conference event.

The biggest addition to the Horns squad is the return of Olympian Jim Steacy. After taking last season off to focus on the hammer throw and his Olympic quest, he will complete his fifth and final year of eligibility with the Horns this spring. Steacy enters the season still undefeated in his CIS career in the weight throw, and is ranked fourth in the world in weight throw.

Steacy will be the favorite to win the weight throw and shot put events at both the Canada West and CIS Championships and finish his career as one of the most decorated Pronghorn track and field athletes ever. To date, he has accumulated seven Canada West medals and seven CIS medals. In total, he has won 12 gold medals, including six at each meet.

Defending CIS weight throw champion Heather Steacy is another favorite to medal for the Horns. The two-time defending Canada West and CIS champion in weight, Steacy has had some early season struggles, but has slowly inched towards her personal best distances.

Kyle Murray, Brett Bromley, and Dominic Mudayai will lead a contingent of rookies who show promise and expect to rise to the occasion at the conference meet. Mudayai enters his first Canada West championships ranked third in men's long jump, while Bromley is ranked fourth in Canada West in the men's triple jump event. Sophomore sprinter Murray looks to continue his ascent in the 300 metres and challenge for a medal.

Athletes of the Week

Swimmer Kristy Gabruck and men's hockey forward Lucio Pucci-Danielle were named Pronghorn Athletes of the Week after strong performances in Canada West athletics.

Gabruck, a fourth-year breaststroke specialist out of Taber, had another successful CIS Championship meet. Gabruck set personal best marks in each of her distances and placed 11th in the 50-metre final, achieving the Swim Canada National qualifying time.

Gabruck will wrap up the winter competitive season in two weeks at the Swimming Canada Nationals in Toronto.

Pucci-Danielle, a third-year forward, had his best weekend of the season as the Horns played in their final regular season games.

Friday night, Pucci-Danielle picked up a goal and an assist in the Horns' 5-4 shootout loss to the CIS #2 ranked Alberta Golden Bears. The next night, while not hitting the scoresheet, Pucci-Danielle had another strong night for the Horns in a 2-1 loss.

Swim team gears up for Classic

trevor.kenney — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:13:43 +0000

Four members of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns swim team have qualified for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport swimming championships as the team heads into this weekend's Pronghorn Classic.

The Pronghorns, competing in arguably the toughest conference in the country, fared well at the Canada West swim championships this past weekend. The small squad beat a total of 56 personal-best marks and the team placed sixth overall as they battled programs stocked with Olympic talent.

Leading the way on the men's side was Jeffrey Nicol. Nicol, gearing up for the CIS championships, scored points in the 400-metre Individual Medley, 200m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke and relay events. He was also the team's top finisher, placing sixth in the 200m breaststroke. Teammate Dwight Holmen authored a major personal breakthrough, qualifying for the CIS championship in each of the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke events.

Heather Dutton led the women's team, as she scored 24 individual points and was on each of the scoring relay teams. Dutton had top-16 swims in each event she swam and capped off her weekend with a win in the 400m freestyle consolation final on Sunday night. CIS breaststroker Kristy Gabruck also had breakthrough performances in the 50m and 100m events.

The Pronghorn Classic goes this weekend at the Max Bell Regional Aquatic Centre where the rest of the squad has two final opportunities to record CIS-qualifying times. The meet begins Friday and runs through Sunday afternoon.

UNews - Kristy Gabruck

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