Hello all!!!!
Sorry for the delay, but once again being a student athlete means doing school work! Who would of thought! Anyway, to recap CIS in one word... WOW! As simple as that. To begin let's talk about it day by day.




Practice:
We walk into this new (to the Lancers) facility and are slightly impressed, nothing like home, but manageable. So we walk out to the center of the track where the circle is located... The way the staff at the Winnipeg track decided to set up the circle and cage for practice... was let's just say it was "flawed." The cage was at straight line with the back 100 of the track, which means that if someone were to throw out the left sector line... they would throw onto the track, where many of runners jumpers etc. were warming up. And as we all saw coming... it happened. A few weights got yanked out the left sector line onto the track, lucky no one was hurt seriously but one of our own distance runners got clipped and ended up with a bruise on his shin. After a few close calls one of the coaches decided it would be best to go stand over in that area and try and protect the people using the track. That worked for the most part. Problem number 2 with practice... Where the shots and weights were being released was directly into the path of the pole vault runway. Which meant if a pole vaulters had a longer approach then we had to move the barriers and stop all throws until they completed their jump. Thirdly was the distance they allowed for the barriers. As I explained earlier on in my blogs, heaves are a type of warm up for shot put and well generally go a lot further then a normal throw would go. With this being said once then men and some women started to heave the shots bounced right up and over the barriers and almost took out an athlete stretching. Now once that was all said and done and practice concluded it was time to hit the sack and get some sleep for the next day... the start of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Track and Field Championships.


Day 1
Rankings going into Women's Weight Throw:
Ami Schimanski- ranked #5
Steffi Stephenson- ranked # 8
Shea McLaughlin- ranked # 9




It was a decent morning in Manitoba and the weather actually wasnt that bad by afternoon. Women's weight throw began at 2.30pm sharp and got off to a bang!
In the first round Ami Schimanski let a bomb go off and threw a new school record of 17.21 and in her second round 17.22! Just amazing!! But not to be forgotten about Steffi Stephenson was after that school record previously held by Ami of just 17.03 and she ended up throwing 17.12m which was a new personal best for her but just fell short of the school record. Shea McLaughlin cannot be forgotten she ended up throwing 15.41 and coming in 11th place. Ami just missed the podium in 4th and Steffi right behind her in 5th position. This brought in some well needed points for the women's team.


Day 2
Rankings going into Women's Shot put:
Celine Freeman-Gibb- ranked 3rd
Steffi Stephenson- ranked 4th
Jacinta Cowan- ranked 5th
Shea McLaughlin- ranked 6th
Allison Loyst- ranked 10th




Having all 5 shotputters in the competition gave the Lancers a edge up on the rest of the women. Once the competition started at 8:15pm some big throws were hit by both York girls who were ranked number 1 and 2 coming into the CIS Championships. But in the end the winner was Celine Freeman-Gibb with a seasons best of 14.60m just 12cm off of her PB (and the school record) which was set last year at OUA Championships, Followed by Steffi Stephenson with her Seasons Best of 13.93cm placing her in 4th and only missing out on a podium position by 17cm close behind her was Shea McLaughlin with a throw of 13.83m rounding out in 5th. Only three of the potential 5 Lancers made it to the final however it was all worth it bringing in 19 points for the Lancers Women's team, the most points brought in by a single event. Allison Loyst missed the cut off for the final by only 22cm placing her in 9th position with a throw of 12.77m however having an amazing throw and the rookie Jacinta Cowan finished in 10th with a throw of 12.66m.




Day 3
Rankings going into Men's Shot put:
Andy Ysebaert- ranked 5th
Cole Bloxam- ranked 10th




Going into this competition the goal was to get both men into the final so they could accumulate more points for their team however this is the best competition that the CIS has ever seen for Men's Shot put. The winner from Guelph ended up throwing an impressive 18.31 which was only 17cm off of the CIS record in Men's shot put. But Andy Ysebaert (the men's school record holder in Shot put) broke even in the rankings bringing in 4 points for his team with a throw of 17.19m placing him 5th overall and Cole Bloxam missed out on the final by 2 places ending him in 10th place with a throw of 14.74.




Now for the final results of the Men's and Women's...
As favorites coming into the CIS the Lancers men's team fought a hard battle with injury and performances which ultimately ended them in 3rd place overall. Great Job Boy's! Next year we will all be waiting to see your come back story.
The women's team on the other hand was not favored to win but that didn't stop them from competing like true champions and defeating Guelph for the Lady Lancers 4th team title in a row. The Lancers Women's Team finished first overall and brought home the trophy once again! 4-peat!! Way To Go Ladies! I'm so proud of each and everyone of you!!!


I would like to make a special note that it is both Andy and Cole's last year on the Lancer Track and Field Team and I would like to say that they will both be missed around the circle and the track. It has been a great experience getting to know each of you individually and as a teammate. And I wish you both the best of luck in the furture. Forever a Lancer. 


And finally I would like to thank out Lancer's coaching staff a special thank you to our throws coaches Mike Miller and Nathan Lennie for keeping our dreams alive right until the end.


I hope you enjoyed this last and final post of the season. Thank you to all my readers and critics it has been a pleasure.


Yours truly,


---throwergirl :)