York University Lions track and field athletes Tyrone Halstead, Kristin Obrochta and Christopher Theriau all reached the podium at the Canada Summer Games in Charlottetown, PEI, last week. Halstead won a bronze in the 200-metre sprint, Obrochta captured the hammer throw bronze medal and Theriau picked up a silver in the 110-metre hurdles.
The bronze for Halstead, who hails from Mississauga, Ont., was his second medal of the games as he also won a silver in the 100-metre sprint earlier in the week. Before the event, Halstead, a criminology student in York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS), set the goal of recording a new personal best time and he did just that, crossing the finish line in 21.03 seconds, to shave .13 seconds off his previous best mark. Reigning Canadian Interuniversity Sport track athlete of the year, Sam Effah of Calgary, Alta., won the gold medal with a new Canada Summer Games record time of 20.65 seconds, and Daniel Harper of Brampton, Ont., grabbed the silver.
Theriau of Kentville, NS, is a student in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science in York’s Faculty of Health. He finished between a pair of runners from Quebec in a time of 14.42 seconds. Simon Léveillé won the gold medal in 14.38 seconds, while Gabriel El Hanbli captured the bronze with a time of 14.47 seconds. These three men were the fastest in the field at this event as they were also the top three finishers in the preliminary round.
Obrochta, also of Mississauga, just edged out fourth-place finisher Emmalynne MacCorquodale to win the bronze medal in the hammer throw with a toss of 52.89 metres. Obrochta is also enrolled in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science at York. Her mark was less than a metre behind silver medallist Annie Larose of Quebec. Alberta’s Heather Steacy, who comes from a family that has dominated throwing events in Canada for years, captured the gold with a monstrous throw of 59.92 metres.
In other track and field action, Emma Crombeen, a first-year student in LA&PS who will be joining the Lions this season, finished fourth in the pole vault with a jump of 3.60 metres, and Faculty of Environmental Studies student Elizabeth Petrov of Richmond Hill, Ont., ended up fifth in the shot put after a throw of 13.53 metres.
For more information, visit the 2009 Canada Summer Games Web site.
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