York’s male athlete of the year races in international track event

York University Lions track & field athlete Tyrone Halstead raced to a 10th-place finish in the 100-metre event at the North American, Central American & Caribbean (NACAC) under-23 championships, July 9 to 11 in Miramar, Fla.

Right: Tyrone Halstead

The criminology student from Mississauga, Ont., raced in the first semifinal heat and crossed the finish line in third place with a time of 10.73 seconds. When the remaining heats were completed and the times ranked, Halstead sat 10th overall and missed out on running in the final by just .16 seconds.

Fellow Canadian Sam Effah, who competes for the University of Calgary Dinos in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) league, won the gold medal with a time of 10.06 seconds. Effah and Halstead were the only Canadians entered in the race.

Halstead, who was named York’s male athlete of the year for 2009-2010, will now turn his attention to the upcoming Canadian Track & Field Championships at the University of Toronto’s Varsity Centre July 28 to 31. He will be running in both the 100-metre and 200-metre races.

Over the course of his three years with the Lions, Halstead has won five CIS medals and has been named a CIS all-Canadian four times.

The NACAC meet was Halstead’s second international competition of the outdoor season. In April he ran the anchor leg of the men’s 4 x 100-metre relay for Team Canada at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia en route to a sixth-place finish.

The under-23 NACAC championships featured athletes from 32 nations.