News

The first "official" ACAC Indoor Championships were held this past weekend at the CFB Edmonton Garrison Military Fitness Center on Friday and Saturday and the Thunder teams were well represented, picking up 5 individual medals and 3rd place overall in the men's team competition, just 3 points out of 2nd spot!
The first event of the weekend was the 1500m and ladies team Captain Marriya Jenkins picked up the first medal of the weekend for Concordia, finishing 3rd in an exciting race.  Shelby Edgar finished just outside the point scoring positions in 10th.  "Both girls ran fantastic races. Marriya ran her fastest time of the season and 2nd fastest ever and Shelby knocked another 10s off her time.  You can't ask for much more than that!" enthused Head Coach Matt Norminton.  In a tactical men's 1500m, Kevin Chambers was the top Thunder finisher in 4th place, just 2 seconds shy from picking up a medal.  Men's team Captain Joel Perren finished in 9th place, running his second fastest ever 1500m and just 1 second out of scoring position.  "Kevin had a fantastic season. He's starting to believe that he can compete with the top guys in the province now and Joel ran his 2nd fastest time ever so I'm super proud of how they both ran," said Norminton.
Then it was over to the 400m speedsters.  On the ladies side, both Jenkins and Edgar doubled back to pick up points for the Thunder ladies.  Jenkins was 5th overall while Edgar picked up a couple of points finishing 9th overall.  Rookie Tania Eljurdi improved her time by 2 seconds to finish 13th, just ahead of Barbara Jackson who also improved her time by 2 seconds to finish 15th overall.  Patricia Jackson finished in 20th spot.  In the men's race, Ben Thomas lead the way with a strong race to finish 3rd overall while Chris Gaertner finished in 5th spot overall.  Cody Krantz set a new personal best of 0:59.85 to finish in 13th position overall.  "Ben ran a great race and Chris really went after it in his heat, he just didn't have enough at the end to stay with the Kodiak runner," said Norminton.  "And of course it was nice to see Cody set a new personal best." After day 1, the men were sitting 3rd behind Lethbridge and SAIT while the ladies were sitting in 4th spot overall.
The ladies 3k was up first on Saturday morning and Jenkins was back at it, picking up her 2nd medal of the weekend. This time it was a silver and just missed the gold by less than a half second to her MacEwan rival Vanessa Trofimenkoff.  In the men's side, Kevin Chambers ran a season best and an extremely smart race to pick up more points for the Thunder men and finish in 4th spot overall.  Perren was 12th overall in a season's best time.  The last individual race of the weekend was the 800m and a tired Jenkins found herself on the start line once more and again she was able to pick up few more points for her team by finishing 6th overall in an unusually fast paced start to the 800m.  Shelby Edgar was just shy of her best time, finishing in 11th position while Patricia Jackson ran close to her season best to finish 20th.  "Shelby ran really well, to PB yesterday and be just shy of her best time today, she has been an absolutely outstanding addition to our team this year.  And I'm not sure I can ask much more of Marriya, I'm always telling her she's a champ but to run 4 races and score points for us in all of them, she really is the definition of a team leader.  I couldn't be more proud of what she has accomplished these past 3 years as a member of this team," beamed Norminton.
In the men's 800m race, Kevin Chambers was well warmed up after his 3k run and he finished less than a half second out of a silver medal spot, running his 2nd fastest 800m ever.  Ben Thomas also ran his 2nd fastest 800m ever despite letting up on the final straight away to finish 6th overall.  "Both Kevin and Ben have improved a ton this year.  They are the core of this men's team right now, I'm really looking forward to watching them continue to improve the next 2 years!" said Norminton.  Cody Krantz also made it 2 for 2 on the weekend, picking up another personal best to finish 13th overall.
The final events of the weekend were the 4x400m relays and the Thunder ladies set a season best time to finish 5th overall and pick up a few more points to finish the weekend in 4th spot behind MacEwan, Lethbridge and Grande Prairie.  The men easily picked up the win in their event, crushing the closest team by over 5 seconds.
Jenkins finished 3rd overall for the season in the GP standings while on the men's side, Thomas was 6th and Chambers was 7th.
Both teams are looking strong for the 2014/15 season with some great new recruits coming but the men's team will lose team Captain Joel Perren who finishes 4 great seasons representing the Thunder.  WELL DONE THUNDER!!