Thunder Indoor Track Teams Kick off Season at MacEwan Open
Posted on: Jan 30, 2017
The Thunder Indoor Track teams kicked off their 2016-17 season at the MacEwan Open on Saturday. Rookies Mienna Starosielski, Haley Dunwoodie, Brad Agnew and Jackson Murrell all made their debuts for the teams, running the 300m event with Dunwoodie, Agnew and Murrell all running personal bests in the event. Starosielski meanwhile set the school record for the event in her first race for the Thunder Women's Indoor Track team, finishing in 6th place overall. Second year runner Baylee Frissell was the lone Thunder athlete to take on the 600m, finishing in 9th place overall and running a 3 second personal best time for the event while 4th year runner/soccer player Brynn deVries tackled the 1000m event on her own, finishing in 9th place overall, just 1 second off her best time.
The rest of the Thunder Indoor runners competed in the 1500m with the ladies packing in well together in the 1st heat, led by Captains Rachael Smillie and Shelby Edgar, who finished in 7th and 8th place, respectively. Second year runner Bailey Troccoli-Hughes was 9th, 3rd year runner Ana Zulic was 10th, 2nd year runner Elise Nawrocki was 11th and rookie Lannie Houle finished 15th. Nawrocki and Houle both set personal bests for the event. In the men's 1500m, Captain Ian Lee and rookie Keith Spruyt chased down their coach in their heat to finish in 8th and 9th places, respectively while rookie Mo Abdullahi finished in 12th spot overall. All 3 runners set new personal bests for the event.
In the 4x400m relays, the ladies team consisting of Frissell, Dunwoodie, Smillie and Starosielski ran the 2nd fastest time ever for the Thunder to finish in 6th place overall while the team consisting of Houle, Zulic, Nawrocki and Troccoli-Hughes finished in 8th place overall. "This was a really good start to the season," said Head Coach Matt Norminton. "A few PB's and a school record; we're off to a good start!"
The Indoor teams will next take part in a UofA Twilight meet being hosted by the UofA on Friday evening, February 3rd at the Universaide Pavilion.
