Kayla Gallagher and Aaron Hernandez are national champions.
The University of Lethbridge Pronghorn track and field athletes each captured gold medals at this past weekend's CIS Track Championships at the University of Alberta.
In the meet’s opening event, second-year thrower Gallagher defended her weight throw title. As expected, the event was a two-horse race for gold with a battle between Gallagher and University of Saskatchewan Huskie thrower Taryn Suttie. On her fourth of six throws, Gallagher set a new personal best for the second meet in a row and claimed the gold medal with a throw of 18.66 metres. Suttie was second with an 18.21 metre throw. No other competitors were within a metre of the top two throwers.
“Kayla rose to the occasion once again, kept her unbeaten streak alive, and continues to develop into one of the top young throwers in Canada,” says Pronghorns head coach Larry Steinke. “I'm looking forward to the next few years in her development.”
Gallagher also competed in the shot put event and finished eighth with her furthest throw of 12.69 metres.
Fresh off being named the CIS track rookie of the year, Hernandez earned the CIS gold medal in the triple jump and his first national title. Hernandez entered the event ranked second, but matched his personal best of 15.03 metres on his fifth of six jumps to claim the triple jump title.
“Aaron showed he was the class of the field despite fouling his first two jumps, adding more stress and grey hair to my life,” says Steinke. “He overcame that and just got better on each jump, and showed a lot of poise and maturity despite his nerves almost getting the better of him as well. “
Battling the flu and nerves made it a tough weekend for ‘Horns throwers Peter Millman and Ryan Sommer. Millman finished sixth in both the weight throw and shot put events, as he was well under his personal best distances. Sommer, who didn’t compete in the weigh throw, finished 12th in the shot put.