Thirty years ago marked the first time the University of Windsor held CIAU Track and Field Championships at the St. Denis Centre. With some of the most impressive performances in CIS history taking place this season the March 12th-14th event should bring just as much entertainment and excitement to the CIS Track and Field Championships as it has the past nine occasions it was held in Windsor.

Over the next ten we will be highlighting some of the greatest moments that have taken place at the St. Denis Centre during the 1985, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2010 Track and Field Championships leading up to this year's event.
 
The Marchand and Williams Show

By Richard Johnston

A huge year in sports. The Wings, Yankees and Bulls took home their respective Championships, Gretzky was benched in Nagano and Datsyuk went in the sixth round of the NHL draft.
In the last story, I mentioned how a trend started with Windsor hosting consecutive years. Well that is true, but usually only two years in a row. The one and only time the CIAU Championships were hosted at the same place three consecutive years has been Windsor.  The 1998 Championships played host to two very dominating team performances by the defending champs.

University of Toronto's Foy Williams returned to dominate the sprint events once again. Earning Female Athlete of the Meet for the second year in a row, Foy earned another four CIAU gold medals. Posting another top ten ranked CIAU performance in the 300m final with 37.88 put the first gold medal around Foy William's neck. Not quite as fast as 1997, Foy led her teammate Lami Oyewumi across the line in the 60m with a time of 7.54 on day two. On to the relays where Foy led the 4x200m team off with a blistering 23.9 leg which helped the team of Andrea Pinnock, Shelly Cooke and Lami Oyewumi to the third fastest CIAU/CIS performance at the time in 1:38.40. Not done there, Foy would anchor the CIAU record setting 4x400m with a 54.5 run and 3:45.83 performance (now sits number six on the all-time list).

The Toronto women would add another three gold medals to Foy's tally. Jean Fletcher won the 600m in 1:31.68. Becky Chambers set a CIAU record with a vault of 3.80m and Althea Williams would take home the gold medal in the Triple Jump for the second year in a row.

The University of Toronto women had defended their title almost doubling the silver medal winning team's score with 79 points. This would also rank second among winning team scores based on the old scoring system

Final Female Team Standings:
Toronto – 79
Saskatchewan – 44.5
McGill - 39

The Sherbrooke men came to Windsor to repeat their performance from 1997. The Lancers would not let that pass by so easily in their house this time. It was Alexandre Marchand who led the Vert & Or to another Championship. Marchand took gold in the 600m with a quick 1:18.84 which started the medal run for Sherbrooke.  Dominating the 300m final as they did in 1997 Marchand took gold with Rova Rabemananjara finishing second

In the 60m Hurdles, Marchand would be held off the podium by two time CIAU Champion Kyle Robinson. Robinson, however, did not come out on top. Another Sherbrooke athlete and eventual 5 time CIAU champion Andrew Lissade would run 7.90 for the win. Lissade would also claim the silver medal in the 60m on day two. Unlike 1997, Sherbrooke would dominate the sprint relays. Running 1:28.0 in the 4x200m for gold was a strong showing, but it was the teams win in the 4x400m that was the icing on the cake. Having already clinched the men's team title, Sherbrooke did not even have to start the 4x400m but with the team of Winston Banks, Rova Rabemananjara, Jean-Charles Cote and Alexandre Marchand they would win gold in a time of 3:16.87.

Scoring 24 points and earning three gold medals Alexandre Marchand would win his first of three consecutive Male Athletes of the Meet.

The competition would see Western University and Windsor tie for second with 49 points. Both teams would post some solid results claiming gold medals in the 1000m and 1500m with Rich Tremaine from Windsor. Current Mustang distance coach Guy Schultz would win the 3000m in a time of 8:16.51 before finishing second to Rich in the 1500m on day two. Both distance runners would help their teams go one, two in the 4x800m (Western gold, Windsor silver). The Lancers also saw Matt Coddrington and Greg Heubner take gold and silver in the men's shot put.

Male Final Team Standings:
Sherbrooke – 64
Western – 49
Windsor - 49

Only one CIAU record was broken on the men's side. Current local Windsor High School Coach Craig Cavanagh was competing for York University at the time. Setting up for a good competition, Craig (1997 silver medalist) was looking to improve on that performance while Sherbrooke athlete, Harry Sylvester was the returning Champion and CIAU record holder. Through the six rounds Craig Cavanagh would set the record a couple of times to come out on top.

Big changes were coming to the CIAU Championships in 1999. McGill would host for the next two years and the addition of two new Championship events would be added (Weight Throw and Pentathlon).

Next time you read up on the Windsor CIS Track and Field history we will have reached a new century. Be sure to check back in and "in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night".

I would like to thank Dennis Fairall and Bob Vigars for providing results and Craig Cavanagh for input on how some of the event's played out.